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Microsoft's already demonstrated how its computer vision technology can recognize objects even better than humans, now it's onto the next frontier: Interpreting elements of a photo and automatically generating captions. That may not exactly sound exc...

Ross Ulbricht is going away for life. The prosecution urged judge Katherine Forrest to send a strong message to anyone who might be tempted to go the Silk Road way, and she did. In addition to maximum time, the judge ordered $183 million, the estimat...

The Khaleesi may have angered a lot of people on "Game of Thrones" -- especially the Sons of the Harpy -- but what did she ever do to those outside of the Seven Kingdoms?

Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen on the HBO show, covers the July issue of Marie Claire U.K., and told the magazine why she doesn't Google herself anymore. "I remember when everything first kicked off, I Googled myself," Clarke said. "You just do, it's instinct. But never again. It just takes that one person who says, 'She's a fat bitch,' and you're like: 'I'm a fat bitch!'"

Do year hear that? That is the sound of Drogon breathing fire onto the poor soul who insulted the Mother of Dragons.



While Clarke has done nude scenes before, particularly in "GoT," the actress told the magazine that she's hesitant to do any more. "I thought I might get stuck in a pigeonhole that I would have struggled to get out of," the "Terminator Genisys" actress told the magazine of her decision to turn down "Fifty Shades of Grey" because of the nudity.

The July issue of Marie Claire U.K. is on newsstands now. For more, head to MarieClaire.co.uk.

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To "Orphan Black" star Tatiana Maslany, being a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocate is "just a no-brainer."

Among the 13 clone characters that the 29-year-old actress plays on the BBC America science fiction series is Cosima Niehaus, a bisexual scientist. But an emotional Maslany, who is straight, recently told GLAAD's Claire Pires that her support for the LGBT community doesn't stop at the small screen.

"A lot of my friends, you know, have struggled with coming out or identifying how they identify," she said. "It just makes no sense that there wouldn't be support for the community [or] that it even has to be a separate community. I don't understand why there's a line drawn."

Cosima, she added, differs from other bisexual television characters in that she is "not on display for the male gaze." The star is particularly proud of the way the series depicts Cosima's relationship with her girlfriend, Delphine (Évelyne Brochu).

"They're not sexualized in that way, but they are sexual with each other and they're intimate," she said. "Whether Delphine identifies as bisexual or however she identifies herself, she's open to loving Cosima and there's no question. It's about the love between them; it's not about the fact that they are two women."

At San Diego Comic-Con last year, Maslany got visibly emotional while discussing LGBT issues. The actress was left speechless when a fan thanked her and co-star Jordan Gavaris, who plays the openly gay Felix on "Orphan Black," for helping her to come out of closet.

-- 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.

20th Century Fox is rebooting The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

According to Variety, John Davis (The Blacklist) is producing the remake. The movie is based on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, focusing on the exploits of a supergroup of public domain literary heroes.

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"Emoji", "NSFW", "clickbait", "photobomb", "net neutrality" and "WTF" have been added to the Merriam-Webster's unabridged dictionary.

These new entries, as reported by CNN, are just a selection of the 1,700 words added in the latest edition, with 3,200 examples of how to use these terms in context.

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The Fifa presidential election will go ahead on Friday despite the launch of two damaging corruption investigations.

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As if Dwayne Johnson wasn’t already cool enough, the wrestler turned blockbuster superstar had to do something adorable for one of his biggest fans. While taking part in the press junket for this week’s release of the earthquake action thriller San Andreas, Johnson joined in and ultimately led a wedding surprise scheme for journalist Nick Mundy at ScreenJunkies.

Watch the Dwayne Johnson wedding surprise after the jump!

Mundy thought that he was going to be taking part in some elaborate bit that would be part of his video interview with Dwayne Johnson, but the tables were turned on him when he learned that The Rock was going to be officiating his wedding right then and there. As you can see, the result is a hilarious and touching moment that shows Dwayne Johnson may actually be a real-life superhero.

And because this all happened during the press tour for San Andreas (watch the latest trailer right here), Johnson couldn’t help but plug the movie that hits theaters this week. During the surprise ceremony, Johnson said:

“Nothing is more powerful than your union. It carries more force than a bolt of lightning or even the world’s largest earthquake, much like the one you’ll see in ‘San Andreas’ when it hits theaters May 29th.”

