Darlene Cates, who played the housebound mother in the 1993 film What's Eating Gilbert Grape, has died.
Cates died in her sleep Sunday morning at her home in Forney, Texas, according to her son-in-law, David Morgan. She was 69.
Cates was cast in the film as the morbidly obese mother of Johnny Depp, in the title role, and his younger brother, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. She had been spotted by the film's screenwriter, Peter Hedges, while appearing on the Sally Jessy Raphael talk show, where she discussed her struggles with her weight.
The film, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, won acclaim for its sensitive portrayal of a troubled but loving family in a small Iowa town. Read more...
Do you like space? Do you like looking at it, wishing you were there instead of here, perhaps? Well NASA just did something that will make your day. The U.S. space agency launched a new web-based search engine for much of its catalog of images, video and audio files, which you can browse by keyword and metadata, so that you never have to remember the dismal reality that you’re… Read More
HackyZack is Now Available on Steam and is 10% off!*
You are Zack. Juggle balls with unique properties through platforming puzzles to a goal at the end of each stage. Help Zack fill his treasured book of stickers to unlock optional challenge levels, where you race against the timer to destroy targets as fast as possible.
Its a browser game, def worth a few minutes of your time
It's something that's come to be reviled, the very thing that may have cost America a presidential election — fake news.
And the horrible phenomenon that's been called out by everyone from former President Barack Obama to Apple CEO Tim Cook now has a video game all about it.
Yes, you can actually climb inside the minds of real-life humans who distribute lies for moneyFake It to Make It describes itself as "a social impact game about fake news."
By that definition, it's less a celebration of fake news and more a socially conscious dissection of it. Well, that's at least what it's intended to be, as its creator Amanda Warner explains. Read more...
Nippon Ichi Software's new title seems to borrow from Minecraft and 3D Dot Game Heroes.
The teaser starts off calmly enough, with characters constructing a nice little house, but then it quickly escalates into an invader (?) leaping up into the sky and hurtling back down to obliterate blocks. While the aesthetic looks familiar, I'm not quite so sure how this as-yet-unnamed game will play.
The fact that this is coming out of NIS at least has me curious.
dryriver writes: A company named Arca Noae is working on a new release of the X86 OS/2 operating system code named "Blue Lion" and likely called ArcaOS 5 in its final release. Blue Lion wants to be a modern 21st Century OS/2 Warp, with support for the latest hardware and networking standards, a modern accelerated graphics driver, support for new cryptographic security standards, full backward compatibility with legacy OS/2, DOS and Windows 3.1 applications, suitability for use in mission-critical applications, and also, it appears, the ability to run "ported Linux applications". Blue Lion, which appears to be in closed beta with March 31st 2017 cited as the target release date, will come with up to date Firefox browser and Thunderbird mail client, Apache OpenOffice, other productivity tools, a new package manager, and software update and support subscription to ensure system stability. It is unclear from the information provided whether Blue Lion will be able to run modern Windows applications.
You come to as thunder crashes overhead. Streaks of lightning illuminate the room through gaping holes in the building's blown-out facade as you begin to take in your surroundings. But before you move on to the more pressing matters of why you're wak...
I wouldnt have shared this except I have the innards of close to 40 drives laying around and one of these projects caught my attention. DIY Magnetic Knife Block.
have tons of magents using them for random stuff, but i kept the insides to make wind chimes out of the platters.
Don’t throw out that old hard drive from your computer! Yes, that’s even if you’ve got a fancy new solid state drive (SSD) or if your hard disk drive (HDD) finally gave up. Whether it’s functional or not, your old drive still has some cool uses.
What you do with it depends on whether the hard drive is working or dead. But surprisingly, a functional old HDD has fewer uses than a dead one. So roll up your sleeves and check out some of these DIY projects to recycle, reuse, or repurpose an old hard drive.
For Working Hard Drives
If the drive is still working, don’t waste that space. It is still valuable storage for your data. The thing is, you don’t need to use it inside a computer any more.
1. Turn It Into a Portable Drive
Once you upgrade your laptop’s drive or run out of space on your PC, you have a functional HDD in your hands. Put it to use again by popping it into an external hard drive enclosure.
Depending on the drive and the enclosure, you’ll be able to use it with or without a power adapter. As a rule of thumb, power adapters are helpful for desktop (3.5-inch) hard drives, while adapters aren’t usually needed for laptop (2.5-inch) drives.
In case you already have an external drive or don’t have use for one, it might be time to build your own network attached storage (NAS). Basically, your hard drive’s contents will be accessible from any device connected to your Wi-Fi.
There are different levels of NAS. If you’re fine with spending some money, you can buy a NAS box like the TerraMaster F2-220 and simply pop in the drive.
