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NEW YORK (AP) — Toys R Us is pulling its four collectible dolls based on characters from AMC's hit series "Breaking Bad" after taking heat from a Florida mom who launched a petition campaign last week.

The dolls are based on the series about Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who turns into a crystal meth dealer, and his sidekick Jesse Pinkman. The figures have a detachable bag of cash and a bag of methamphetamines.



Toys R Us, which is based in Wayne, New Jersey, told The Associated Press late Tuesday that the dolls are being removed immediately from its website and shelves.

"Let's just say, the action figures have taken an indefinite sabbatical," Toys R Us said in a statement. The retailer had maintained that the figures were sold in limited quantities in the adult-action-figure area of its stores.

The Fort Myers, Florida, mom, identified by news media as Susan Schrivjer, launched a petition on change.org last week, demanding that Toys R Us immediately stop selling the dolls. The mom, who wrote the petition under the name Susan Myers, said that the dolls are a "dangerous deviation from their family friendly values."

"While the show may be compelling viewing for adults, its violent content and celebration of the drug trade make this collection unsuitable to be sold alongside Barbie dolls and Disney characters," she wrote.

As of Tuesday, the petition had 8,000 signatures.

On Monday, Bryan Cranston, the actor who played White, responded to the controversy, tweeting, "I'm so mad. I am burning my Florida mom action figure in protest."

The debate has also spurred die-hard adult figure collectors to rally behind Toys R US. Daniel Pickett, of Manhattan Beach, California, launched a petition on change.org in favor of the toy seller keeping the dolls. So far, it has collected nearly 3,000 signatures.

"I'm a parent of a school aged child myself, but I'm an informed, responsible parent and I closely monitor the toys, TV, music, movies and games that my daughter sees," Pickett wrote. "That's my job, and I take it seriously. But I also like toys/action figures and I want 3-D representations of characters from my favorite properties and I love being able to walk into a store and find them."

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Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at http://www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

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A-plus prankster Erykah Badu teamed up with OkayPlayer to release a video in which she tries to sing for money in Manhattan's Times Square. "In no way is this video a reflection of my feelings about homeless or unfortunate families nor individuals who have no other means of survival in our world," she said in the video, which was taken at 8:00 p.m. on Oct. 10. "Instead, this short film was shot w/ my iPhone and edited in iMovie for entertainment purposes only and serves as a personal 'hustle' experiment for me."

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Khal Drogo is no doubt a beast of a man, so it would only make sense that Jason Momoa's "Game of Thrones" audition tape would take that to the max.

In the audition tape, which was originally uploaded to YouTube in 2012, but has since gained more traction, the actor doesn't brood or speak Drogo's native tongue, Dothraki. Instead, Momoa breaks out into a Haka, or an ancestral war cry or dance of the Māori people of New Zealand that was typically performed before battle. The dance is incredibly intense and a bit terrifying -- this guy would definitely give you a golden crown if you messed with him.

Back in August when Momoa stopped by AOL, the actor said he was originally given a Drogo scene to read for his audition that consisted of the character menacingly saying "no" over and over (not very exciting). After a suggestion from an actor friend, Momoa decided to try out the Haka for this audition. The aggressive dance, which Momoa described as "not a scene you do before a love scene," impressed D. B. Weiss and David Benioff so much that they had him come back and perform it for a second time, which is what the above video shows.

Momoa is such a pro at the Haka (he even did it on a beach in 2013) that we wonder if he'll incorporate it into his Aquaman.

H/T Time

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The other big announcement for the day is of course Apple’s new iPads, the iPad Air 2 and the iPad mini 3. As signaled by their names, neither is intended to be a massive departure from their (still for sale) predecessors. But both of them, the iPad Air 2 in particular, pack a number of improvements over the 2013 models.

In-hand, the iPad Air 2 is not as significant a departure from its predecessor as the original Air was from earlier iPads, but if you are familiar with the original Air then you can appreciate the fact that Apple has taken it down from 7.5mm thick to 6.1mm thick. The weight is roughly the same (437g vs. 469g) so it’s not much lighter in the hand, but handling it makes the change in size more apparent.

