Back in 2005, Warren Ellis' comic book series Global Frequency was adapted as a television pilot, but wasn't picked up for a full series. Now the tale of crowdsourced covert intelligence is getting a second shot at the small screen, with the creator of Farscape and Defiance behind the wheel.
Quentin Tarantino‘s next may be called The Hateful Eight, but the eight stars in it aren’t hateful at all. In fact, they’re downright great. And now they’ve all assembled as the Western prepares to begin shooting in Colorado next month. Check out the first Hateful Eight behind the scenes photos after the jump.
Samuel L. Jackson posted the Hateful Eight behind the scenes photos.
H8ful Eight rehearsal! This shit is too much fun! Gonna be a BLAST!! http://t.co/VuRFpbABFs
— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) November 23, 2014
H8ful Eight w/ all the faces! Headed to the Snow SOON!! http://t.co/BoxpEGXUgk
— Samuel L. Jackson (@SamuelLJackson) November 23, 2014
The Hateful Eight pics don’t tell us anything about the movie we don’t already know, since the full cast was announced a few weeks back. Still, it’s great to see them all together. Especially when we remember that at the start of this year, it looked like this film might never happen.
Here’s a cast list, if you’re having trouble identifying them:
Channing Tatum also stars, but isn’t in these photos. Character descriptions can be found in the synopsis below. The Hateful Eight does not yet have a release date, but it’s expected out sometime around fall 2015.
In THE HATEFUL EIGHT, set six or eight or twelve years after the Civil War, a stagecoach hurtles through the wintry Wyoming landscape. The passengers, bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) and his fugitive Daisy Domergue (Leigh), race towards the town of Red Rock where Ruth, known in these parts as “The Hangman,” will bring Domergue to justice. Along the road, they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Jackson), a black former union soldier turned infamous bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Goggins), a southern renegade who claims to be the town’s new Sheriff. Losing their lead on the blizzard, Ruth, Domergue, Warren and Mannix seek refuge at Minnie’s Haberdashery, a stagecoach stopover on a mountain pass. When they arrive at Minnie’s, they are greeted not by the proprietor but by four unfamiliar faces. Bob (Bichir), who’s taking care of Minnie’s while she’s visiting her mother, is holed up with Oswaldo Mobray (Roth), the hangman of Red Rock, cow-puncher Joe Gage (Madsen), and Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Dern). As the storm overtakes the mountainside stopover, our eight travelers come to learn they may not make it to Red Rock after all…
The post POTD: Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Hateful Eight’ Assemble for First Behind-the-Scenes Photos appeared first on /Film.
By now, everyone probably knows that sitting all day at your desk can pose some health risks. And so the standing desk craze was born—promising hundreds of calories burned per day, and all kinds of miracle cures to boot.
With specialized standing desks costing well over $1,000, it’s not surprising that people soon figured out a hack to make a version on the cheap, using a table and a shelf from the Swedish furniture behemoth IKEA to cobble together a sturdy upright setup for around $30.
But even the most fervent standing desk proponents have pointed out that standing stationary all day, without sitting breaks, can cause some unpleasant side effects—meaning a standing-only desk isn’t ideal.
To address that problem, IKEA is now selling a desk designed to seamlessly switch between sitting and standing. The Bekant desk—which runs from $149 for its basic model to $916 for its “workstation”—offers an affordable option to people who want to avoid sitting all day but also don’t have the stamina or emotional resolve to emulate the Queen’s Guard at their desks.
Watch the Bekant in action:
There are a number of other standing desks on the market, but most are much more expensive than the Bekant or require manual adjustment. All Bekant models are adjustable between 25 5/8″ and 33 1/2″, which should comfortably fit most human beings.
Soothing piano music sold separately.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Italian street artist Blu (previously) just wrapped up work on this giant mural that wraps around two sides of a building in Rome. The pieces utilizes nearly 50 windows to create the mouths and eyes of some 27 bizarre faces all vying for attention. You can see some more views of the piece on his blog and explore it in detail on Google Street View. See it up close here.
Crows playing in the snow
This post and video contain major plot details from Interstellar.
Renowned astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson has earned a reputation for “ruining” movies by pointing out their scientific inaccuracies. His complaints previously motivated James Cameron to change an incorrect star field for Titanic’s rerelease. He also took to Twitter to nitpick the various scientific errors in Gravity. (Although, strangely, he has no problems with the movie Deep Impact.) While Tyson again took to Twitter to “review” Christopher Nolan’s space epic, Interstellar, he was fairly gentle on the sci-fi flick. And now he’s coming out in defense of the film’s high-concept ending in a new video for Business Insider.
At the film’s end, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) travels into a black hole and winds up in a mysterious “Tesseract” that essentially gives him windows to his daughter’s childhood. From there Coop is able to manipulate gravity to ...
