Roumen.ganeff

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

iZombie's Season 1 finale cemented David Anders's place as the best possible villain for the series. We've seen Blaine commit no small number of horrific acts, yet Anders continues to make the zombie likable. Charming, even. He tortured Major but did so with such swagger and confidence that it didn't feel like torture. Yet, it was still apparent Major was in real danger. It takes skill from the writers and Anders to make Blaine's personality believable without getting ridiculous, and they've pulled it off all season.

Blaine's and Major's arcs stole the season finale. Especially Major. His development has taken the most surprising course over the season, and I'm nothing but impressed with how they transformed the quiet, super nice guy into a zombie killer. It's not an easy change to make believable, but they dug in around the edges just the right amount before plunging the shovel in and sold it. Major even committed to his mission and went back to Meat Cute when he could have ran away. Again, I was caught off guard because he didn't hold back (the choice of music for the sequence, After the Fire's version of "Der Kommissar", was spot on). Him being unaware was disappointing though -- it was awfully convenient for him not to notice Blaine.

Continue reading…

Richard Branson is not just a billionaire businessman. He's also a father and grandfather who understands the challenges of being a new parent

That's how Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, described his support for a very generous parental leave policy adopted by Virgin Management, the investment and brand licensing arm of Branson's empire

Virgin Management will now provide employees with four years of experience up to 100% of their salary over a 52-week period of shared parental leave. Those with fewer than two years of experience will receive 25% of their salary. The policy applies to both men and women, and to parents who adopt Read more...

More about Children, Business, Parenting, Family, and Virgin

A Day To Remember as festival-goers have Faith No More

A well-worn techie cliché asserts the best camera is the one you've got with you, and that usually means the smartphone sitting in your pocket. Not so fast. Sony just pulled back the curtain on its latest pocket-friendly camera -- the RX100 IV -- and...

James Bond made a surprise appearance during Tuesday night's NBA finals in the form of a new "Spectre" TV spot.

The new 60-second trailer for Sam Mendes' latest shows some of the same footage from the first trailer -- Christoph Waltz's Oberhauser (Blofeld?) in the shadows, the spectre ring, and more teases about Bond's "secret." But the new footage shows Bond fighting in some snowy mountains and embracing Lea Seydoux, followed by an action montage of explosions, a plane crash, car chases and more of the usual Bond fare. The teaser ends with Daniel Craig getting close with Monica Bellucci to remind her just exactly who he is: "Bond, James Bond." More, please?

"Spectre" opens Nov. 6.

-- 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.

Samsung has unveiled its new mirror and transparent OLED displays in Hong Kong, and from the sound of it, the company has big plans for both of them. While the event has only showcased the screens as ad billboards and as a virtual necklace stand, Sam...

A previously unknown copy of the script for the original Star Wars has reportedly been found in a university library.

CBC News reports that the script was found in the University of New Brunswick science fiction archives. Librarian Kristian Brown had been organizing the section since February, and digitizing old copies of zines, pulp magazines, and novels.

The script is dated March 15, 1976, and carries the Lucasfilm Industries stamp. Lucasfilm Publicity says it appears to be a fan-made replica of the actual early script copies sold at conventions.

Continue reading…

The first trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 reveals many of the big plot elements for the final Hunger Games film. IGN breaks down this first trailer to pinpoint some of the biggest scenes of the film without spoilers. Check out the video above for the rewind theater and the video below for the full trailer.

• 0:07 -- Annie and Finnick's wedding is filmed to put a more positive spin on District 13's propaganda campaign. Until this point, most of the messaging has been very violent.
• 0:21 -- Effie is dressing Katniss in her mockingjay armor for a big event. They're a fancy room that's full of light, so they're definitely not in District 13.

Continue reading…

Not that anyone needed another reason to fear hospitals, but here’s a good one: Security researcher Brian Rios has discovered vulnerabilities in popular hospital drug pumps that allow hackers to remotely change drug dosages.

Read more...

As advanced as prosthetic feet and legs have become, they're frequently lousy with stairs. You usually have to reconfigure your limb to make the climb, even if it's just for a few seconds. That won't be an issue again if the Rehabilitation Institute ...

