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Photo credit: NY Daily News via Getty Images Police in New York City have launched an investigation after a car was twice issued with parking tickets as the driver lay dead inside. continue reading

This Sunday, June 28th, AMC premieres Humans - a sci-fi co-production with England's Channel 4 about a parallel present world that relies heavily on task-oriented machines that look human called "Synths."

The story follows three separate threads: A family that purchases its first Synth, Anita (Gemma Chan), to help around the house, a mysterious man named Leo (Colin Morgan) and his desperate quest to track down some missing Synths, and a retired scientist (William Hurt) who's extremely reluctant to recycle his out-dated Synth model.

I had the chance to speak to star William Hurt about his role on the series along with the upsides and downsides regarding artificial intelligence and humanity's addiction to technology.

Continue reading…

It turns out that Uber's desire for mapping tech didn't really stop with Nokia's Here maps. The ride-sharing platform just picked up a portion of Microsoft's Bing maps technologies and about 100 of Redmond's employees as TechCrunch tells it. The way ...

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Why does anyone think that a 10 year old can’t manage a short wait in a car, along with her baby sister? If it’s hot, a 10 year old can open the door. If there’s a problem, a 10 year old can call for help by phone or yelling. If the baby is anything other than fine (unlikely), a 10 year old is equipped with brains and arms to help. And yet, the Fairfield Citizen Online reports —

A Bloomfield Drive woman was issued a misdemeanor summons Sunday after she allegedly left two children alone in a car.

Jennifer Pavelus, 30, was charged with leaving a child under 12 unsupervised.

A witness called police around 3:51 p.m. Sunday after spotting a 1-year-old in a car, with its engine and air conditioning running, in the parking lot of T.J. Maxx on Tunxis Hill Cutoff. According to the report, there was also a 10-year-old in the car.

As if the 10 year old is an afterthought. Anyway, the police also reported that the children seemed fine. But who cares? Let’s ruin another mom’s day — or life, depending on whether her job or job prospects preclude anyone who ever had a “child abuse or neglect” charge against them.

The mom told the police she’d run into the store to get a bag. Now she has a court date next week.

How wonderful the police are protecting us from laughably safe situations. Maybe next week they can ticket a family who’s having a picnic. After all, someone COULD slip on a pickle. Time to whip out that ticket pad.

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Last week, Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined President Barack Obama in congratulating themselves for taming the National Security Agency’s voracious appetite for spying. By permitting one section of the Patriot Act to expire and by replacing it with the USA Freedom Act, the federal government is taking credit for taming beasts of its own creation.

In reality, nothing substantial has changed.

Under the Patriot Act, the NSA had access to and possessed digital versions of the content of all telephone conversations, emails and text messages sent between and among all people in America since 2009. Under the USA Freedom Act, it has the same. The USA Freedom Act changes slightly the mechanisms for acquiring this bulk data, but it does not change the amount or nature of the data the NSA acquires.

Under the Patriot Act, the NSA installed its computers in every main switching station of every telecom carrier and Internet service provider in the U.S. It did this by getting Congress to immunize the carriers and providers from liability for permitting the feds to snoop on their customers and by getting the Department of Justice to prosecute the only CEO of a carrier who had the courage to send the feds packing.

In order to operate its computers at these facilities, the NSA placed its own computer analysts physically at those computers 24/7. It then went to the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and asked for search warrants directing the telecoms and Internet service providers to make available to it all the identifying metadata — the times, locations, durations, email addresses used and telephone numbers used — for all callers and email users in a given ZIP code or area code or on a customer list.

The first document revealed by Edward Snowden two years ago was a FISA court search warrant directed to Verizon ordering it to make available to NSA agents the metadata of all its customers — more than 113 million at the time. Once the court granted that search warrant and others like it, the NSA computers simply downloaded all that metadata and the digital recordings of content. Because the FISA court renewed every order it issued, this arrangement became permanent.

Under the USA Freedom Act, the NSA computers remain at the carriers’ and service providers’ switching offices, but the NSA computer analysts return to theirs; and from there they operate remotely the same computers they were operating directly in the Patriot Act days. The NSA will continue to ask the FISA court for search warrants permitting the download of metadata, and that court will still grant those search warrants permitting the downloading.

And the NSA will continue to take both metadata and content.