Perhaps more readily apparent is the anti-reflective coating, a first for an iPad. While Apple’s controlled demo room doesn’t give us the opportunity to introduce too much light, in what testing we could do there’s definitely a difference. Whatever it is that Apple is using, the coating doesn’t seem to have changed the clarity at all; it is seemingly still as clear as the non-coated iPad mini 3.

Meanwhile the A8X inside presents us with a new mystery. This is a new chip, and we know very little about it besides Apple’s claims of 40% better CPU performance and 2.5x better GPU performance. The CPU performance points to a dual core “Enhanced Cyclone” configuration like A8, while the GPU performance number is well in excess of what we saw going from A7 to A8. So comparing A8X to A7, we are most likely (finally) looking at a hex-core Imagination PowerVR GX6650 GPU. However, this alone does not explain where the roughly 1 billion additional transistors compared to A8 have gone. Most likely there are additional surprises to be found.

Moving on, we have the iPad mini 3. Unlike the iPad Air 2, Apple isn’t overhauling the hardware by nearly as much, so the iPad mini 3 is a smaller upgrade over its predecessor than the iPad Air 2 is. Size and weight stay the same, so the new mini feels the same in your hands as the old one. The display is also once more a 2048 x 1536 pixel display, though it did look a bit better than we recall the iPad mini 2’s display being, so it may be a new panel (but this is something we’d need to test).

Apple hasn’t replaced the SoC or WiFi radio – it’s still an A7 and 802.11n respectively – so performance isn’t any different either. What’s left to set apart the new mini from the old then is the inclusion of Apple’s Touch ID sensor along with a larger 128GB storage option. It’s admittedly not much, especially when the iPad mini 2 is now $100 cheaper. On the other hand it is available in Gold, and as we’ve seen with the iPhone that has proven to be a very popular option at launch.

We just got done with our hands-on time with Apple’s new products, and we’ll start with what’s likely the sneakiest of them, the iMac with Retina Display.

Why “sneaky”? The answer is all in the HiDPI display, which Apple calls the “Retina 5K Display”. The retina display is definitely the star of the new iMac, as the rest of the hardware is largely a minor specification bump from last year’s model. In fact turned off you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the 2013 (non-retina) and new retina models, but the screen is immediately evident once on.

At 5120x2880 pixels, the new Retina 5K Display is precisely 4x the pixels of the 2560x1440 panel in last year’s model. What this means is that Apple can tap their standard bag of tricks to handle applications of differing retina capability and get all of it to look reasonably good. This also means that 2560x1440 content – including widgets – will scale up nicely to the new resolution. Apple does not discuss whom they have sourced the panel from, but given the timing it’s likely the same panel that is in Dell’s recently announced 27” 5K monitor.

Much more interesting is how Apple is driving it. Since no one has a 5K timing controller (TCON) yet, Apple went and built their own. This is the first time we’re aware of Apple doing such a thing for a Mac, but it’s likely they just haven’t talked about it before. In any case, Apple was kind enough to confirm that they are driving the new iMac’s display with a single TCON. This is not a multi-tile display, but instead is a single 5120x2880 mode.

This also means that since it isn’t multi-tile, Apple would need to drive it over a single DisplayPort connection, which is actually impossible with conventional DisplayPort HBR2. We’re still getting to the bottom of how Apple is doing this (and hence the sneaky nature of the iMac), but currently our best theory is that Apple is running an overclocked DisplayPort/eDP interface along with some very low overhead timings to get just enough bandwidth for the job. Since the iMac is an all-in-one device, Apple is more or less free to violate specifications and do what they want so long as it isn’t advertised as DisplayPort and doesn’t interact with 3^rd party devices.

Update: And for anyone wondering whether you can drive the 5K display as an external display using Target Display Mode, Apple has confirmed that you cannot.