How many people would pay thousands of dollars to have Dwayne Johnson preside over their wedding? Hell, people would pay just to have Dwayne Johnson show up at their wedding for five minutes. What’s even cooler is that ScreenJunkies and Dwayne Johnson were able to round up Mundy’s closest family and friends for this unforgettable moment. Of course, it’s made that much more memorable by the presence of The Rock. It doesn’t even matter that Mundy got married wearing American flag pants. In fact, that just makes this moment even better.

The post VOTD: Dwayne Johnson Wedding Surprise Makes for Magical, Muscular Matrimony appeared first on /Film.

Twin Peaks isn’t just back — there’s more of it coming than anyone expected.

The return of Twin Peaks has already become a saga, with Showtime setting up a nine-episode third season to air in 2016, with David Lynch directing all episodes and co-writing with Twin Peaks co-creator Mark Frost. Then Lynch bailed on the series, reportedly over budget and deal issues. But Showtime worked things out with Lynch, and the director returned, just in time for Showtime to announce the third season had expanded from its original nine-episode order.

We didn’t know much more than that. What would be the final Twin Peaks season three episode count? And who else will return to the series now that Lynch is fully on board? During a convention appearance, Sheryl Lee and Sherilyn Fenn revealed some details. Notably, that the series order has doubled, and there’s a suggestion that Angelo Badalamenti, the musical voice of the show, is also coming back.

At Seattle’s Crypticon, Sherilyn Fenn talked about the show’s development so far, calling it a “roller coaster,” and suggesting, as we assumed, that if Lynch had stayed away she would have refused to do the show. But things are back on, and Fenn looks very happy.

She also said, “And 18 episodes now, even!”

Her comment after that went a ways towards confirming some of our suspicions about the money conflict, saying “and I think when he did the nine, he realized he needed nine more to really complete it.”

So the budget Showtime had agreed upon was basically doubling. That’s just a loose account of the dealmaking process, of course, but it does shed a little bit of light on the situation.

Also revealed is the plan to use music from Angelo Badalamenti. There isn’t a specific mention of him doing new music, but one would suspect that will end up being the case. Badalamenti was among the most significant parts of the show’s formula, as his mournful, ghostly music tied all the show’s eccentricities together.

There was also an interesting detail: Twede’s Cafe in North Bend, WA, which served as the Double R Diner in the show’s original location shoot, is being restored to be used in the new shoot.

“We’re shooting there, 100%,” Fenn said when asked about the original Washington locations. She added,

“[David’s] already come here. They’re redoing the R&R Diner to look exactly like it did in the show, and then the owners of the diner are going to keep it that way.”

She also mentioned that Lynch is figuring out how to shoot the Sheriff station, as it has been built up quite a bit since the original shoot.

While many Pacific Northwest locations were used for exteriors during the show’s pilot shoot, most of the series was actually shot north of Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley, in a warehouse that was refitted into stages, with Malibu forests doubling for the northwest in some scenes. We don’t know what the balance will be for the new series, but it sounds like at least some of the interiors will be shot on location, if the interior of the diner is being restored.

One of those interiors will be the Red Room, as Fenn says “she’s alive in the Red Room” while talking about Sheryl Lee. A few minutes later, Lee says “I know that I’m coming back now, but I don’t know how, and I may not know until I show up for the first day.” That’s obviously an exaggeration, but it’s a good way to say she’s not going to reveal anything now.

Fenn also references her character’s own odd end at the conclusion of the second series, explaining that it was the network’s desire for a cliffhanger that led to Audrey’s final scene.

Twin Peaks should begin shooting this September, with the series slated for Showtime in 2016.

Here’s video of the panel appearance, via Welcome to Twin Peaks. The first season three comments are right at the top, and the mentions of Badalamenti and the diner come much later in the talk.

The post ‘Twin Peaks’ Season Three Doubles to 18 Episodes, Angelo Badalamenti Returning appeared first on /Film.

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There's no question that Jony Ive is more important than ever to Apple's design process given his heavy influence on everything from the look of iOS to the philosophy behind the Apple Watch, and the Cupertino crew just gave him a promotion to reflect...

A good "Game of Thrones" episode can be a lot of things. It can be one that triggers a powerful, emotional reaction for a beloved character, one that stuns its audience with a shocking death, or even an episode that spends the entire hour depicting an epic battle.