The Supreme Court has ruled consistently that the government must obtain a search warrant in order to intercept any nonpublic communication. The Constitution requires probable cause as a precondition for a judge to issue a search warrant for any purpose, and the warrant must “particularly (describe) the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Because this is expressly set forth in the Constitution itself, Congress and the president are bound by it. They cannot change it. They cannot avoid or evade it.

Probable cause is evidence about a person or place sufficient to permit a judge to conclude that evidence of a crime will probably be found. Both the Patriot Act and the USA Freedom Act disregard the “probable cause” standard and substitute instead a “government need” standard. This is, of course, no standard at all, as the NSA has claimed under the Patriot Act — and the FISA court bought the argument — that it needs all telephone calls, all emails and all text messages of all people in America. Today it may legally obtain them by making the same claim under the USA Freedom Act.

When politicians tell you that the NSA needs a court order in order to listen to your phone calls or read your emails, they are talking about a FISA court order that is based on government need — not a constitutional court order, which can only be based on probable cause. This is an insidious and unconstitutional bait and switch.

All this may start with the NSA, but it does not end there. Last week, we learned that the FBI is operating low-flying planes over 100 American cities to monitor folks on the streets and intercept their cellphone use — without any search warrants. Earlier this week, we learned that the Drug Enforcement Administration has intercepted the telephone calls of more than 11,000 people in three years — without any search warrants. We already know that local police have been using government surplus cell towers to intercept the cellphone signals of innocent automobile drivers for about a year — without search warrants.

How dangerous this is. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It applies in good times and in bad, in war and in peace. It regulates the governed and the governors. Yet if the government that it regulates can change it by ordinary legislation, then it is not a constitution but a charade.

Suppose the Congress wants to redefine the freedom of speech or the free exercise of religion or the right to keep and bear arms, just as it did the standards for issuing search warrants. What is the value of a constitutional guarantee if the people into whose hands we repose the Constitution for safe keeping can change it as they see fit and negate the guarantee?

What do you call a negated constitutional guarantee? Government need.

COPYRIGHT 2015 ANDREW P. NAPOLITANO

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS.COM

Minions are a billion-dollar business. Supporting characters in the first Despicable Me movie, the yellow sidekicks somewhat stole the show, their role expanding in its hugely successful sequel. And with Minion popularity continuing to grow, they’ve now been given their own standalone movie; a spin-off that acts as both prequel and origin story.

So the film takes us back to the dawn of time, when the Minions developed from tiny, single-celled organisms into diminutive, banana-loving, nonsense-spouting henchmen whose only goal is to serve the most despicable master they can find.

Via Geoffrey Rush voiceover and a bunch of hilarious visual gags, we therefore witness them evolve through the ages, the Minions locating and serving villains during the Jurassic era, the Stone Age, in Ancient Egypt and through the Dark Ages. But finding a boss is easy, it’s keeping said boss that’s hard, so-much-so that when a series of baddies die in unfortunate circumstances, they retreat to Antarctica to experiment with a master-free existence.

Continue reading…

Thanks to almost 3 million viewers watching the premiere episode of USA's new hacker series, Mr. Robot, ahead of its official network debut (it was available for free online four weeks early across a wide array of digital platforms), USA has announced that they've picked up the show a Season 2.

The series, which stats Rami Malek as a paranoid vigilante hacker, was also met with critical acclaim. The second season, which will include a minimum of 10 episodes, will air in 2016.

Mr. Robot: Series Premiere Review

“We knew from the moment we read Sam Esmail’s provocative script, and witnessed the brilliant performances of Rami Malek and Christian Slater, that Mr. Robot is a stand-out series that is unlike anything currently on television,” said USA Network President Chris McCumber. “The overwhelmingly positive fan reactions to the pilot and the broad sampling of it, reaffirms our confidence in the series, and we’re excited to see where this timely drama will take us for season two.”

Continue reading…

To better treat specialist patients, scientists have experimented with lab-grown organs and cells for some time. For the NHS, maintaining UK blood supplies is also high on the agenda, so it's been working to offset the fall in donations by growing it...

After the "Game of Thrones" Season 5 finale, you probably stopped speculating over one of the show's biggest mysteries. But wait, don't give up just yet because it might finally be revealed.