Meanwhile driving the new display are AMD’s Radeon R9 M290X and R9 M295X, which replace the former NVIDIA GTX 700M parts. We don’t have any performance data on the M295X, though our best guess is to expect R9 285-like performance (with a large over/under). If Apple is fudging the DisplayPort specification to get a single DisplayPort stream, then no doubt AMD has been helping on this matter as one of the most prominent DisplayPort supporters.

The rest of the package is very similar to the 2013 iMac. It comes with an Intel Haswell desktop class CPU paired with 8GB or more RAM, 802.11ac support, and Apple’s SSD + HDD Fusion drive setup. Apple now offers a higher speed CPU upgrade option that goes up to 4GHz (4.4GHz Boost) – likely the Core i7-4790K – that should make the high-end iMac decently more performant than last year’s model by about 10%.

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mitchwagner:

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Foo Fighters began its week-long residency on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on Monday night, in support of the band's upcoming album, and accompanying HBO series, "Sonic Highways." Joined by Zac Brown, Dave Grohl and his crew unleashed a wicked cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs." Brown is set to be featured on the band's album and the Foo Fighters recorded a track at Brown's Southern Ground Studios in Nashville.

Grohl also sat down with Letterman to explain what fans can expect from the band's HBO series. Describing the process behind the construction of the album, Grohl said they spent one week in each of the eight cities, recording and interviewing famous musicians from that area. On the final day, Grohl would then take the transcripts of those interviews, and would cut and paste lines to build each song's lyrics.



Foo Fighters' "Sonic Highways" releases on Nov. 10, and their HBO series premieres on Oct. 17.

"Pulp Fiction" was released in U.S. theaters 20 years ago today, on Oct. 14, 1994. This was the first movie Miramax green-lighted after being acquired by Disney, making the super violent film, technically, a Disney movie. Although Mia Wallace may never be considered one of the Disney princesses, there's a definite magic to the now decades-old movie (the gimp is right up there with Smee and Iago as an iconic Disney villain sidekick).

Over the years, many details about Quentin Tarantino's cult favorite have been picked apart by enthralled fans, which have led to some pretty game-changing theories. After reading a few of these, you won't be able to watch the movie the same way again.

Here are five theories that might not be fiction.





1. The briefcase contains Marsellus Wallace's soul.



The briefcase is used as a MacGuffin, which is a plot device that moves the story forward, but ultimately has no explanation. Due to its lack of explanation, fans have theorized wildly on its contents, guessing theories such as it containing radioactive material (due to the glowing) or the diamonds from Tarantino's first film, "Reservoir Dogs."

Perhaps the most popular theory, however, is that the briefcase contains Marsellus Wallace's soul. Snopes has an example of this theory:

Remember the first time you were introduced to Marsellus Wallace. The first shot of him was of the back of his head, complete with band-aid. Then, remember the combination of the lock on the briefcase was 666. Then, remember that whenever anyone opened the briefcase, it glowed, and they were in amazement at how beautiful it was; they were speechless. Now, bring in some Bible knowledge, and remember that when the devil takes your soul, he takes it from the back of your head.

Yep, you guessed it. What is the most beautiful thing about a person: his soul. Marsellus Wallace had sold his soul to the devil, and was trying to buy it back. The three kids in the beginning of the movie were the devil's helpers. And remember that when the kid at the end came out of the bathroom with a "hand cannon," Jules and Vincent were not harmed by the bullets. "God came down and stopped the bullets" because they were saving a soul. It was divine intervention.

In a 1995 interview with Playboy, Samuel L. Jackson explained how he asked Tarantino what was in the suitcase and got the reply, "Whatever you want it to be."



2. The "pulp" in "Pulp Fiction" is "toilet paper." If every character went to the bathroom faster, the whole movie would be different.



Every time Vincent Vega goes to the bathroom, something terrible happens.

When Vega spends a long time psyching himself up at Mia Wallace's house, she overdoses on his heroin. At the diner, if he hadn't been reading "Modesty Blaise" in the bathroom, he probably wouldn't have let Jules Winnfield talk calmly with the robbers. Once again, if he wasn't reading "Modesty Blaise" at Butch Coolidge's house, he would have been ready to kill the boxer on the run.