Guess what, Tesla: you're not the only car maker getting into the home battery game. Mercedes-Benz has unveiled a personal energy cell that, like Tesla's Powerwall, uses giant batteries to store surplus power from your home's solar panels and keep yo...

A Freedom of Information Act lawsuit has extracted emails between corporate lobbyists and US Trade Rep officials working on the secretive, corrupt Trans Pacific Partnership treaty. Read the rest

Warning: Full spoilers from the episode follow.

This week's Orphan Black began with a bit of a surprise in the form a new Leda clone named Crystal! And not only was she already on Delphine's radar, but she very quickly got swept up in the Clone Club drama too. It's funny, just when you think Tatiana Maslany has played every clone variant under the sun, they introduce a chatty, ditzy -- but deceptively savvy -- manicurist. Just one more great example of Maslany's range -- and another fun character to add to the mix, especially as the episode wore on.

Indeed, one of the highlights of "Ruthless in Purpose, and Insidious in Method" was Felix doing his best "American straight dude" impression to woo Crystal and steal her identity for Rachel and Sarah's gain. Even in just their one scene together, I loved Felix and Crystal's dynamic, particularly Fe's off-book pep talk. Plus, it offered a cool tie-in to Rachel's Duncan Code cliffhanger from last week.

Continue reading…

Spoilers for "Binding Arbitration" within. 

Silicon Valley returned to top form with “Binding Arbitration” as the gang found themselves in the heart of their legal battle against Hooli and discover that the company’s claims of ownership over Piped Piper may actually be legitimate.

It was a relief to see Big Head try and make good with Richard after all of this time, offering him a stolen Hooli phone that would’ve brought Nucleus’ terribleness to the forefront a la the tech journalist iPhone situation from a few years back. The resulting over-the-phone battle is one of the best scenes in the episode, with both parties wanting to say increasingly threatening things but their attorneys doing their best to coach them on the down low.

Continue reading…

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow...

Another really strong, exciting, and haunting Game of Thrones this week. Did it bust the "Episode 9 is usually the best episode of a Game of Thrones season" tradition? I think so. Not by much. Last week's Massacre at Hardhome was still better, even though we're almost fully into off-book territory here no matter where we turn.

So a "9.3" it is, as this week's episode split the riveting action and the horrible heartbreak into two separate big scenes, instead of combining them into one massive zombie storm. In "The Dance of Dragons," there was the intense, nail-biting ambush on Daenerys (which we could have easily suspected Hizdahr was behind had he not been stabbed) that led to her soaring over the arena atop Drogon, and then there was the heinous, deplorable act by Stannis, who chose to burn his own sweet daughter alive just to gain a magical military advantage. Two moments that ran us through the vast spectrum of "feels."

Continue reading…

Movie director Uwe Boll has released a couple of YouTube videos lamenting the failure of his third crowdfunding campaign.

Boll's rants are full of swear words and language that is definitely NFSW, so if you do opt to watch then be sure to do so with headphones!

The director, best known for his critically-panned video-game-to-screen adaptations like BloodRayne, Alone in the Dark and Far Cry, was trying to raise money for Rampage 3 but without much success. His previous failed campaigns include one for Postal 2, while one for Rampage 3 first failed to garner sufficient interest on Indiegogo and the same now looks set to happen Kickstarter.

Continue reading…

ZeptoLab and Blockade Entertainment officially announced today that they're turning the Cut the Rope mobile game franchise into a CG-animated feature film, tentatively titled Om Nom: The Movie, to be released in 2016.

The movie will focus on the beginnings of Om Nom, the beloved green monster from the Cut the Rope games who will be presented in ZeptoLab’s iconic, 3D cartoon style.

The film will be produced by Blockade’s CEO Brad Foxhoven and VP of Development David Wohl, with Zeptolab’s CTO Efim Voinov and CCO Semyon Voinov serving as Executive Producers.

Here's the movie's official plot synopsis and teaser poster:

"Om Nom tells the story of 13-year old Evan, a boy whose impulsiveness leads him to open a secret package containing a living scientific experiment - with mischievous intentions! Known only as Om Nom, this adorable creature has an insatiable appetite for everything sugary. Now free to roam, Om Nom begins to wreak havoc upon this formerly quiet town, and Evan, with his little sister Jordan in tow, must follow him on an epic adventure while avoiding a host of government agents, shady characters and other unique creatures - all of whom are looking to capture Om Nom for themselves.