Spoiler alert for "Game of Thrones" Season 5 and the books.


Image via HBO/HuffPost

Since Jon Snow's shocking death in the final moments of the Season 5 finale, fans have theorized if it was really a death, whether we can expect to see Kit Harington again and if so, how. If Jon was actually killed off with no intentions of returning, that would likely mean "Thrones" wouldn't waste time revealing his parentage, which continues to be one of the biggest questions in both the show and George R.R. Martin's books. Thanks to some new casting information for Season 6 though, we may finally find out who Jon's mom and dad are next year.

In addition to the Season 6 casting info revealed last month, Watchers On the Wall has obtained more details behind the new characters HBO is looking to cast. According to the fansite, one casting description in particular hints at a book character who may be associated with Jon's origin story. The character name is "Legendary Fighter" and is described by WotW as follows:

"A man in his thirties or forties who is a great swordsman and a paragon of knighthood. He carries a hugely famous sword on his back. The show is seeking a very impressive swordsman for the role- the best in Europe, for a week of filming fight scenes for a season 6 role. His ethnicity/race isn’t specified, unlike many other roles."

As Vanity Fair and Redditor TheWarPelican both speculate, this could be Arthur Dayne, a character from Martin's books who has long been dead by the time the series starts. In the books, Dayne was a famed sword fighter and member of King Aerys II Targaryen's Kingsguard. The warrior was dubbed Sword of the Morning for carrying the great sword Dawn on his back. But how does this relate to Jon Snow?

If Dayne is in fact included in Season 6, "Thrones" could flashback to his battle against Ned Stark at the Tower of Joy. In the books, Dayne was a friend of Rhaegar Targaryen and helped him "kidnap" Lyanna Stark, Ned's sister -- you may remember Sansa and Littlefinger discussing them briefly in Season 5. Later on, Dayne and two other men of the Kingsguard stood outside of the Tower of Joy, where Lyanna was being held and slowly dying.


Image via Tumblr

When Ned and a group of men arrived to rescue her, a battle broke out, leaving Dayne dead. Once Ned reached his sister in the tower, he made her an unspecified promise before she died. While no one knows what exactly that promise was, proponents of the R + L = J theory believe that Ned found Lyanna dying with her baby, took the child and promised to protect it. According to the theory, that baby was Jon Snow, son of Rhaegar and Lyanna. If "Thrones" is casting Dayne, we may just get a flashback to this battle scene, which would also mean the return of Sean Bean (which the actor has often teased).

Beyond this, the series also hinted at Jon's mother and father in Season 5, which would prove futile if the story is never revealed on screen. In Episode 4, "Sons of the Harpy," Jon's history is alluded to multiple times when Sansa and Littlefinger discuss Lyanna and Rhaegar (as mentioned above), when Stannis shows doubt that Ned slept with a prostitute, hinting that Ned may not be Jon's father after all, and when Melisandre alludes to the possibility of Jon having King's Blood.

Yet still, what does this mean about Jon's fate? Will Harington return?


Image: YouTube

A few more clues seem to point to this possibility. One, which we already covered in depth, is that Jon's eyes may have flickered colors during his death scene, possibly hinting at him warging out of his body. Another is the cast members that have been announced to appear at the "Thrones" Comic-Con panel this year. Oddly enough, showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff are not expected to make an appearance and, less surprisingly, neither is Harington. Are Weiss and Benioff opting out of the convention to avoid questions about Jon?

Another hint is the final Beautiful Death poster, artwork that HBO commissions to depict the major character deaths in each episode. The last one released was of Stannis' death, however there wasn't a poster made for Jon Snow. This may be HBO's way of sneakily hinting that Jon isn't truly dead.

If you're still not convinced Harington might return to the show, one fan from Ireland may change your mind. Redditor AnakinGabriel found a post in a Song of Ice and Fire Facebook group from a fan claiming they recently ran into Harington in Belfast. When the fan asked for a picture, Harington reportedly said he was forbidden to take pictures since the media can't know he's in Belfast, where "Thrones" is filmed. Was Harington just hanging out in Northern Ireland for fun, or is he secretly filming more Jon Snow scenes? The truth is, we know nothing.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

If you've been holding off from buying Batman: Arkham Knight for Windows due to reports of numerous performance issues, low quality textures and glitches, its publisher Warner Brother Games agrees. That's why it's pulling the game from sale "while we...