If the hard drive doesn’t work any more, data storage is out. But the drive’s physical parts are still valuable. For any of the projects below, you will need to open it up and strip its parts, which is a pretty easy process. The above video has all the steps you need to disassemble the drive and use its parts.
3. DIY Magnetic Knife Block
Hard disk drives contain large neodymium magnets. We have a full guide to remove HDD magnets safely. Each drive will net you two strong magnets.
Instructables user tzhy shows how to use two planks to create such a magnetic knife block. You won’t need any special tools for this, but if you don’t have wood glue or other simple hardware tools around, your local hardware shop should have it.
Once you’re done, you’ll get a neat magnetic knife block that you can hang above your kitchen. Knives will stick to this block like magic, making it super convenient.
4. Cubicle Rear View Mirror (or Other Mirrors)
Image Credit: Michael Hiemstra/Flickr
The platters inside a hard disk drive can act as perfectly polished mirrors. Be a little gentle while dismantling them, you don’t want chips or scratches here. But if you get it out whole, it’s the perfect mirror.
You can get creative in your cubicle by turning this into a rear view mirror. All you need is a large thumb tack. Mount it on your cubicle, place the thumb tack in the center, and you will always see who is trying to sneak up on you from behind.
Platters can also turn into signal mirrors (i.e. a mirror that reflects sunlight to show your location). Apart from being handy in survival scenarios, it can also be a decent safety tool for bicyclists.
If you have several old drives, harvest the platters and turn them into a wind chime. It’s an easy DIY project that puts your geek cred out there for the world to see.
Most of the project uses the parts you dismantle from a drive, like the base plate and the mount ring. You’ll need a strong line to hold all the plates, of course. Run the lines through the ring and into the corners of the plate. Attach a platter to the end of each line.
Once you remove all the parts inside, what do you do with the hard drive case itself? Instructables user bobert610 says it makes a cool safe to store your stash where no one will suspect it.
It’s also the easiest safe to construct. Take out all the parts, then insert one of the screws in the corner. Your “hard drive safe” will act as a swiveling case to stash your emergency money.
An old hard drive’s parts are perfect to build yourself a brand new clock, complete with LEDs and other cool bits. You’ll need to buy clock movement and hands separately.
DIY guru kipkay, host of one of the best tech channels on YouTube, has a wonderful video guide for this project. Kipkay’s method is more refined and the end product looks fantastic:
That said, he uses several parts that DIY beginners might not have, or would need to go to their local hacker-space for. Here’s a simpler version for a vertical desk clock, which looks mighty cool when you add the keyboard keys.
For Working or Broken Drives
Whether it’s functional or not, if you don’t have any use for the drive, sell it. Heck, even if you stripped the parts of a dead drive and used some, you can sell the rest.
In case you’re selling a functional disk, make sure you completely and securely erase your hard drive—just formatting it isn’t enough. You don’t want any confidential data falling into the hands of the wrong people.
There are many cautionary tales of Hollywood’s “development hell,” but none perhaps quite as storied as the attempts to adapt a live-action adaptation of the groundbreaking anime classic, Akira.
Now Warner Bros. has appeared to narrow down their shortlist to two directors, one of which has just released a movie this weekend.
Warner Bros. has flirted with hiring multiple directors for the Hollywood adaptation of the cyberpunk anime, reportedly approaching everyone from Christopher Nolan, to Jaume Collet-Serra to Justin Lin. But in a recent episode of Meet the Movie Press (via The Playlist), Warner Bros. is rumored to be looking specifically at two directors: Daniel Espinosa, whose Life opened to mixed reactions this weekend (though we liked it), and David Sandberg, whose surprise horror hit Lights Out was a financial success for Warner Bros.
For those unfamiliar with the groundbreaking anime that still influences sci-fi films today, here’s the synopsis of Katsuhiro Otomo’s 1988 film:
Welcome to 21st-century neo-Tokyo, a vast metropolis built on the ashes of a Tokyo annihilated by an apocalyptic blast of unknown origin that triggered World War III. The lives of two streetwise teenage friends, Tetsuo and Kaneda, change forever when dormant paranormal abilities begin to waken in Tetsuo, who becomes a target for a shadowy government agency who will stop at nothing to prevent another catastrophe like that which leveled Tokyo. At the core of their motivation is a raw, all-consuming fear of an unthinkable, monstrous power known only as…Akira.
A Hollywood adaptation has been in development for years, with Leonardo DiCaprio attached as producer and Daredevil season 2 Marco J. Ramirezreportedly penning the script. However, with the movie languishing in development for so long, it’s doubtful that Ramirez’s script will be the final version we see — if we get to see Akira at all.
If made, Akira would be the latest entry in the current anime adaptation craze, with Ghost in the Shell hitting theaters March 31, and Netflix gearing up to release its Death Note movie adaptation in August. This despite the slew of controversies that have dogged these adaptations, particularly over the “whitewashing” of the stories by casting primarily white actors.