Continue reading…

World of Tanks developer Wargaming has announced a reboot of sci-fi strategy title Master of Orion.

The forerunner of 4X style games like Civilisation, Master of Orion was originally released back in 1993 and spawned a sequel three years later in 1996. The reboot will be handled by NGD Studios and involves key members of the origianl team.

“As longtime fans of the Master of Orion, the opportunity to help breathe new life into this acclaimed game has been a dream come true,” said Andrés Chilkowski, Co-founder and CEO of NGD Studios. “While we’ve made many improvements overall to the game, we’re confident that its classic and addictive gameplay will appeal to gamers no matter if they played the game years ago or are now just experiencing it for the very first time.”

Continue reading…

NASA has granted the SpaceX Crew Dragon pad abort milestone approval following critical tests last month. The vehicle -- which will eventually carry astronauts to the International Space Station -- rocketed to a height of 1,187 meters (3,900 feet) at...

Today at WWDC Apple announced the next version of their OS X operating system. This next release, presumably version 10.11, is named OS X El Capitan. OS X Yosemite came with a comprehensive redesign which brought it in line with the new design principles that Apple introduced with iOS 7. The focus of El Capitan can be found in its name, which is a rock formation within Yosemite National Park. With Yosemite being the radical revamp, El Capitan focuses on improvements to the user experience and to performance.

One of the areas that has seen dramatic improvements in El Capitan is Spotlight Search. In my experience, Spotlight has historically never been very smart. It was only with Yosemite that it gained the ability to search for keywords or phrases inside files. Even then, it was never able to bring up obvious results to certain queries that Siri would be able to do on the iPhone. For example, searching for the current weather would just try to find the phrase "current weather" somewhere on your Mac, which isn't useful at all. In El Capitan Apple is applying the search functionality of Siri to text searches done via spotlight. You can ask for information on the weather, or on the scores from a hockey game. You can also ask for very specific items, such as the query in the image above where Spotlight is used to find a set of Keynote slides about a natural park that were sent by a certain person.

Mission Control sees a number of improvements as well. On the most basic level, there are a few changes to the interface. A blur effect is no longer applied to your wallpaper, and the bar at the top with your virtual desktops doesn't expand if you only have a single desktop at that moment, which gives more space for application windows. Apple has also added the ability to drag windows into the bar at the top to instantly put them into fullscreen mode.

Application multitasking has also been improved. El Capitan has a new feature that essentially performs the same function as Aero Snap on Windows. Two apps or other parts of the interface can be set so they split the screen down the middle. This even works with parts of the OS like Mission Control which you can see in the photo above.

As usual, Apple has included a number of updates to their existing applications. Notes was definitely the app that saw the greatest amount of improvement. You can now embed photos and use rich type with the Notes app, which almost makes it like a very simple version of Pages, as you're no longer limited to just typing in text with the most basic of formatting abilities.

Mail was another application that saw changes. You can now use trackpad gestures in the mailbox view to quickly mark or delete images. This is such an obvious feature, with the iOS version having had these abilities for some time now, and I'm surprised that it took this long to add it to OS X. 

Safari also received a couple of new features. You can now slide tabs to the left to pin them, which will keep them persistent even after restarting Safari or your computer. There are also indicators for which tabs are playing sound, which is something other browsers have had for some time now.

Of course, the biggest area of focus in El Capitan is performance. With the release of Yosemite it was clear that Apple needed to focus more on the performance of their OS after adding in visual effects that were taxing on the CPU and GPU. On my Retina MacBook Pro I saw considerable performance regressions compared to Mavericks, and even with OS X 10.10.3 many of those issues still remain.

There are two areas of performance that need to be considered. The first is raw speed, while the second is the frame rate of animations. El Capitan tackles some of the issues with the first aspect, but Apple has definitely been focusing on the second aspect with their announcement that the Metal graphics API is coming to OS X. Both the Core Graphics and Core Animation APIs now run on Metal rather than OpenGL. According to Apple, they've seen up to a 50% in rendering performance with Metal, and this will hopefully translate to improved UI smoothness for users.