New tech provides a 180-degree view from the front of the car

Google must not be content to sit on the sidelines as Spotify tries to conquer the streaming media world -- the internet behemoth has unveiled a free, ad-supported version of Google Play Music's streaming service for the US. It'll be familiar if you'...

Eventually, you might not have to find a charging station when you park your electric car downtown -- pedestrians could do the work instead. Pavegen has teamed up with Tesla to show off an experimental charger that tops up your EV through kinetic ene...

We've come a long way from Qwikster. Netflix's stock price has more than doubled since last December, and with prices of shares nearing $700 today it announced plans (PDF) for a 7-for-1 stock split. The price closed today at $681, and the Board of Di...

<a href=/bands/band.php?band_id=3203&bandname=Disturbed>Disturbed</a> are back and their four-year hiatus is officially over. Last year, the band's frontman David Michael Draiman <a href="/events/news_comments.php?news_id=25356">hinted that the band would make a comeback</a> and after a series of teasers, it's now official: they are releasing a new album called <i>Immortalized</i>, which will be out on August 21st, and is available for pre-order today. But that's not all. They have also shared a new song called "The Vengeful One", available in the video below. Was it worth the wait? <a href="/events/news_comments.php?news_id=26828>Read more...</a>

Graduates from Gmail Labs after six years

We live in pretty cushy times, where cold drinks and food just sit in a chilled cabinet called a refrigerator, just waiting for us to consume them. But as soon as you need your thirst quenched or hunger satisfied, you have to get up and walk a few feet to the fridge in order to get the goods. That is until now.

While we’re used to seeing Kenny Baker inside R2-D2, Japanese company Haier Asia and their AQUA brand have decided to put some ice cold drinks inside the Star Wars astromech droid. Yes, we’re talking about an R2-D2 refrigerator, which is the same size as the real droid. But what makes these little guy even sweeter is that it’s a remote controlled fridge that will bring your drinks to you.

Check out this remote controlled R2-D2 fridge after the jump.

Here’s the unveiling of the R2-D2 fridge at an AQUA event in Japan from IT Media (via Toyland):

The mini-fridge will be available sometime in 2016, though a price has yet to be determined, which means it will probably be very expensive. Not only is it a full-size min-fridge, but it’s an authentic recreation of R2-D2, right down to the lights, sounds and movement. It’s also rechargeable, so you won’t have to spend a fortune on giant batteries. However, the only downside is that it holds just a dozen regular-sized cans, so you’ll end up having to get up off your ass and fill it back up at some point. Life is hard, right?

 

This isn’t the first time R2-D2 has been turned into a mini-fridge, since we featured one all the way back in 2008. But this is much more sophisticated, if you’ll allow me to use that word to describe a robot from a movie being turned into an appliance. R2-D2 has been turned into plenty of other things too, like a projector, a bathing suit, an ice bucket, and even a plane. Who knows what fans will turn him into next?

All I know is that if we’re getting an R2-D2 fridge, then BB-8 better better get some kind of mod that brings us snacks. Why have these droids helping our heroes in a galaxy far, far away when they can just bring us food and drinks? This is America after all.

The post Cool Stuff: This Life-Size R2-D2 Fridge Will Bring Cold Blue Milk Straight to You appeared first on /Film.

Of the great many film to TV adaptations planned for the next few seasons, one of the most promising looks to be Fox’s Minority Report. Picking up ten years after Tom Cruise brought about the end of pre-crime program in Minority Report the movie, Minority Report the show follows one of the three pre-cogs, Dash (Stark Sands).

Though he’s trying to live a normal life, Dash finds himself still haunted by visions of the future. He’s able to put his gifts to use once more after he teams up with Lara (Meagan Good), a clever police detective. Watch the latest Minority Report teaser, featuring new footage from the show, after the jump.

Fox shared the new Minority Report teaser on YouTube.

Minority Report doesn’t look quite as slick as the movie did, but the cast and story could be good enough to sell the show. Besides the usual procedural stuff, the show will also have Dash looking for his twin brother Arthur. Plus, Fox has made the high-concept “tough female detective / supernatural dude” combination work for them before, with Sleepy Hollow.

Fox has Minority Report on Monday nights starting this fall.

