This past summer, Disney revealed they would be making massing Star Wars-themed additions to their two U.S. theme parks. At that time, we just saw a few hints. But Sunday night, Harrison Ford himself revealed some amazing new looks at the parks.
The 14-acre expansions are coming to Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida sometime in the next several years. We don’t know exactly when, just that construction has already begun. Then, Sunday during a TV special celebrating 60 years of Disneyland, Ford revealed some new concept images from what he called “The Star Wars Experience.”
First up, here are some images of what the land itself is going to look like. We’ve already heard the lands will be a brand new Star Wars planet and here we get a taste of its marketplace, dining establishments and, of course, its cantina.
Next, these are images from the two main rides. One will put fans in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon and another will put them in the middle of a battle between the Resistance and First Order.
You can see some more in the video segment below. Suffice to say, these expansions are going to be can’t miss stops for Star Wars fans all over the world.
Ever since Martin Freeman was revealed as part of the cast of Civil War, there’s been a ton of rumors about just which mysteriously unidentified character he’d play, but the name that popped up the most often is Black Panther supporting character Everett Ross. Now, we can confirm that Freeman is totally playing the guy who most of us thought he was playing.
The news comes from the latest issue of Empire magazine, part of a larger feature on Civil War. According to them, Freeman’s Ross will be part of the Joint Counter Terrorist Center, or JCTC. It’s not exactly as nice as “SHIELD” when it comes to acronyms, but hey, what are you going to do when the last Cap movie pretty much blew 90 percent of SHIELD up?
In the comics, Ross was a supporting character most often associated with the Black Panther. He’s an employee of the US State Department first assigned to T’Challa, when he visits the US, but eventually becomes the American government’s liaison to Wakanda. That presumably means that Freeman might have a part to play in the Black Panther solo movie, or he may simply be the character that eventually brings T’Challa into the picture during Civil War. It’s nevertheless nice to have confirmation of who he’s actually playing now though, even if it’s someone many guessed from the start.
Don’t let the above picture fool you! Much time has passed since Alexandria was saved, and Rick and the Alexandrians actually have a moment of peace. I daresay they’re actually kind of happy! The town’s been rebuilt! A much-anticipated hook-up finally occurred! And the episode also introduced a delightfully absurd character who will undoubtedly help destroy it all.
If you watch TWD for the brutal zombie kills and slayings, then “The New World” must have been quite a disappointment for you. I was thrilled. After spending nine full episodes on two brutal, nightmarish days of death and destruction, I’d say the survivors and the viewers had earned a respite. Not only was it nice to finally have a break from the high stakes murder-action of the first half of the season, it’s nice to show that Rick and the others still have the capacity to be happy, if only because now that they have become Alexandrians, hey they consider the town their home and its people their people, now they have something to lose.
This will be important later when The Walking Dead returns to making its characters’ lives a miserable hell, but for now it was a delight to see these guys actually not be worried about getting murdered for a while. If you didn’t break out into a grin when Rick put on his CD of old honky-tonk songs to purely irritate Daryl (who was so irritated), then I pity you.
Something else that might have put a smile on your face: Rick and Michonne, as the couple fan-mandated as “Richonne” finally came into being this week to the delight of many. The episode began with what could have been any pre-apocalyptic family dramedy, as Rick, Michonne (lounging in a bathrobe!), and Carl discussing the day ahead, passing around Baby Judith. They seem happy. They seem normal. Even Carl doesn’t seem to have any lingering resentment about being shot in the eye, so bully for him. Most importantly, Rick and Michonne’s hands linger a bit too long on each other when they say goodbye.
It’s been several weeks (maybe two months?) since the events of the last episode, so clearly they’ve gotten close during the time skip. I wish that the show had foreshadowed this relationship even the tiniest degree, because pre-ordained by the comics or not, it feels very rushed, even arbitrary. But then again, it’s still great to see two of the show’s most prominent characters in what may be the apocalypse’s first functional relationship. I mainly want to point out that’s it’s a bit of sloppy storytelling, but a bit that is very easy to get over (if not completely ignore) when the rest of the episode is so entertaining.