The developer beta of OS X El Capitan is available today so developers can test their apps and try out new APIs. Like Yosemite, El Capitan will have a public beta beginning in July, and the final release will come this fall.

"Game of Thrones" deaths are nothing unusual and fans are used to losing some of their favorite characters, including ones who are still alive in the books. But Season 5's penultimate episode, "The Dance of Dragons," killed off someone that never should have been in harm's way, and thus made one of the show's heroes incredibly unlikeable. Let us mourn.

Here's what happened in Season 5, Episode 9, "The Dance of Dragons."


Image via HBO/HuffPost

Stannis sacrificed Shireen
Two episodes ago, Melisandre presented Stannis with an ultimatum: sacrifice his daughter Shireen to the Lord of Light for her King's blood, or risk losing to the Boltons. Few of us ever expected Stannis to even consider harming his child, especially after he had a heart-to-heart with her earlier this season.



But Stannis proved he was merely a heartless ruler, thirsty for the Iron Throne at any price. He tricked Shireen into helping him, then stoically watched Melisandre burn her alive at the stake. While we didn't see her burn, her shrieks and screams were just as harrowing and disturbing. (Let's also not forget that in the books, Shireen is still alive.) It was sick and cruel, and Twitter was not having it:

MAKE IT STOP

— Winter is Coming (@WiCnet) June 8, 2015

Okay, this is quite possibly the most screwed up thing that this show has ever done.

— Jenna Amatulli (@ohheyjenna) June 8, 2015

Do Dan & David want to lose all their viewers?? #GameOfThrones

— Erin Whitney (@CinemaBite) June 8, 2015

This show is an endless nightmare. #GameOfThrones

— Yahoo TV (@YahooTV) June 8, 2015

And Stannis clearly lost some supporters:

So much for #TeamStannis anyway

— Sam Adams (@SamuelAAdams) June 8, 2015

Welp, that's one less person you can root for on Game of Thrones.

WRONG AGAIN, DUDE. pic.twitter.com/r5v8DllWDh

— Immortan Jo (@jowrotethis) June 8, 2015

But alas, we must move on. The episode ended with an epic showdown and ...

DRAGONS!
Well, technically just one dragon, but still. Drogon showed up to the fighting pits and saved Daenerys, Tyrion, Daario, Missandei and the Unsullied as they were being attacked by the Sons of the Harpy. Epic is too much of an understatement to describe this final scene. Drogon flew around the stadium, burnt the rebels to crisps and then roared in his mother's face before giving her a cute nudge.



Dany finally climbed atop her dragon's back and flew away "NeverEnding Story"-style. It was amazing -- but probably would've been much more enjoyable had a little girl not just been murdered -- but that's "GoT" for you.


Image via Tumblr

Arya saw Meryn Trant
One of the names on Arya's kill list, the abhorrent Meryn Trant, finally arrived in Braavos. Meryn proved to be even more repulsive than anyone (second to Ramsay, of course) when he visited a brothel and requested a young girl, like a really young girl. Arya, please kill this awful excuse for a human ASAP.

Jaime was met with mercy in Dorne
Doran Martell seems to be a pretty reasonable guy. After Jaime and Bronn snuck into Dorne two weeks ago, the Prince of Dorne decided to let Jaime take his niece daughter Myrcella back to King's Landing. Jaime isn't totally safe yet, though. While Ellaria Sand showed support for Jaime and Cersei's relationship, it would be surprising for her to let the Lannisters go free without seeking revenge for Oberyn.

Jon Snow returned to The Wall
Jon and the Wildlings arrived back at The Wall, but his fellow brothers, especially Olly, weren't thrilled to see him. Worried about Jon? Yeah, us too.

"Game of Thrones" airs on Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on HBO.

-- 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.

Sunday night's "Game of Thrones" will be remembered as one of the most upsetting episodes of the series. Next to the Red Wedding, Sansa's traumatic rape and Ned's beheading, "The Dance of Dragons" ranked fairly high in the series' most disturbing moments.

Spoiler alert for Season 5, Episode 9, "The Dance of Dragons."