Based on the international blockbuster film by executive producer Steven Spielberg and the first of his films to be adapted for television, MINORITY REPORT follows the unlikely partnership between a man haunted by the future and a cop haunted by her past, as they race to stop the worst crimes of the year 2065 before they happen.

Set in Washington, D.C., it is 10 years after the demise of Precrime, a law enforcement agency tasked with identifying and eliminating criminals…before their crimes were committed. To carry out this brand of justice, the agency used three precogs – “precognitives” Dash, Arthur and Agatha – who were able to see the future. Now, in 2065, crime-solving is different, and justice leans more on sophisticated and trusted technology than on the instincts of the precogs.

Precog DASH (Stark Sands, “Inside Llewyn Davis”) – driven by his terrifying, but fragmented visions – now has returned in secret to help a brash, but shrewd, police detective, LARA VEGA (Meagan Good, “Think Like A Man” franchise, “Californication”), attempt to stop the murders that he predicts.

As they navigate this future America, they will search for Dash’s missing twin brother, ARTHUR, and elude others who will stop at nothing to exploit their precog abilities. Also complicating matters is Dash and Arthur’s ingenious, but reclusive, foster sister, AGATHA (Laura Regan, “Mad Men,” “Unbreakable”), who just wants Dash to return home.

A drama of crime and conspiracy, this is a timeless story of connection: two lost souls, Dash and Vega, who find friendship, purpose and redemption in each other.

The post ‘Minority Report’ Teaser: See New Footage From the Fox Sci-Fi Drama appeared first on /Film.

So you’ve probably heard by now, Jurassic World beat The Avengers U.S. box office opening record. Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic Park sequel grossed $208,806,270 in the opening weekend, just enough to overtake Joss Whedon’s The Avengers‘ $207.4 million record from 2012. Marvel Studios has published an image online to congratulate the “new box office king.” Check it out, after the jump.

The illustration features Chris Pratt‘s character Owen riding a T-Rex looking down upon The Avengers, which includes Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Captain America and The Hulk. Also notice that the T-Rex is holding Thor’s mighty hammer.

The artwork above was created by Andy Park, the world famous artist from Marvel Studios’ visual development team who has been very very responsible for the awesome look of the Marvel films. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige posted the image on his twitter account. Talk about class.

This is a call back to an earlier time when filmmakers would publicly congratulate their friends’ box office accomplishments in published one-page advertisements. With this ad Feige, a huge Star Wars fan, pays homage to George Lucas, Steven Spielberg (producer of Jurassic World) and James Cameron. The one below is from December 2, 1977 with Steven Spielberg congratulating George Lucas on Star Wars beating Jaws in domestic video rental charts.

When Spielberg’s ET broke that same record in the early 1980s, his friend George Lucas took out the ad below to congratulate him:

In 1997, when the Special Edition re-release of Star Wars broke ET‘s record, Spielberg published another open letter showing ET crowning R2D2.

And in 1998, when Titanic beat Star Wars for the highest grossing movie of all time, George Lucas bought this full-page ad in Variety congratulating James Cameron. The ad features an illustration of the Star Wars cast jumping out of the infamous sinking ship and into the ocean, representing second place.

The post Check This Out: How Marvel Congratulated ‘Jurassic World’ For Beating ‘Avengers’ Box Office Record appeared first on /Film.

Epic Pictures Group has released a new poster for Turbo Kid, the Mad Max-inspired Sundance crowdpleaser. Hit the jump to see the Turbo Kid poster, as well as the previously released Turbo Kid trailer.

The Turbo Kid poster was found via Shock:

 

Angie Han’s original story from June 17th 2015 follows:

Hot on the heels of Mad Max: Fury Road, here comes a different Mad Max-inspired adventure. Epic Pictures Group has set a summer release date for Turbo Kid, a Sundance Film Festival crowdpleaser that looks tailor-made for fans of ’80s action. And to get the word out, they’ve released a colorful new full-length trailer as well. Check out the new Turbo Kid trailer, and get release details, after the jump.

Epic Pictures Group has announced it will put Turbo Kid in theaters and on VOD August 28, bringing a jolt of energy to an otherwise sleepy weekend. Other films opening that weekend include the EDM drama We Are Your Friends starring Zac Efron, and Alejandro Amenábar’s thriller Regression starring Ethan Hawke and Emma Watson.