A plane-mad engineer has spent five years and £50,000 building a perfect replica of the Red Baron's Fokker triplane - and is still flying it despite coming close to death in a crash.
Paul Ford used his wife's patience, his in-laws' garden and his three children's help to recreate the Fokker Dr1 Dreidecker, a First World War fighter made famous by German pilot Manfred Von Richthofen.
Nicknamed 'The Red Baron' for his penchant for painting his aircraft scarlet, Von Richthofen downed at least 70 allied pilots until his death in aerial combat aged 25 a few months before the war ended in 1918.
Scroll down for video
Now that's a model plane: Paul Ford, 52, spent five years and £50,000 creating his working replica of the Fokker Dr1 Dreidecker. The German First World War fighter was made famous by Manfred Von Richthofen, aka the Red Baron, who shot down 70 allied pilots
Those magnificent men: Instead of converting an existing craft, Mr Ford created his Fokker triplane from scratch - and it is back in the skies after one of the wing struts was broken in a crash last year. Each part was hand-crafted by the Cambridge engineer's friends
Impressive: With the help of friends and his three children - Ashley, 25, Kirsty, 20, and Michael, 17- Mr Ford's Fokker had its first test flight six years ago and built up a reputation at British air shows, where it flies replica dogfights with an original Tiger Moth
Jaunt: The assistant at Derby Aero Club in his fully-functional replica. His madcap project took 3,500 hours and began 15 years ago, when he built a radio-controlled quarter-size model of the Red Baron's scarlet craft - but he said: 'I had to have the real thing'
The 52-year-old co-owner of Derby Aero Club has been obsessed with vintage planes since he became an 11-year-old volunteer at Duxford Airfield in Cambridgeshire, now home to the Imperial War Museum.
The triplane is his crowning achievement and his full-time career - delighting air show crowds across Britain in mock dogfights with a vintage Tiger Moth.
'It is the ultimate plane from the First World War,' he said. 'My wife, Sarah didn't believe I'd do it until one day when the metal and the wood arrived at the front door.'
His madcap project took 3,500 hours and began 15 years ago, when he built a radio-controlled quarter-size model of the Red Baron's scarlet craft.
'I wasn't satisfied', he said. 'I had to have the real thing'.
So to the bemusement of his 50-year-old wife, he bought a book called How to Build a WW1 Replica AND Stay Married! and began work on the Fokker in his in-laws' garden in the village of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire.
'Ironically my wife had time to read it but I didn't,' he said. 'I was too busy working on the plane'.
Challenge: To the bemusement of his 50-year-old wife, Mr Ford bought a book called How to Build a WW1 Replica AND Stay Married! and began work on the Fokker in his in-laws' garden in the village of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire. It had its first test flight six years ago
Unfamiliar sight: The Fokker Dr1 Dreidecker, of which only 320 were built and none survive, was a favourite of the feared Red Baron
Meticulous: The plane had to be based on 1970s technical drawings by a U.S. enthusiast in order to pass strict safety tests by authorities
Mr Ford added: 'I was very lucky. Sarah's parents lived in a very old Victorian house and in the garden there was an old basket-waving factory from the 1800s so we used that. Most of it was built in there'.
The challenge was not easy. All 320 Fokker Dr1 Dreideckers have been destroyed or lost, and many surviving photos were grainy at best.
If there had been a fire I wouldn't be here. One of the wing struts was broken and it took a year to rebuild
Paul Ford on crashing the Fokker
So Mr Ford, from Egginton, South Derbyshire, used technical drawings created in the 1970s by aviation fanatic Ron Sands, a U.S. engineer who drew up detailed plans for many wartime planes.
It meant converting many imperial measurements into metric ones and hand-making the parts, but without the drawings the plane would never have been cleared to fly by the Light Aircraft Association.
With the help of friends and Mr Ford's three children - Ashley, 25, Kirsty, 20, and Michael, 17- the Fokker had its first test flight six years ago and built up a reputation at air shows, where it flies replica dogfights with an original Tiger Moth.
But a year ago, Mr Ford crashed the plane on the grass runway of Podington Airfield in Northamptonshire - narrowly avoiding death.
'I had a little accident', he admitted.
'The trouble with First World War planes is they have to be landed into the wind. Unfortunately a gust of wind caught me sideways, the wing clipped a gate and I landed on my back.
'If there had been a fire I wouldn't be here. One of the wing struts was broken and it took a year to rebuild. We've only just got it flying again.'