Image via HBO/HuffPost

Season 5's penultimate episode saw the stomach-turning death of one of the sweetest, most innocent characters in the Seven Kingdoms, and there aren't too many of those to begin with. Stannis tricked and betrayed his daughter by handing her over to Melisandre to sacrifice the young princess to the Lord of Light for her King's blood. He and his ineffective wife, watched as their young daughter screamed and burned at the stake. It was, to say the least, incredibly painful to watch, even though luckily the actual burning wasn't shown on camera.

Fans and critics have expressed their outrage and distress over the death, with many questioning whether or not the episode went too far -- especially with Meryn Trant's request for an exceptionally young girl in a brothel earlier in the episode. Rape, murder, incest, torture, castration and pedophilia are nothing new to "Game of Thrones," but a cruel death of a young child by her parents set off devastating alarms with many. The cast and crew behind "GoT," however, don't believe that the episode pushed things too far.



Showrunner Dan Weiss spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the choice to kill off Shireen (who is still alive in the books). "Horrible things [are] happening to people in this show, and this is one that we thought was entirely [narrtively] justified," Weiss told EW. The writer continued, saying that the scene was "supposed to be awful" to watch.

But why does "Game of Thrones" continue to subject its viewers to harrowing instances of violence against beloved characters? It seems that the showrunners want such scenes to raise questions of morality for the audience. While Weiss knows fans are affected by losing their favorite characters, he's also interested in why we don't react as strongly to the deaths of characters we don't know as well. "So instead of saying, ‘How could you do this to somebody you know and care about?', maybe when it’s happening to somebody we don’t know so well -- maybe then it should hit us all a bit harder," Weiss said. Rather than feel concern only for those with whom we connect, perhaps "GoT" challenges viewers by asking us to find sympathy for the larger tragedies that don't directly affect us.

While you may or may not agree with Weiss' questioning, or the direction of the show as it deviates from the books, it should be noted that "GoT" doesn't seem necessarily interested in pleasing its viewers. More and more, the show has neglected concerns over controversy and has stood strong by its intention to depict the depravity man is capable of when thirsty for glory and power. Is it fun to watch? No, not really -- and the death of a child in particular makes dragon appearances all the less thrilling, as many viewers felt on Sunday.



However, Weiss and fellow showrunner David Benioff want to push our buttons, if just to get us to examine our own emotional responses to evil and to prove that not all stories are pleasurable to watch, especially ones that mirror the horrors of a certain era. While this isn't a defense of "GoT," it is interesting to analyze how fans continue to watch a show that disturbs them (save for those who quit a few weeks ago) and what is considered crossing the line.

Not even Liam Cunningham, whose Ser Davos Seaworth had a poignant connection with Shireen, thinks the episode went too far. Although Davos has yet to learn of Shireen's fate, Cunningham told The New York Times that he was "astonished" when he read the scene in the script. "I think there’s going to be controversy after Shireen," Cunningham said. "It’s a challenging show. One of the reasons it’s as loved and admired as it is, is it doesn’t take the easy route. It really does throw things in your face."

Like Weiss, Cunningham said that the scene should have been "horrific," and reminded fans that that's just how "Game of Thrones" functions. Whether or not you choose to watch a show that continually breaks your heart, well, that's your choice (and for the record, we're sticking with it).

"Game of Thrones" airs Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET on HBO.

-- 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.

In the most shocking departure from the books yet, Shireen gets sacrificed in a vile move that now proves Stannis Baratheon is totally unworthy to sit on the Iron Throne. In a season of startling departures from George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books, Princess Shireen's depraved murder at the hands of her father, Stannis Baratheon, was the most disturbing. Really, disturbing doesn't even begin to describe the horror of watching a power-hungry father and his weak wife, Selyse, send their bright, gentle little girl to be burned alive at the stake. And all in the name of some hocus pocus so he can get power.

Shireen was "sacrificed" to the bloodthirsty, mythical Lord of Light, who supposedly will only help Iron Throne contender Stannis if he makes a sacrifice from his own blood. Talk about selling your soul to the devil -- that's who the "Lord of Light" must be, if his price of a throne requires the torture and death of a precious only child. Game of Thrones viewers went wild following the horrific scene with commenters lashing out at Stannis and Selyse for being the "worst parents EVER"! Yeahh!