Directed by Anouk Whissell, François Simard, and Yoann-Karl Whissell, Turbo Kid is a coming-of-age tale unfolding in a post-apocalyptic, retro-futuristic 1997. An orphaned kid (Munro Chambers) sets out across the Wasteland on his BMX bike out to look for his best friend (Laurence Leboeuf) after she’s kidnapped by an evil warlord (Michael Ironside).

Peter caught the film at Sundance and was quite taken with it. Here’s an excerpt from his review, which is actually quoted in the trailer:

Turbo Kid is insane. It’s remarkable that a film like this was produced at all. Imagine what a movie might look like if it came from the mind of a ten-year old kid from the ’80s who is obsessed with Mega Man, and who just saw the Mad Max movies for the first time. Take a step further, and picture the film, if it was produced by a competent team of filmmakers with a budget affording that kid access to a good team to create practice special effects and makeup.

And finally, here’s the new Turbo Kid trailer. If violence, gore, and nostalgia trips are a turnoff, this might not be for you, but for everyone else it looks like a weird, wild ride.

The post ‘Turbo Kid’ Trailer and Poster: Sundance Mad Max-Inspired Crowdpleaser appeared first on /Film.

Walking on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles, CA, you see a lot of people dressed as famous movie characters. Jack Sparrow, Spider-Man, Batman, Optimus Prime, Willy Wonka and so many more are all walking around, hoping people take a photo with them for a small fee. Most of the costumes are terrible, but some are quite good. The team at Omaze used that fact to their advantage. They dressed Arnold Schwarzenegger up as his own character from Terminator 2: Judgement Day. In costume, Arnie walked around Hollywood Blvd. relatively unnoticed, and even posed as a wax sculpture in Madame Tussauds to scare the crap out of unsuspecting tourists.

The video is a way to raise awareness for a charity contest where the winner gets a trip to the premiere of Terminator Genisys, but it’s also just plain funny. Below, watch the Terminator Hollywood prank and find out more about the contest.

Here’s the Omaze Terminator video.

Terminator Hollywood Prank

To enter the contest, get to this link asap as it ends on Friday. Here’s the official info:

What You’ll Do

Go with him if you want to live… the most incredible night of your life! Arnold Schwarzenegger is back with a new, limited-time experience and you and a friend are invited as his special guests. Sidekicks, maybe? Not only will you take unlimited selfies with Arnold on the red carpet, but you’ll also be one of the first people to see the movie. Did we mention that after the movie, you’ll get to sip Schnapps with the Terminator himself at the official after-party? Hasta la vista, baby!

Who You’ll Help

After-School All-Stars (ASAS) provides comprehensive after-school programs that keep children safe and help them succeed in school and in life. ASAS’ vision is for our All-Stars to be safe and healthy, to graduate high school and go to college, to find careers they love and then give back to their communities. ASAS serves 87,377 low-income, at-risk youth at 367 Title I schools in 15 major cities across the country — from New York to Hawaii.

The post LOL: Arnold Schwarzenegger Dresses as the Terminator to Prank Fans appeared first on /Film.

It’s a big challenge to keep a franchise fresh three installments in, but Kung Fu Panda 3 has one big surprise up its sleeve. It turns out Po (voiced by Jack Black) isn’t the last of his kind, as he previously believed. His dad Li (voiced by Bryan Cranston) is still very much alive, and residing among an entire community of big, fat, happy pandas.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. First, Po and Li have to find each other, and in the first Kung Fu Panda 3 trailer they do just that. It goes about as well as you’d think. Watch the Kung Fu Panda 3 trailer after the jump.

The first Kung Fu Panda 3 trailer has gone up on YouTube.

Like father, like son, eh? Obliviousness clearly runs strong in this family.

The first Kung Fu Panda 3 offers but a tiny taste of the movie, which is just as well considering its release is still seven months away. There’s no hint of the other new pandas (which will include Mei Mei, voiced by Rebel Wilson), nor of the new big bad, supernatural villain Kai.

Besides all of the new characters, Kung Fu Panda 3 will bring back Po’s martial artist friends from the previous movies: Tigress (Angelina Jolie), Monkey (Jackie Chan), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Crane (David Cross), Viper (Lucy Liu), and their trainer, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman).