It wasn't just that whenever he'd go to the bathroom, something bad would happen, Vega also took way longer than a normal person every time. Starting to read a book in the middle of hanging out with Winnfield is sort of rude. Why did he cherish his bathroom time so much?

On top of Vega's bathroom habits, other characters in the movie really could have benefitted from hurrying up a little. The assailant from Brett's apartment would have been in the room to begin with if he hadn't taken so long in the bathroom, which could have led to both his and Marvin's survival. Slightly more of a stretch as nothing changes at the diner due to her action, but Wallace, too, could have spent less time in the bathroom and not done cocaine, which led to an eventual overdose.

Just like "Modesty Blaise," perhaps this movie is bathroom fiction.



3. Jules Winnfield's Ezekiel 25:17 monologue is a "misquote," but could actually be the real passage from how The Bible was written in Tarantino's universe.



Before executing Brett in his apartment, Jules Winnfield says he's memorized a passage from Ezekiel 25:17 and says:

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you.

This isn't how the Bible passage actually goes in real life (in any translation) as it's pulled from the intro of a 1976 Sonny Chiba movie called "The Bodyguard."

But what if in Tarantino's universe, the Bible was actually more hyper-violent. As Reddit user ProfessorStephenHawk points out, "If the Bible had been translated in this way, it would mean a world where more emphasis is placed on 'striking down' evil men. Even saying those who do so are blessed. That kind of change in text would have some consequences, ie. much more badassery throughout history."

The ultra-violence in Tarantino movies would certainly make a lot more sense if Jesus was more of a Django-esque character in the Bible.



4. The classic movie mistake of the bullet holes already being in the apartment wall before Vincent and Jules are shot at was actually intentional.



Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield are attempting to collect Marsellus Wallace's suitcase from Brett's apartment when a surprise assailant jumps out and tried to shoot them with a gun. All shots miss, Vega and Winnfield kill the assailant and Winnfield chalks it up to "divine intervention," saying, "We should be fucking dead" and "God came down from Heaven and stopped these motherfucking bullets."

In this scene, however, the bullet holes behind Vega and Winnfield that were seemingly caused by the assailant's missed shots are there before he even jumps out. Most people think of this as a huge set design mistake and it is one of the classic big ones. But what if it wasn't a mistake?

The theory is that the assailant, unbeknownst to him, was attempting to kill them with a fake gun which is "why the revolver on the gun doesn't rotate when it shoots." This explains how the assailant could miss so many times at such a close range and puts Winnfield's belief that this was a miracle in further question. The movie already purposely establishes Winnfield's and certainly Vega's doubt about why God would intervene in such a situation and perhaps Tarantino was purposely adding more confusion. As mentioned above, Winnfield's famous Ezekiel 25:17 memorized passage isn't even actually from the Bible.

That said, the bullet holes do not appear in the wall for the first part of the apartment situation.



5. The canceled pilot Mia starred in was "Kill Bill."



At Jack Rabbit Slims, Mia Wallace tells Vincent Vega about the pilot she starred in called "Fox Force Five." In "Pulp Fiction," it never got picked up, but what if it ended up getting revived as a movie starring Wallace a few years later. Wallace describes the other girls in the force, "There was a blonde one ... she was a leader. The Japanese fox was a kung fu master. The black girl was a demolition expert. French fox’s speciality was sex. [Mine was] knives."

These correlate pretty well to another Quentin Tarantino movie ...











Interpret this as you will, but Tarantino has said that "Kill Bill" exists in a "movie movie universe." That means it's a movie that the characters of his more grounded films, such as "Pulp Fiction," would go see.

This is not the only connection "Pulp Fiction" has to other Tarantino movies. Vic Vega from "Reservoir Dogs" is Vincent Vega's brother. Tarantino also uses a fictional brand of cigarettes called "Red Apple" which appears in "Pulp Fiction along with many of his other movies.

Image Right: "Kill Bill."



But what's not a theory? It's been 20 years and still nobody has done the twist better.




All images from "Pulp Fiction" unless otherwise noted.

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