This pair, in the real world, would face the electric chair for having their screaming daughter tied to the stake and then burned alive. Shireen's cries were pitiful --"Father, don't do this! Mother, don't do this!" -- before they turned into heartrending screams as the flames reached her small, innocent body. Poor Shireen. She didn't even have a humane Jon Snow to shoot an arrow through her heart to stop her suffering.

Stannis and Melisandre mercilessly let the poor thing die in agony. And Selyse's change of heart from being a power-hungry Lady MacBeth was too little, too late to save her sweet daughter. Even manipulative Cersei Lannister is mother of the year next to Selyse. Cersei is a lioness about protecting her kids no matter how monstrous, like son Joffrey. GoT fans' fury at the hideous plot twist was swift and sharp:

@JamesHibberd @EW @GameOfThrones I wanted to stop watching after that scene. Very disturbing, even for Game of Thrones.

-- Nick Price (@NickPrice05) June 8, 2015

tomorrow on the internet: Why Game of Thrones' Depiction of Burning Innocent Children Alive is Problematic

-- david ehrlich (@davidehrlich) June 8, 2015

Worst parents ever. #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/3ErQvAS7Cn

-- Jon Snow (@LordSnow) June 8, 2015

Yup #GameofThrones officially became the most fcked up show ever tonight.But, that ending though

-- Vinny Guadagnino (@VINNYGUADAGNINO) June 8, 2015

Updating my people who need to die on Game of Thrones: 1) Ramsey Snow 2) Walder Frey 3) Melisandre

-- Joe (@BuffaloWins) June 8, 2015

What is now proved beyond a shadow of a doubt is that Stannis Baratheon is another epicly undeserving contender for King of Westeros. His daughter murder drops him even lower on the deserving ranks than sadistic slimeballs Ramsay and Roose Bolton. If a man is willing to burn his own innocent daughter to ashes to sit on the Iron Throne, then what depths of disgusting will he NOT go to? He's already murdered his own brother, Renly, with an otherwordly shadow and cheated on his wife with evil Melisandre.

His chief advisor, Davos, almost had us convinced that despite Stannis' transgressions against Renly, he was actually a decent man who would be a fair ruler of Westeros. Well, that idea just got blown away forever. Stannis has revealed himself as the biggest evildoer of all. Even Roose Bolton puts a premium on his crazy bastard son, Ramsey, and legitimizes him. Really, every other clan in the Seven Kingdoms is all about furthering the FAMILY, and ensuring its grip on power for generations.

Stannis just ended that, when he sent his only child to the grave. That means that ruling Westeros is ONLY about his own twisted ego, not some manifest destiny that he babbled about. And talk about a stone-cold heart. Stannis ordered his daughter to a painful death right after she trustingly proved her own true love to her father, by saying she'd do anything to help him. Of course, she didn't mean "anything"!

Now, Stannis has probably sealed his own doom by this cowardly act. For as Tyrion wisely said to Daenerys, in the same episode last night: "A ruler who kills those that are devoted to her, is not a ruler that inspires devotion. And you're going to need to inspire devotion, and lots of it, if you're ever going to rule." Stannis just demonstrated to his army and all of the Seven Kingdoms what he does to those most devoted to him. He will never inspire devotion and therefore he can never successfully rule. Stannis -- you're a loser, not a leader.

-- 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.

Brad Pitt is heading to a small, big and streaming screen near you.

On Monday, Netflix announced plans to produce Brad Pitt's new satirical comedy, "War Machine," which is loosely based on Michael Hasting's bestseller The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan. Written and directed by David Michôd ("Animal Kingdom"), the film will follow Pitt's "four-star 'rock star' general" -- sounds a bit like a modern-day Lt. Aldo Raine -- as he commands American troops in Afghanistan. With a radical new approach, Pitt's character is determined to win the war with the help of his "motley staff." Netflix plans to release "War Machine" in theaters and exclusively to its streaming members in 2016.