Spoiler alert for Season 5 Episode 7 "The Gift"


Image via HBO/HuffPost

But Sunday night's "Game of Thrones" was one of the most well-written, well-sculpted episodes of the entire series. Episode 7 of Season 5, "The Gift," was fantastic for weaving together so many plots with various tones. The episode honored the passing of a cherished character (RIP Aemon Targaryen), showcased the courage of others, served up some of the best dialogue between rivals (all the awards for Olenna Tyrell), incited long-awaited romance, and best of all, served up delicious justice. That alone is a lot for merely half a season of "GoT," but "The Gift" managed to cohesively pack it all in with smooth directing and poignant writing that still didn't fall short on the nudity and violence. Here were the highlights:

Cersei got what was coming to her
Finally the queen of manipulating and backstabbing was served up a hot steaming plate of justice when the High Sparrow locked her up for her previous incestuous relations with Cousin Lancel. Watching the satisfied smirk slowly fade from her lips almost made her evil acts from the past five seasons worth it. Now we can expect that major Cersei scene to happen any week now.



Sansa stood up to Ramsay
After last week's highly controversial episode where Sansa is brutally raped by Ramsay, we saw the Stark girl weeping in bed covered in bruises. She told Theon that Ramsay has continued to assault her each night and that she's trying to escape Winterfell. Theon, aka Reek tattled on Sansa, but she held her own when she called her new husband a bastard to his face. She may be continually abused, but Sansa is still strong and fighting as best she can.

Tyrion and Daenerys finally meet!
Two of the (arguably) most significant characters in the series finally met when Jorah and the Lannister arrived to the fighting pits. The look on Dany's face when Tyrion announced himself (as "the gift") was something truly magnificent. Now go take over the world and make it a better place, guys.



Sam was the real hero
Samwell Tarley has proven his courage number times, first by killing a White Walker and then during the Battle of Castle Black. But in "The Gift" he fought two of his Night's Watch brothers to save Gilly from being raped. His reward? The two finally kissed and had sex! We shall dub them Gillwell. And Ghost the direwolf also made a heroic appearance, reminding us why the House Stark sigil is the baddest of them all.



Melisandre wants another sacrifice
The Red Woman's latest scheme to help Stannis achieve victory is one the Lord of Dragonstone isn't thrilled to hear. Melisandre wants to sacrifice his daughter Shireen in order to win Winterfell from the Boltons. He kicks her out of his tent for mentioning it, and after a recent episode where Stannis bonded with his daughter, it would be surprising for him to give in.

The Baratheon kids got really upset
Both Tommen and Myrcella Baratheon lashed out at their parents on Sunday, (except the latter doesn't know Jaime is her father). Tommen yelled at Cersei and cried over Margaery's imprisonment, while Myrcella refused to return to King's Landing since she's determined to marry Tyrstane Martell.



Bronn got seduced and saved
Last week, we predicted Bronn's possible death after he was cut by one of the Sand Snakes' spears, which was likely dipped in poison. As it turns out, the blade was deadly and began to slowly kill the fighter as he lay in his cell watching Tyene Sand seduce him with her bare chest. Tyene eventually gave Bronn the antidote for the poison -- but only after he admitted she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

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

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Warning: Full spoilers from the episode follow.

Up until now, Orphan Black: Season 3 had mostly been setup -- compelling setup, to be fair, but the overarching was ultimately vague. The season didn't have it's hook, something for fans to latch onto. But that all changed in this week's "Certain Agony of the Battlefield," which finally kicked the show back into high gear. More notably, it was all thanks to one unlikely character: Paul. (Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are.)

We already knew that Paul was wary of Dr. Coady's intentions -- as was Mark after his misadventure with Sarah. So it was cool to see these two secretly team up to do some digging around the Castor base. And while their search efforts led to the obvious conclusion we figured out for ourselves last week -- that the Castor defect could be sexually transmitted -- Paul's deductive reasoning led to some huge revelations in the latter half of the episode.

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Spoilers for “Adult Content” within.

“Adult Content” is relatively light on laugh-out-loud gags, particularly in comparison to the episode it follows, but its commitment to character and moving the chess pieces around is commendable. With End Game in the market and out of Pied Piper’s control, Richard and company are struggling to cope with confrontation while also searching for a solution.

The main narrative of the episode was successful and served to once again display Richard’s better leadership qualities as well as the team’s overall devotion to building their product even if they fancy themselves slackers. But “stealing” the terms of End Game’s deal with the porno company and actively working to nab the contract out from under them is a move that Richard wouldn’t have gone for at the start of the season. Watching him confront the company’s CEO and deliver a speech about why he needs their business was an important moment for him and a confirmation for the viewer that these guys are worth rooting for.