And that’s largely thanks to Jesus.
Jesus—known to some as Paul Rovia—is an odd, long-haired chap who Rick and Daryl run into when they head out of Alexandria looking for supplies, and chance upon a truck full of very useful supplies. When Rick and Daryl stop a bit later so Daryl can grab Denise some soda to give to Tara, Jesus runs into them, literally. He’s an oddly amiable dude who is perfectly happy to go his separate way from Rick and Daryl… or he seems to be, until he uses firecrackers to distract the two, grabs the car keys from Rick, and steals their truck full of supplies.
Rick and Daryl literally run after the truck, which is one of those things that should never work but somehow often does, and they come across Jesus having momentarily stopped for some reason. The two sneak up on him, and Daryl managed to get him in a hold… which is when Jesus reveals he knows kung fu. He soundly kicks Daryl’s ass, but eventually he and Rick get the better of him. But Jesus is still very pleasant as the two tie him up and leave him on the side of the road, and drive away.
I imagine he’s still got a smile on his face when Rick and Daryl hear something as they approach a barn later (their supply run is still happening) and realize Jesus not only freed himself from his restraints instantly, but managed to get on the truck roof without them noticing and has been riding along the entire time. Rick slams o the breaks, Jesus flies off, a very irritated Daryl jumps out of the truck to kick ass, a few zombies approach and madness ensues.
There has never been nor will there ever be a more appropriate scene for The Walking Dead to use “Yakety Sex,” but alas, it was not to be. Still, Rick, Jesus, and Daryl don’t run around like chickens with their head caught off as Rick and Daryl try to catch Jesus, while Jesus tries to lead them away to get back into the truck. Somehow, Jesus is the one who succeeds when Rick has to take a break to off a few zombies. Daryl catches up to Jesus in the truck cab; the two tussle only for Jesus to steal Daryl’s gun… and then shoot a zombie who was about to take a bite of him instead. In thanks, Daryl knocks him out cold, which has the unfortunate side effect of causing the truck to roll into a lake and sink, with all those precious supplies in it.
As a character, Jesus is ridiculous. He’s a martial/escape artist with a sunny attitude; he makes Morgan’s therapist-turned-Master Splinter look almost reasonable. But there’s clearly more to him than that. It’s weird that he chanced upon Rick and Daryl; weirder that he stopped in a manner where the two could catch up to him; weirder still that he would try to secretly stowaway on the truck roof if he wasn’t confident Rick and Daryl wouldn’t kill him.
I have severe doubts that TWD will be able to pull this character off, for there to be a coherent reason for everything he did last night, and everything he is. But I’ll worry about that next week. For now, I’m merely delighted that someone this unique survived the zombie apocalypse to torment Rick and in the others in a non-sinister way (for now).
Although to be fair, I didn’t think the show was going to be able to pull off Carl’s bit of weirdness in this episode either. He and Enid sneak out of Alexandria to rebel in a meaningless teen sort of way when they spy a zombie—a zombie who turns out to be Deanna, who decided to go down fighting instead of killing herself, and who shambled out of Alexandria during last week’s battle. Instead of killing her, Carl starts leading her through the woods; Enid is understandably freaked, but Carl tells her to just go home. It’s really weird, and I thought Carl might be cracking under all the strain of being Carl.
Meanwhile, it turns out Deanna’s son Spencer has also snuck outside the walls and Michonne left her guard post to follow him (which seems like a bad idea, but oh well). Spencer is mum about why he’s out there, to why he has a shovel. But when Carl inadvertently leads Zombie Deanna to him, he admits that he thought he saw her and has been searching for her ever since. Spencer drives a knife into the thing that was once his mother and buries her. It wasn’t exactly a cool moment, but Spencer has spent most of the time on the series being an asshole or a dumbass, and it was nice to see him settle down and have a moment of vulnerability that didn’t endanger anyone.
So what was Carl’s deal? Later that night, Michonne asks Carl what the hell he was doing—that he should have taken the zombie out or run away. Carl’s response is that he was leading her back to Alexandria so that she could be killed by someone that loved her. Michonne is stunned, but Carl is quietly adamant—he essentially tells Michonne that if she turned, he would kill her, because he cares for her. Michonne can only say, “Me too.”