This news is significant, as it marks Netflix's venture into original filmmaking with one of Hollywood's biggest stars at the helm. The theatrical release also reveals the possibility of Netflix's first Oscar nomination, which could break the company into the filmmaking world in the same way the Emmy wins "House of Cards" garnered helped usher Netflix into original television. Deadline estimates that this roughly $30 million deal would be the company's largest investment in a feature film so far.

Netflix has recently announced other plans for breaking into cinema, such as their multifilm deal with Adam Sandler, documentary partnership with Leonardo DiCaprio and plans to release a "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" sequel. But a collaboration with an A-lister like Pitt signals something much more monumental. We're not sure what to expect, but don't seem surprised if there's a plethora of thinkpieces in a few years about how Netflix changed the future of cinema.

-- 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.

So, I decided to make 5 more Game of Thrones cocktails for some of the newer characters and for some that I missed last time.

With only two more episodes left this season, we are gonna need as many Game of Thrones cocktails as we can get .

I feel a big kill coming on and I’m really nervous about it.

(Incase you missed it, I made 10 Game of Thrones cocktails during last season too.)

Let us begin this wonderful, mystical and twice-distilled journey into the wonderful world of Westeros:

Highgarden’s Little Rose:
Pour a glass of sparkling rosé.
Add 1/4 oz rose water, or to taste.
Add rose vodka (recipe here) or gin, as desired (optional).
Garnish with dried rosebuds or fresh rose petals

*I made another rose-themed cocktail last year, if you want to check it out click-here*

“Do you want to be a queen?” – Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish
“No. I want to be the queen.” – Margaery Tyrell

So much drama and scheming in King’s Landing. It makes you yearn for some honor and humility, something our next character has plenty of:

Brienne the Beauty:
2 oz whiskey (or your favorite dark liquor)
1 oz triple sec or high quality orange liquor (I used Grand Marnier)
Top off with lemon lime soda.
Garnish with blueberries (sapphires, because she’s from the Sapphire Islands. Get it? Get it?) and fresh mint because why not?
Serve on the rocks in a tall glass. This drink should be tall, strong and sweet. Just like Brienne of Tarth.

“I don’t want anyone following me. I’m not a leader. All I ever wanted was to fight for a lord I believed in. But the good lords are dead and the rest are monsters.” – Brienne of Tarth

We now venture into the more magical side of Westeros; the North and what lies beyond the Wall:

Three-Eyed Raven:
2 oz (or more) vodka or gin
2 oz blk water
1 oz dry vermouth
1 oz olive brine
Stir all ingredients with ice and strain into a glass.
Garnish with three black olives stuffed with white cheese.

“You’re going to help me walk again?” – Brandon Stark
“You will never walk again. But you will fly” – Three-Eyed Raven

Let us fly over the Narrow Sea into Essos, a truly magical land. You can’t talk about magic without talking about the Dragons:

Dragon’s Breath:
Fill a shot glass almost all the way with Fireball cinnamon whiskey.
Top off with a flammable liquor like Bacardi 151 or Everclear.
Carefully light the top of the shot (it is more visible in the dark).
Scream, “Dracarys!”
Then blow out the flame and slam it.

“Death comes out of a dragon’s mouth. But death does not go in that way.” – Septon Barth

Our final stop on this fantastical journey, is to the Faceless Men, who worship the Many-Faced God, a.k.a. the Red God or the God of Death:

 

Jaqen H’ghar:
On a plate, combine a few spoonfuls of light corn syrup with red food coloring till blood red.

Dip the rim of the glass into the mixture and place the glass right side up to drip and dry on a paper towel. You don’t need much on the rim.

While the “blood” drips, fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add 2 oz vodka and 2 oz grenadine.
Shake and pour into the glass.
Add sparkling water or ginger ale, to taste.

“A man owes three.” – Jaqen H’ghar
“Three what?” – Arya Stark
“The Red God takes what is his, lovely girl. And only death may pay for life. You saved me and the two I was with. You stole three deaths from the Red God. We have to give them back. Speak three names, and a man will do the rest.” – Jaqen H’ghar

There you have it, 5 more Game of Thrones cocktails.

Here’s a quick and easy-to-remember drinking game: Take a sip anytime anyone dies and finish your drink if a main/supporting character dies.

Oh, and if you have any requests or suggestions for more Game of Thrones cocktails, let me know in the comments below and I will try to make it happen!