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Warning: Full spoilers for the episode follow...

In the best Game of Thrones episode so far this season, Stannis got angry, Bronn got an eyeful, Cersei got a taste of her own medicine, and Sam got some.

No Arya this week, but still a very busy episode. In fact, it was getting so cluttered that I worried about "The Gift" feeling overstuffed. But it didn't. It flowed rather nicely, spending the first twenty minutes solidly up in the North, where a snow storm had hit.

IGN's Summer TV Preview

Going by the books, I had assumed the title referred to the acres of land south of the Wall that Jon Snow had in mind for the Wildlings. An area known as The Gift - formerly Brandon's Gift. And while that's still a part of this season's story, the real gift (or one of them anyhow) was the intel Littlefinger gave to Olenna about Lancel and Cersei. "A handsome young man." Playing both sides as usual, Littlefinger made up for the fact that he gave up Olyvar and helped put Loras and Margaery in Religion Jail by helping get Cersei locked up as well. A scene made even more sweet by the fact that Cersei had just come from visiting an imprisoned, filthy Margaery. Now we know what fate awaits the Queen Mother without even having to see next week's chapter. It was wonderful.

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Long ago, the summer months were a time for reruns, as networks anticipated most viewers spending their time outside, doing "outside things." But since we're all indoor kids now, the TV landscape has changed and summertime is just as dang busy as any other time of year.

Cannibals, prisoners, zombies, and aliens are all set to invade your precious TV space as Hannibal returns to NBC, Netflix releases a new season of Orange is the New Black, a Walking Dead spinoff series debuts on AMC, and TNT's Falling Skies airs its final season.

Plus, Syfy premieres new shows Killjoys, Dark Matter, and Geeks Who Drink while the aforementioned Netflix keeps us busy with Sense8, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II.

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We’ve been talking a lot about Mad Max: Fury Road for the past couple weeks, and one reason is that it is, as I argued in my review of the film, incredibly precise and clear storytelling from a visual perspective. There is virtually nothing as good as Fury Road in action films of late. But there is in older work, such as the remarkable run of ’80s and early ’90s movies from Jackie Chan.

A couple weeks ago I came across a video essay that is itself very precise about breaking down just what works in Chan’s films, and why. I’ve watched this essay many times now, and despite the fact that it isn’t “new,” having debuted late last year, I wanted to share it as an explanation of exactly how and why some visual storytelling works so well.

Whether you aspire to make films, or just want to gain a better understanding of how they work, you must watch this video.

This essay is titled “How to Do Action Comedy,” but that particular blend of elements is only part of its appeal. What this really reveals is how to achieve clarity in action. Doing so isn’t easy, but it is pretty simple. Keep the camera wide, and steady. Stage the action to provide context, keeping action and reaction in one shot. Cut with a rhythm. These are all things we see in the success of Fury Road, too.

Persistence is the key ingredient. As Jackie says in one interview clip, “it’s not [that I’m] good! You can do it! Except, do you have the patience?” That goes along with a point that Tony Zhou makes in the essay, that Jackie doesn’t win fights because he’s the best fighter, he wins because he doesn’t give up.

I saw a full collection of Jackie Chan’s great ’80s films in a Boston-area theater in the summer of 1993, and they changed my view of action filmmaking. His work, especially when seen all at once, makes a tremendous impact.

If you haven’t seen these films, I can’t recommend strongly enough that you seek out the first three Police Story films, Project A parts one and two, the pair of Armour of God films, Jackie’s two Drunken Master movies, and Wheels on Meals. Yeah, that’s ten Jackie films that are stone-cold essential, and that only scratches the surface of his career. The guy is a phenomenon.

If you want a taste, this supercut will give you a heaping faceful.

The post Watch: Entertaining and Instructive Video Essay on Jackie Chan’s Action Filmmaking appeared first on /Film.

An unassuming, Mormon family man. A brilliant physics and engineering student with a goofy smile. Five years ago, neither of these men knew each other, let alone suspected that they'd be drawn into a web suffused with libertarian dogma, hard drugs an...

The USA Freedom Act aimed at addressing the NSA's bulk collecting of phone call metadata was approved by the House of Representatives ten days ago, but blocked by the Senate tonight (live video stream here). The Section 215 provisions of the Patriot ...