This is insane, but it’s insane in a way that makes sense for the survivors in the show—they’ve lost so many people that taking out their zombies must actually offer some kind of emotional closure. It especially makes sense for Carl, who was forced to shoot his own mom (after a hasty c-section). Carl doesn’t say this in bitterness, nor he is he wild-eyed. It’s an actual truth that they live in a world where being able to take out the undead versions of their loved ones is… cathartic. It’s messed up, certainly, and it’s supposed to be. But this is what I come to The Walking Dead for—to see these glimpses of what life in the zombie apocalypse is like when after the zombie attack.
And for tonight, at least, life is good. Rick returns home and crashes on the couch; Michonne joins him. They tell each other about their crazy days, as if they’d both gone off a 9-to-5 job, and relax. They even watch Judith on the baby monitor. It could be a Wednesday night in any family’s home in pre-apocalyptic America. And when Rick and Michonne’s hands find each other, this time they don’t let go.
I will say that despite the utter lack of set-up for their new relationship, Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira have a chemistry that genuinely feels like they’re friends who became lovers. Their trip to sexy town is more happy and amused than lustful, and it goes a long way to making Richonne make sense as opposed to throwing the male and female protagonists in bed together. It would be a perfect end to a perfect episode.
Except later than night, Jesus walks into their bedroom and asks if they can talk, and it’s even more perfect. It’s perfect because of course Jesus immediately slipped out of his ropes again, that he found Rick and Michonne’s bedroom without disturbing them, that they both grab their weapons and brandish them while both being bareass naked, and that Jesus never once stops smiling.
“The Next World” is the polar opposite of last week’s “No Way Out” and whether you loved that episode or hated it (it might have possibly escaped your attention, but I for one didn’t care for it) this was badly needed. It’s not a matter of not loving the action or the horror—this is a show about the zombie apocalypse, after all—it’s that in order for the action and the horror to continue to be effective, it has to, you know, stop once in a while. There have to be breaks, moments were the show pulls back, or the characters—and the audience—just get numb to all the misery.
Now we have time to dread things, and that is something that The Walking Dead always does exquisitely well. As content as the characters may momentarily seem, the show has done an excellent job at finding ways to tearing them down. Currently, I’d say Rick is happier then he’s been since he woke up in the apocalypse.
We all know it won’t last. I bet even Rick knows it won’t last. But now, Rick and the others actually have a life worth living—and worth fighting for. And that makes all the difference in the world.
Assorted Musings:
• Sweet Jesus this should have been the mid-season premiere and last week’s episode the mid-season finale. Ignoring that last week’s ep was the conclusion of that storyarc, this ep’s time jump would have had a lot more impact, and Rick/Michonne wouldn’t have felt so rushed.
• I should possibly clarify: I haven’t and don’t read The Walking Dead comics, on purpose, so I can better assess how the show stands on its own. I did just enough research to know that Paul “Jesus” Rovia is Paul “Jesus” Monroe in the comic, but I left it at that.
• Crush: The official soft drink of the zombie apocalypse, apparently.
• Line of the night, by Jesus: “Do you even have any ammo?” It’s pure set up so that Rick and Daryl could immediately shoot a nearby zombie in the head in response, but it was so, so worth it
• I love that when Jesus was pretending to be knocked-out, he kept managing to fall against Daryl. No, the show didn’t confirm that Jesus was actually awake, but I am 100% positive he was. If you watch him, you can see him movie himself just slightly to get into position to lean against Daryl, over and over again.
•Daryl goes out of his way to try and do something nice for Denise, by finding her some soda. His good intentions are thwarted by Jesus, but I am highly suspicious of the show taking the time to show Daryl doing something so generous but simple. I have a very bad feeling about this.
Gmail was practically founded on the principle of never having to delete an email again. But the service has been kicking around since 2004, and all of those old newsletters, chain emails, and special deals aren’t doing much except counting against your Google account’s 15 GB storage capacity. Fortunately, a quick search is all it takes to identify messages worth deleting.