View from the cockpit: Mr Ford spent 26 years developing gas turbines in Cambridge University's engineering department - despite not having a degree - before making Mortis, one of the most celebrated entrants to the BBC's hit geeks' battleground show Robot Wars
Detailed: Everything on the plane is as it would be except for the engine. These three 'cylinders' are actually old fire extinguishers
Transported in time: Mr Ford wears a vintage-style flying helmet to complete the look. 'It was very scary the first time I flew it,' he admitted. 'Having built it myself I was a little bit nervous - you always are. But after the first time they're just so much fun to fly'
Defiant: Mr Ford continues flying despite a crash last year. 'If there had been a fire I wouldn't be here,' he said. 'It took a year to rebuild'
To this day, the only part of the plane which wouldn't have been the same in 1918 is the engine. Instead of a rotary engine it is a U.S.-made Lycoming which allows him to fly for up to four hours.
To complete the look there is a dummy engine - little more than three old fire extinguishers painted silver - and machine guns on the nose, unarmed of course.
Mr Ford is no ordinary hobbyist.
He spent 26 years developing gas turbines in Cambridge University's engineering department - despite not having a degree.
With talented colleagues there he made Mortis, one of the most famous, fearsome and expensive entrants ever to the BBC's hit show Robot Wars.
He then quit to run his own company which worked on military jet engines, where he spent ten years.
Unlike similar lookalikes which modified an existing plane, the Fokker was completely built from scratch.
Clunky: The plane is a little unstable, but its creator said it helped improve manoeuvrability in a high-octane (imitation) dogfight
Everything thought of: The plane's labels are in German and weights in kilograms - the latter was a problem when using American plans
Taking aim: The plane has a vintage machine gun, though of course an unarmed one, for its travels over airshows across Britain
Crowning achievement: While building the plane, the engineer bought a book called How to Build a WW1 Replica AND Stay Married! 'Ironically my wife had time to read it but I didn't,' he said. 'I was too busy working on the plane' - which now flies triumphant over Britain
'There are a few other planes that are quite similar to this one but the Fokker just stood out to me,' Mr Ford said. 'It can be a little unstable when flying it but that's what makes it so special.
'It's actually unstable on purpose because it means when it's in the air it can get out of the way very, very quickly and back on your opponent's tail in a dog-fighting situation.
'It was very scary the first time I flew it. Having built it myself I was a little bit nervous - you always are. But after the first time they're just so much fun to fly.'
The Red Baron's is not the first plane Paul has built. He is currently working on two other projects inspired by German First World War planes which he hopes to have finished by next year. Once they are completed, he intends to begin work on a British plane.
Paul, who thanked several devoted friends and family members including his wife for their help, said: 'They cost around £50,000 to make, but they're worth a lot more. The tri-plane is worth around £180,000, but I won't sell any of them.
'They're a lot of fun, and they'll keep me busy when I retire.'
The achievements of fighter ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen (right) - who shot down some 70 allied pilots in the First World War - made him hated by the Brits and a propaganda tool for the Germans.
He was 22 and stationed on Germany's eastern border when the war broke out in 1914, but it was not always guaranteed he would become a pilot.
At first he was a cavalryman, but his unit became rapidly obsolete in what would be the world's first modern mechanised war.
In May 1915 he travelled to Cologne to become an Air Service observer before taking to the skies for the first time later that year.
His reputation became formidable quickly. Just a month after first sitting in a flying plane as a gunner, he took his first solo flight and soon became one of the best-known names in the German military.
His nickname - also translated as Red Devil and Red Knight - came from his disregard of combat or camouflage colours to paint his aircraft blood-red in a show of fearlessness.
But it was that love of combat that would be his undoing.
In the summer of 1917, General Jan Smuts produced a War Office report calling for the creation of an entirely new addition to the Armed Forces.
Both the Royal Navy and the Army had developed their own airborne units - the Royal Naval Air Squadron and the Royal Flying Corps - but the war had made the argument for a separate entity to govern the sky.
The Government agreed. Within a year, the Royal Air Force was born and the 1st Viscount Rothermere was appointed the first Secretary of State for Air.
It was in aerial combat with the allies - and flying a Fokker DR1 - that the Baron would meet his fate. The pilot was 25 years old when he was shot down and killed near Amiens, France, on 21 April 1918.
Many theories exist about who killed him, and for a long time the RAF credited Canadian Captain Arthur 'Roy' Brown, who had to dive steeply at high speed to intervene in the dogfight. Later theories suggested the bullet which downed the Baron was fired from the ground.
With limited free time for reading, tight publishing markets, and the rise of e-readers, people have been sounding the death knoll for the book for quite some time. But they haven't died. Not even close. So what is it that makes them so enduring?
Randall Munroe is the author of What If: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, published in September.
The post The XKCD Guide to the Universe’s Most Bizarre Physics appeared first on WIRED.
Zeus, the cosmic owl with a galaxy in its eyes.
This adorable Screech Owl is blind and likely has vitreous strands in his eyes causing this stellar effect. He now lives safely in captivity at the Wildlife Learning Center in Los Angeles.
Tadeu🌅 Exploding Dog!