 A new app for lumbersexuals. (by Dan Meth)

Chris Pratt may be shooting down casting rumors left and right, but one thing we know for sure is that he’ll be back for another Guardians of the Galaxy. And, it seems, for another several Marvel movies after that — including multiple non-GOT projects. Read the Chris Pratt Marvel future quotes after the jump. 

Speaking with GQ, Pratt revealed he’s sticking around the Marvel Cinematic Universe for quite some time:

I’m tied to doing three more, or five more, Guardians of the Galaxy or whatever it is, you know, two more Guardians plus another couple.

The GQ writer interprets this as meaning Pratt “is committed to at least two sequels, as well as spin-off projects where his character will appear with other Marvel characters.”

Basically, it sounds like the same six-picture deal that most of Marvel’s leads have. Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy 2 (which is already dated for May 5, 2017 and starts shooting in February) take up two of those slots. If the sequel does well, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will almost certainly claim a third.

Less clear is which films will use up the other three spots on Pratt’s contract. The first Guardians of the Galaxy occupied a very different corner of the MCU than the other films have, and had very little overlap with The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and their related films.

But the two-part Avengers: Infinity War seems more likely to involve Pratt’s Star-Lord. The Power Stone figured prominently into the first Guardians of the Galaxy, and Thanos will have to get his hands on it eventually if he wants the complete set.

Other possibilities for Star-Lord are 2019’s Inhumans, which deals with a race of superhumans created by the Kree (Ronan’s people from Guardians of the Galaxy), and 2018’s Captain Marvel, which centers on a character who’s had extensive contact with the Guardians of the Galaxy in the comics.

In the meantime, Pratt has already begun prepping for his next outing as Star-Lord. “I got teary-eyed,” he said of his first Guardians of the Galaxy 2 briefing with director James Gunn. “He’s so fucking smart and peculiar.” But there’s still a lot he doesn’t know about it, like the plot. “[Gunn] just knows me too well to tell me too much,” said Pratt.

For now, Pratt seems perfectly happy to keep playing Star-Lord for the foreseeable future. After teasing the idea of retiring early to spend time with his son Jack, Pratt admitted, “I think I would do it and then three months later I would be tired of bird hunting and I would be like ‘…Guardians Ten?'”

 

The post Chris Pratt Will Be in Non-‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Marvel Films appeared first on /Film.

Not long after we saw Anna Kendrick star in a teaser for a female-led remake of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, we have some more amusing fun being teased for Red Nose Day. For those who don’t know, Red Nose Day is a comedy fundraiser that started in the United Kingdom and is making its way to the United States for the first time with a primetime special on NBC airing on Thursday, May 21st at 8pm Eastern. It’s a star-studded event featuring a slew of comedians, actors, musicians and more, and we just got another tease of something Game of Thrones fans will enjoy.

Peter Dinklage is teaming up with Coldplay to deliver a Game of Thrones musical, and NBC has unveiled a tease of the fan favorite actor singing a song about the various character deaths on the show. So if you happen to be way behind on HBO’s most popular show, beware of spoilers. Watch the Game of Thrones musical tease below!

Update: We’ve now got the full Game of Thrones musical production video, narrated by Liam Neeson.

Here’s a tease of the Game of Thrones musical fun that will happen on Red Nose Day (via NBC):

This is just a tease of the Game of Thrones musical fun that will happen on Red Nose Day. Chris Martin and his band Coldplay are involved in the musical proceedings that will air during the comedy fundraiser. In fact, here’s a quick glimpse of what they’ve been working on, complete with a whole slew of cast members from the hit HBO show, including Kit Harrington, Rose Leslie and many more:

Funnily enough, this won’t be the first time Game of Thrones has had ties to Coldplay. The band’s drummer, Will Champion, actually had a cameo on the series as a member of the band who was playing at the infamous Red Wedding. It should be interesting to see how the world of Westeros comes to life in the form of an abridged stage musical, especially with much of the cast on hand to help out.

Update: Here’s the full 12-minute video, narrated by Liam Neeson. Watch long enough to see Martin doing ‘Rastafarian Targaryen’ about three minutes in.

If you want to know more about Red Nose Day, check out the official description and talent roster from NBC:

The post LOL: Peter Dinklage Sings About Character Deaths in ‘Game of Thrones’ Musical [Updated] appeared first on /Film.