Enter before:2014/21/31 (or any other date you like in the yyyy/mm/dd format) in the search box to see emails that arrived before 2015, for example. To get rid of them all, tick the select all box (top left), choose Select all conversations and then click the Delete button—all your forgotten Facebook alerts, work missives, and birthday invites are gone for good.
Not only can you free up some space in your Gmail account, but future searches should also run faster and contain results that are much more recent and relevant. The search operator older_than: works as well—just add 1y, 2m, 3d or whatever value you want to get the relevant number of years, months or days.
Adapting your search
Some of you might get a little nervous at such a permanent course of action—and maybe there are genuinely useful emails from the past you want to hang on to. By modifying the search you can filter out the messages that really are serving no useful purpose, particularly if you’ve carefully labelled incoming emails since you first logged into Gmail.
Add label:xxx to the search to identify emails matching a particular label, for example, or category:social to bring up messages Gmail itself has highlighted as from social networks. (You don’t want to keep all those Twitter newsletters do you?) Switch social to updates and you get a list of the less-important automated emails identified by Google’s bots.
A full list of advanced operators can also be found here. Admittedly not everyone is going to want to trash older messages in bulk, but for those that do—particularly people who don’t use Gmail as their primary email account—keeping your inbox trimmed down to messages from the last year, month, or week isn’t difficult.
Warner Bros. has announced that Zack Snyder’s two-part Justice League film will start shooting on April 11. That’s mere days after the opening of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice—and the news comes after several weeks of speculation and uproar overs rumors that the studio was worried about Snyder’s Batman v Superman.
Setting a start date so soon after the release of that film may not guarantee its quality, but it absolutely shows the studio’s confidence that it’s going to be a success. It also suggests that Snyder is the man Warner Bros. wants to continue to drive the train.
Entertainment Weekly, a publication formerly owned by Warner Bros.’ parent company Time Warner, broke the news so it’s as official as it gets. Filming will take place at “Warner Bros. Leavesden studios in southeast England, as well as various locations around London and in Iceland.” for its eventual release on November 17, 2017.
*Correction: A previous version of this story said EW was currently owned by Time Warner. That’s no longer the case. They used to be but now they’re owned by Time Inc., a different company. That change has been made.
New set pictures of Wonder Woman filming have revealed that British actress Lucy Davis is seemingly playing one of the most prominent—and hilariously great—supporting characters in Wonder Woman’s comic book history: Etta Candy. And this doesn’t appear to be the New 52 version of the character, but the amazing classic iteration from WW’s debut in the ‘40s.
The images feature Gal Gadot, Davis (with Etta’s classic red hair fully on display) and a host of extras filming scenes celebrating the end of the First World War in London earlier today—and while it’s pretty cool that we’re going to get to see Diana during the end of the Great War, the real highlight here is seeing Davis in all her glory as Etta Candy.
In the New 52, Etta is African American, and initially Steve Trevor’s secretary, before she becomes a full-fledged agent of ARGUS. Even before that, Etta was updated as a svelte blonde woman who was a secret agent for the U.N. and a plethora of other organizations to help out Wonder Woman out on her globetrotting adventures. Neither of them really hold up to the fantastic original iteration. Not only is Etta and Diana’s friendship an iconic aspect of Wonder Woman’s Silver Age legacy, the classic Etta is also an absurdly fantastic brawler who can pretty much rival Diana when it comes to badassery—and that is saying something.
In the Golden Age of comics Etta Candy—born to her parents Hard and Sugar Candy (I LOVE YOU GOLDEN AGE COMICS)—was a sickly malnourished girl Diana met in a hospital, who rejuvenated herself back to health by eating candy. Naturally, candy gave Etta newfound moxie, inspiring her and the girls of Holliday College’s Beeta Lambda sorority to go on adventures with Wonder Woman. Etta, who leapt into battle with cries like “Woo Woo!” and “For the love of Chocolate!” could match Diana for bravery, and while she didn’t have any superpowers, she frequently impressed Wonder Woman with her feats of strength. Etta didn’t take shit from anyone—and was deemed worthy enough by the Amazons to be invited to Themyscira for festivals and celebrations.