Kung Fu Panda 3 arrives in theaters January 29, 2016. Jennifer Yuh and Alessandro Carloni directed.

When Po’s long-lost panda father suddenly reappears, the reunited duo travels to a secret panda paradise to meet scores of hilarious new panda characters. But when the supernatural villain Kai begins to sweep across China defeating all the kung fu masters, Po must do the impossible—learn to train a village full of his fun-loving, clumsy brethren to become the ultimate band of Kung Fu Pandas!

The post ‘Kung Fu Panda 3′ Trailer: Jack Black and Bryan Cranston Get Some Father-Son Bonding Time appeared first on /Film.

It took four years to get from How to Train Your Dragon to How to Train Your Dragon 2, and it’ll be another three years before How to Train Your Dragon 3 is in theaters. But if you don’t want to wait quite so long for more high-flying dragon action, you can check out DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge in just a few days.

The brand-new Netflix series sends Hiccup and Toothless on new adventures with the Dragon Eye, an ancient artifact that reveals new secrets. Watch the DreamWorks Dragons Race to the Edge trailer after the jump. 

DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge is a continuation of the DreamWorks Dragons series that aired for two seasons on Cartoon Network. The new season will consist of 13 episodes debuting June 26.

Hiccup and Toothless are back in an all-new action packed series DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge. Their quest: to explore strange new worlds, seek out never-before-seen dragons and end the war between Vikings and dragons once and for all.

The post ‘DreamWorks Dragons: Race to the Edge’ Trailer: Netflix Flies High With Hiccup and Toothless appeared first on /Film.

20 essential job interview tips

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It’s so strange to me that society doesn’t connect the dots. Especially dots as obvious as these:

Dear Free-Range Kids:  I live in Rockhampton Queensland Australia.  Our town is one of the states most obese.  Rockhampton has been identified as one of the cities that our states health system recently targeted to pilot a healthy eating, healthy movement program fro children  (and parents) under 5.

I was one of the facilitators for this program and was gob-smacked to see this sign. — Katrina

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Below is just one of several letters I’ve gotten recently from parents frustrated or furious about having to get background checked before they can do something as simple as coach T-ball, or chaperon kids on a field trip. The idea is that somehow, in the time a parent is shepherding a gaggle of goofy kids around the prehistoric mammal diorama, he or she could easily molest them or groom them for later depravity.

Particularly galling is the fact — FACT! — that in Pennsylvania, where this particular parent is writing from and Jerry Sandusky’s legacy looms large, Jerry himself would have passed all these background checks.

A society where we are taught to automatically regard everyone as a threat is sick, sad and cruel. Wasteful, too. (Think TSA.) If you have stopped volunteering because of all the distrust and hoop-jumping, please let me know.  

Dear Free-Range Kids:

I’ve had enough of the “If it saves one” mentality that is taking over our ability to think rationally. Right now, I am pulling my hair out getting things ready for the end-of-the-year party tomorrow.  Sadly, I’m the only volunteer.  I don’t mind throwing the party (old school outdoor games like relay races and water balloon tosses), but when I got home tonight, I found this email about the requirements to volunteer next year.

I honestly don’t think I’m going through the hassle.

This is RIDICULOUS to require someone to have this to VOLUNTEER.
They are children, not nuclear bombs.

New volunteer requirements in Pennsylvania:

“1. PA Criminal Record Check – Required by all volunteers –Access this website to complete your online PA Criminal Record check: https://epatch.state.pa.us/Home.jsp

a. Completed online, instantly available to print, save and/or provide electronically.

2. PA Child Abuse History Clearance – Required by all volunteers – This is the website you will use to access the online application for your PA Child Abuse Clearance:

https://www.compass.state.pa.us/cwis/public/home

a. Completed online and will be mailed and emailed within 14 days.

3. FBI Federal Criminal History Record Check – Required by some volunteers – This is the website you will use to access the online application for your FBI fingerprint check:

https://www.pa.cogentid.com/index_pde.htm

This is a 2-STEP process – (1) register and pay on-line (2) go to a fingerprinting site to have your fingerprints submitted electronically. You may also schedule an appointment through the district to have the fingerprints completed.
b. Volunteers are exempt from this requirement if they:

· Have resided within Pennsylvania consecutively for the past 10 years; AND

· Complete and return the attached Volunteer Affidavit on page three.

c. Volunteers who have not resided within PA for the past 10 years must complete.