*Winter is Coming*

[subscribe2]

Warning: Feature contains story spoilers for all of HBO's Game of Thrones up until this point.

Not only did last Sunday's "Harhome" give us one of the most riveting and frightening action set pieces Game of Thrones has ever produced, but it ended things with a tense, dramatic "Come at me, Crow!" stare down between Jon Snow and a menacing icy overlord known as the Night's King.

That huge battle breathed new life into the season while also bringing to the forefront a new arch villain. Not that we hadn't seen the Night's King before, but this massacre saw him making a huge play for power. He was out for wildling blood, not off in some remote White Walker Walley World zapping babies into snow zombies.

Continue reading…

If you look at the caterpillar of the forest tent caterpillar moth (Malacosoma disstria) with a little imagination you can see something remarkable. Found throughout North America, along the top of this caterpillar is ranged a set of what looks like dancing penguins. It looks as if his grandma knitted him a sweater for Christmas but decided that one motif simply wasn’t enough.

Image Credit MattyBravo

Image Credit Nature Reserve
If you choice of operating system is Linux (probably the most prominent example of free and open-source software collaboration) then there might also be something familiar to this caterpillar – it bears a more than passing resemblance to Tux the Penguin, the mascot of Linux). You could say that this is the final proof that you need to show that the universe is simply a simulation run on Linux. Or maybe all those operating system experts were right all along – you can install Linux on anything.

Image Credit Michael Grass
Image Credit SETshots
Humor aside, this, of course is one of nature’s inadvertent acts of mimicry. The fact that the patterns on the forest tent caterpillar look like penguins is sheer accident and cannot be classed as a form of antipredator adaptation. It is, however, a warning sign to predators that the caterpillar will not taste especially nice. Its penguin shape is coincidental but nevertheless entertaining and perhaps even charming to us.

Image Credit Upton
Image Credit Upton
Less charming is the fact that every now and again these caterpillars will appear in such numbers that they become a threat to the maintenance of healthy populations of the trees it frequents, such as the oak, sweetgum, tupelo, aspen, and sugar maple. During these times of population explosion (no firm reason has ever been established) the caterpillars move en masse from the canopy to lower trees and the destruction they wreak can be almost Biblical in proportion.

Image Credit Liz Castro
One caterpillar with penguins on its back may be cute.  Thousands at a time.  There are probably other words that would be used here...

Image Credit Cranberries
Image Credit Jinx McCombs
There are long traditions in farming communities that when tents are discovered (they are created when the caterpillars weave a silky sheet where they come together to molt) the solution has long been to destroy the entire formation with fire. Although trees are rarely killed during a single ‘infestation’ if you have a single ‘tent’ one year you will most likely have more the next. When this happens over three or four years the trees can perish in significant numbers and many feel the need to intervene. Yet this counter-attack by man is not a threat to the continuation of the species – the caterpilllars do not only choose farms when their population booms to what is called outbreak density.

Image Credit Upton
Image Credit David Heise
The outbreaks happen every decade or so. No one knows for sure why they happen but there could be a number of reasons for this population cycle. These reasons include a drop in the number of parasitoids which would usually consume a large proportion of the caterpillars.

Image Credit seabrooklecchie
The tachina fly, for example, lays its eggs in to the caterpillars. The larvae further bore in to the forest tent caterpillar and proceed to devour it from the inside out. When there are plenty of these flies around infestations tend not to happen and are often the main cause for their subsidence, rather than our intervention.

Image Credit meddygarnet
Image Credit HappyLittleClouds
Yet let’s return to the patterns which first provoked this feature – the dancing penguins on the back of the forest tent caterpillar. From this magnificent start you might expect something equally fun at the other end of the metamorphosis (perhaps a Bambi or Dumbo motif). Unfortunately the forest tent caterpillar moth transforms in to something quite everyday. In the Hans Christian Anderson story the ugly duckling transforms in to a beautiful swan.

This moth does it the other way around. Yet for the short time it resides in its caterpillar form, you might say that penguins abound in the forests of North America.

Image Credit Lollie Dot Com
Image Credit AsiVivo
First Image Credit jdw242b
Full moth - Image Credit Wild Return