Also, she once stormed a Nazi concentration camp armed with nothing but a box of candy.
Sadly, when Robert Kanigher took over Sensation Comics in the Silver Age, Etta and the Holliday girls were quickly phased out of Diana’s supporting cast, and Etta was eventually brought back as a slimmer, weight-conscious USAF lieutenant. It seems, though, that Davis is definitely playing the Golden Age incarnation of Etta, and hopefully that means we’re going to get to see her kick some major butt alongside Diana in Wonder Woman. We can but hope.
You don’t need a yard, or even any gardening skills to grow your own food at home; you just need Miracle-Gro’s Aerogarden line. These fully-integrated, soil-free indoor gardens can grow herbs, vegetables, and salad greens up to five times faster than regular soil, and nearly the entire lineup is on sale right now.
Prices start at just $45 for the Sprout model, which can grow three pods at a time, and range up to $198 for the Bounty, which fits nine. All of these prices are either all-time lows, or the best we’ve seen outside of special one-day promotions, so don’t hesitate. If you need help deciding, each Amazon page has a comparison chart with all of the main features.
This 55” Vizio M-series 4K TV is one of the single most popular TVs we’ve ever posted, and Dell is offering a screaming deal on it today. You’ll spend $800 up front (which is just $20 more than its all-time low), but you’ll get a bonus $250 Dell promo gift card tossed in for good measure. That’s good for anything Dell sells online, including video games, speaker systems, and of course, computer gear. [Vizio M-Series 55” 4K, $800 + $250 Dell promo gift card]
Note: Make sure you see the gift card in your cart before checkout; these deals can end without warning. The gift card balance is valid for 90 days after purchase.
Not only do you save $20 with this PS4 Uncharted Bundle deal, you get a second DualShock 4 controller as well. Normally, this setup would cost you about $400, making this one of the better PS4 deals we’ve ever seen. [PS4 Uncharted Bundle + Extra Controller, $330]
Update: Some people are having trouble with this promo code (though it was still working for me). If it doesn’t work, here’s another pair for $8. [Heat Resistant Silicone Gloves BBQ Grilling Gloves, $8 with code 2UZEM8AF]
With a good set of silicone cooking gloves, you’ll have full finger control when you handle hot pans in the kitchen. Hell, you could use them to just pick up a piece of meat directly off the grill, like some sort of barbecue superhero. [Grill Armor Heat Resistant BBQ Silicone Gloves, $5 with code 35OS7FHB]
You all sure do love Brother laser printers, and this wireless model is marked down to just $80 today. It even includes Apple AirPrint and Google Cloud Print for seamless operation with your mobile devices. [Brother HL L2360DW Wireless Mono Laser Printer, $80]
This great looking grinder is perfect for spices, herbs, or things that aren’t legal in most states. Add in its clever magnetic lid and 4.4 star review average, and it certainly seems like a steal at $9. [Ohuhu 4 Piece 2.38" Tobacco Spice Grinder, Black, $9 with code EAUYGG7W]
The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against LBJ hit the New York Times bestseller list the week of the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Consummate political insider Roger Stone makes a compelling case that Lyndon Baines Johnson had the motive, means, and opportunity to orchestrate the murder of JFK. Stone maps out the case that LBJ blackmailed his way on the ticket in 1960 and was being dumped in 1964 to face prosecution for corruption at the hands of his nemesis attorney Robert Kennedy. Stone uses fingerprint evidence and testimony to prove JFK was shot by a long-time LBJ hit man—not Lee Harvey Oswald.
If your movie theater of choice is operated by AMC, this discounted gift card essentially amounts to ten free dollars. That’s like a free large popcorn (hopefully)! [$50 AMC Theaters Gift Card, $40]
Steaming your clothes might not get them as crisp as ironing, but it does a decent enough job in a fraction of the time, and for $15, why not? [Pure Enrichment PureSteam Fabric Steamer, $15 with code STEAMR15]
I used to chop garlic by hand, and I think deep down, I was hoping I’d cut my finger off just so I’d have an excuse to stop. That all changed when I bought a garlic press, which smashes a clove with just one squeeze, and does a far better job of it than I could ever do with a knife. [X-Chef Premium Stainless Steel Garlic Press, $7 with code 5VBXWVGS]
You can get cheap Lightning cables just about anywhere, but if only the best will do, you should give Anker’s PowerLine models a look.