· Registration is completed online, a physical appointment is necessary.

· A receipt with the registration number must be provided to Human Resources.

State Police and Child Abuse clearance fees will be waived by the state effective July 25, 2015. New volunteer clearances must be dated within one year. By law, if you do not have these documents submitted on or before their expiration date, your ability to volunteer will be in jeopardy.” 

Here’s what’s in jeopardy: a society that believes in innocence until proven guilty. – L.

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Warning: Full spoilers for Game of Thrones: Season 5 follow...

Even before Game of Thrones' fifth season began, many fans knew this would be the trickiest road, to date, to navigate. The last two Song of Ice and Fire books (of the five released thus far) were A: not considered the best of the pack, B: filled with quite a few new main characters, and C: crippled by a weird, fold-over timeline that made it so that almost every big, shocking moment happened at the very end of the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons. Truth be told, these two tomes were one book that Martin strangely separated into two by characters, not chronology.

So what were the solutions? Firstly, a lot of the new characters introduced in the books were eliminated (or delayed) and their stories were handed off to existing characters, many of whom had storylines and arcs that dwindled dramatically in the books at this point. And secondly, new off-page moments were created to keep the thrills going throughout the season, so that these 10 episodes didn't wind up being completely end-loaded (though that sort of happened anyhow). Because if you ask book fans what the biggest moments were from the two novels, most would say Daenerys' arena dragon ride (and Dothraki drop-off), Cersei's walk of atonement, and the murder of Jon Snow by his Night's Watch brothers. Yes, still all huge moments from the final two episodes.

Continue reading…

DISTURBED has dropped a couple of hints over the weekend that it is getting ready to end its four-year hiatus. First was the unveiling online of a new band logo, but far more telling was the arrival of a video at the act's social media pages which seems to show the DISTURBED mascot, called "The Guy", seemingly beginning to emerge from a deep sleep. Back on April 22, BLABBERMOUTH.NET exclusively reported the rumor that DISTURBED was recording its first album since 2010's "Asylum". Although there has been no official confirmation on the matter, there are rumblings that the band has been working with producer Kevin Churko, who has helmed the latest efforts from a number of popular hard rock and heavy metal acts, including FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, IN THIS MOMENT, PAPA ROACH and HELLYEAH. If the rumor mill is correct, at least some of the recording sessions took place at Churko's The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas. The members of DISTURBED have offered no updates about possible recording or touring activity since the band went on hiatus in late 2011. DISTURBED singer David Draiman revealed a few months ago that he was co-writing and producing some "baby bands" — though he didn't divulge more details because of a non-disclosure agreement. Back in January, Draiman gave fans a "non-update" on the status of DISTURBED via his Twitter account, writing: "OKAY… 1. Disturbed WILL REUNITE…SOMEDAY. 2. I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN 3. NO CLUE ON Device EITHER – OOH WA AH AH AH." His tweet echoed comments made to The Pulse Of Radio back in 2013 about DISTURBED's eventual return. "DISTURBED will reunite when the time comes," he said at the time. "When we feel it's right, when [Draiman's side project] DEVICE has run its course, when everybody's in the right head space and we're feeling re-inspired and we're ready to go back at it and the itch is itching hard enough, it'll happen." After DISTURBED went on hiatus in late 2011, Draiman teamed with former FILTER guitarist Geno Lenardo to create DEVICE. Draiman has also been spending time with his wife, model/wrestler Lena Yada, and their son, Samuel, who was born in September 2013.

If "Game of Thrones" characters advertised modern-day brands, the results would be surprisingly... effective?

Somehow, the R-rated themes -- blood, sex, gore -- that make the series so horribly frustrating amazing are fantastic for advertising. Also, what brand wouldn't want to be associated with the incestuous Lannister siblings? Or the infamous bloodbath that was The Red Wedding?

Posted by humor page ScrollDroll on Facebook, we see what happens when present-day brands get mixed up in Westeros' drama.

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Scientists keep saying they'll put tiny robots into our bodies to cure disease, perhaps not realizing we may not be down with that. But the field is progressing rapidly, and researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) have now found ...