I’m of the opinion that Hollywood should just leave these stories be, as rooted as they are in Japanese culture and as critically and creatively successful as the original iterations were. But I know that Hollywood will always look to adapt their own versions of successful Asian films — not even Chan-wook Park’s masterful Oldboy was immune to a mediocre Hollywood interpretation — despite the varying degrees of success. Outside of horror movies like The Ring or movies helmed by award-winning directors like Martin Scorsese (The Departed was based off of the 2002 South Korean thriller Infernal Affairs), Hollywood adaptations of Asian commodities rarely live up to the original, creatively or financially.
Akira and any future anime adaptations will likely depend on the success of Ghost in the Shell when it opens this weekend. But with little substantial news of DiCaprio’s adaptation, don’t expect to see Akira in theaters any time soon. Take it as a chance to watch the original.
In other LEGO news, this is the conceptual 3,000-piece Dungeon Master (no actual affiliation with Dungeons & Dragons) set created by LEGO Ideas user Ymarilego. It has already gathered enough support (10,000 votes) to be considered for production by LEGO. The set, which can be built into countless different layouts, is perfect for tabletop gaming. Admittedly, the modularity of LEGO does make it perfect for reconfiguring your dungeon to suit your campaign. Plus it's way funner when you actually have a physical representation of the dungeon in front of you instead of just squares on a piece of paper. My imagination sucks, I need VISUALS. "Do you have to have sex with the lights on?" No, the flashlight on my phone is enough. Now, roll to see who has to eat a minifig, I just rolled a 20 so I'm safe.
Keep going for several more shots of the possibilities.
Actor Michael K. Williams — who played Omar Little in The Wire and Chalky White in Boardwalk Empire — has a conversation with himself, musing if he’s been typecast for a certain type of role.
Face it, we from a certain type a people that come from a type a place that look a type a way. You know what that make us?
For a promotional video (for The Atlantic), that was unexpectedly poignant.
You might have paid more attention to cell division in biology class had you seen this timelapse video from filmmaker Francis Chee (below). It shows the cell division of an egg from Rana temporaria (the common frog) in such astonishing detail that it...
Self-taught makeup artist and body painter Alexys Fleming, aka Madeyewlook (previously featured here), took a break from transforming herself using cosmetics and bodypaint and instead completely covered her face and upper torso in googly eyes. We we think she looks awesome!
But how Fleming looks wearing googly eyes is only half the fun. Watch this tutorial video to also experience what she *sounds* like while wearing all those rattling googly eyes:
Artists and scientists say breakthroughs are often "lucky accidents," but one band is basing an entire music video on that premise. The song Midnight Oil from UK-based Shaking Chains uses algorithms to select semi-random bits of video from the hundre...
In a study that’s bound to attract considerable controversy, a pair of researchers are claiming that between 60 and 66 percent of all cancer-causing mutations are the result of random DNA copying errors, making them essentially unavoidable. The new research is offering important insights into how cancer emerges, and…
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Do you like space? Do you like looking at it, wishing you were there instead of here, perhaps? Well NASA just did something that will make your day. The U.S. space agency launched a new web-based search engine for much of its catalog of images, video and audio files, which you can browse by keyword and metadata, so that you never have to remember the dismal reality that you’re… Read More
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You come to as thunder crashes overhead. Streaks of lightning illuminate the room through gaping holes in the building's blown-out facade as you begin to take in your surroundings. But before you move on to the more pressing matters of why you're wak...
In other LEGO news, this is the conceptual 3,000-piece Dungeon Master (no actual affiliation with Dungeons & Dragons) set created by LEGO Ideas user Ymarilego. It has already gathered enough support (10,000 votes) to be considered for production by LEGO. The set, which can be built into countless different layouts, is perfect for tabletop gaming. Admittedly, the modularity of LEGO does make it perfect for reconfiguring your dungeon to suit your campaign. Plus it's way funner when you actually have a physical representation of the dungeon in front of you instead of just squares on a piece of paper. My imagination sucks, I need VISUALS. "Do you have to have sex with the lights on?" No, the flashlight on my phone is enough. Now, roll to see who has to eat a minifig, I just rolled a 20 so I'm safe.
Keep going for several more shots of the possibilities.
You might have paid more attention to cell division in biology class had you seen this timelapse video from filmmaker Francis Chee (below). It shows the cell division of an egg from Rana temporaria (the common frog) in such astonishing detail that it...
Artists and scientists say breakthroughs are often "lucky accidents," but one band is basing an entire music video on that premise. The song Midnight Oil from UK-based Shaking Chains uses algorithms to select semi-random bits of video from the hundre...