These cables are built with kevlar fiber and feature reinforced stress points, which means they can last 5 times longer than typical cables. I own a couple of these, and while I can’t yet speak to how long long they actually last, I can say that they just feel extremely well made. Weighty, solid, premium. In fact, I just bought three more to replace my most used & abused Lightning cables on my night stand and in my car.
Today on Amazon, you can buy three for $22, which averages out to about the regular price you’d expect to pay for a standard third party Lightning cable. With a near-perfect 4.8 star review average, I’d say they’re worth every penny.
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Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba) hunts Mowgli in Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book. Nothing in this image is real.
This April, when audiences sit down to see Disney’s new live-action movie of The Jungle Book, they aren’t going to think about its technical achievements. Ideally, they’re going to get swept up in a story about a boy named Mowgli and his adventures in the jungle with a bunch of talking animals. But technical achievements are almost all director Jon Favreau has been thinking about since day one.
Despite the lush environments and realistic looking animals, none of The Jungle Book was shot on location. Actually, all of it was shot in a big empty building in downtown Los Angeles. Meaning that everything you see on screen—with the exception of actor Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli—is computer generated and animated. And yet, this isn’t Inside Out or Frozen. This is still considered a live action movie, and making the action believable was one of the biggest challenges facing Favreau as he tried to bring Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale to life one more time.
Favreau and his visual effects supervisor Rob Legato spoke to a group of press in Disney’s El Capitan Theater in January, and talked all about the challenges and goals they had on this latest incarnation of The Jungle Book.
Jungle Book director Jon Favreau and visual effects supervisor Rob Legato at the El Capitan Theater, January 13, 2016.
Favreau’s resume is filled with effects movies, big and small. From Zathura and Elf, to Iron Man and Cowboys and Aliens, he’s done a little of everything. And yet, the director made some big claims about The Jungle Book. “This process is so technical, and so different from anything I’ve done,” he said. “And quite different from anything anybody’s done before.”
Obviously he’s not just talking about using a lot of visual effects. Plenty of movies use a lot of visual effects. What Favreau means is using visual effects for a film that’s not a big blockbuster. The Jungle Book isn’t Avatar or The Hobbit. It’s a small, family-friendly, character driven story, that most people already know.
“Big action spectacles are the only films that seem to make studios comfortable enough to use this level of artistry and technology in storytelling,” Favreau said. “And so the unique opportunity I’ve had is to use it for humor and emotion. Showing nature, showing animals—and really getting into that deep, mythic imagery, that always marries well with technology and always has. And so that’s fun for me.”
Luckily, Disney was in a unique position to make that happen. The company has seen huge success with live-action adaptations of its classic animated films (Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, etc.) so the executives felt taking a gamble on this process, and Favreau, might pay off similarly.
“The idea of going out to the jungle and shooting this just felt like it wouldn’t have the magic the ’67 film had,” Favreau said. “There was a dreamlike quality to it. There was a surreal quality to it. It was a high-water mark for character animation, because of the character and the emotion and the music. And that’s what I remember about it, and so I wanted to make sure we preserved that.”
Only one thing in this image was actually shot in reality.
So Alan Horn, the head of Walt Disney Studios, told Favreau to look at Life of Pi or Gravity, films that depend on technology without flaunting it. “Why not use the technology to create a whole world that transports you?,” Horn asked Favreau. “Why be limited by going off and shooting plates? Let’s really embrace this new technology and see what we can do if we push it to its limit.”
Because of the expense of this effects-driven film-making process, the film-makers couldn’t afford to shoot anything that they weren’t going to use. So The Jungle Book was made with a similar process to Disney and Pixar’s animated films, with a real focus on nailing the story before moving forward.
“You’re constantly reinventing and exploring,” Favreau said. “We started off as though it was an animated film, with the story department, and we really stress-tested the story as you would with an animated film—because you don’t want any scenes on the cutting room floor.”
When they actually went to shoot, the stages were largely empty, comprised of nothing more than lots of green screens, cameras and actors in motion capture suits.
“We had a motion-capture volume, we had actors playing the parts, we had suits, we had sets that were lined up with what the digital set looked like. And then we captured it,” Favreau said. “First we had an animatic version, as you would on an animated film, then a motion-capture version that we edited, and then finally we took that and shot the kid as though he were an element.”
Actor Neel Sethi is Mowgli, who was usually on set alone.
And yet, filming was the easy part. Translating the actors into animals was a little less easy, but doable for top notch effects houses. But the biggest challenge facing the crew of The Jungle Book was the main element that’s not at all realistic.
“Making the animals talk was the hardest part of the process,” Favreau said. “It was done on a shot by shot basis. There are certain animals that talk well. Other ones, it’s harder. A snake is harder, because you don’t want to make it move in the way required to make the sound. So we always erred on the side of subtly. Plus we’re really smart about the camera angle, lighting, and where the camera is. Look at Bambi again. You’ll notice a lot of the time the camera is not on who’s talking.”
And while they could cheat from time to time, most of the time they couldn’t.
“If the animals don’t look like they’re talking, the movie doesn’t work,” Favreau continued. “Forget about tracing, water simulations, and all the technology. If you don’t have them talking [it won’t work]. So I brought in footage. Let’s look at Beverly Hills Chihuahua. What did they do wrong, what did they do right? Let’s look at Dog With A Blog, let’s look at everything.”
At this event, Favreau screened four clips for the press, and the talking issue was a moot point. Actually, everything tech-wise was a moot point. The movie looks like live action, plain and simple. We’ve always wondered if you could push animation far enough to duplicate reality, and The Jungle Book may be the closest thing we’ve seen to that yet. And the question of whether these backgrounds are real stops mattering, once you start following the characters and action on screen.
Unlike the 1967 film, this Jungle Book isn’t a musical. But there are musical elements. So expect to hear Baloo (above, voiced by Bill Murray) do something with The Bear Necessities.
The first scene we saw featured the tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba) coming down to the watering hole and smelling Mowgli. Next we saw the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) trying to get Mowgli away, only to battle Shere Khan to facilitate the boy’s escape. Next was a scene of Mowgli being presented to the giant ape King Louie (Christopher Walken) and finally, one of the first scenes of Mowgli meeting Baloo (Bill Murray). Each scene looked picture perfect, and had the good-humored sense of adventure that you’d expect from the film.
Whether or not all of those scenes will come together to capture the “dreamlike quality” Favreau is going for, we won’t know until we see them in context on April 15. But there’s little doubt that—like Life of Pi, Avatar, Gravity and other films before it—The Jungle Book has done its due diligence to push digital effects to another level.
You’re going to need more than a cool dragon transformation if you want to survive out in the battlefield. Thankfully, we’re here to help.
As you may have heard by now, Fates is way tougher than Awakening. I’ve had to readjust some of my thinking about how Fire Emblem should be played. I thought I’d take this chance to tell you guys everything I’ve learned along the way.
Know what kind of character you’re making
The options at the start of character creation aren’t just flavor text: they’ll actually influence how your character grows. Here’s a chart that breaks Boons and Banes down, courtesy of Serenes Forest:
As for talent, that option will determine what class your character can attain when you level him or her up later on. Finally, the game will make sure to celebrate your birthday, so make sure to actually put yours in.
Play Birthright, then Conquest
I highly recommend playing both campaigns, if possible. As I explained in my “which to play” guide, each game has a different level of challenge, gameplay scenarios, and narrative outcome, so it’s worth giving both a shot. Given that Conquest is the tougher of the two, I suggest easing into the experience with Birthright first. Worth noting that you can get the other campaign at a discount once you purchase your first game.
Consider turning permadeath off on Conquest
Wow, three tips in and we’re already suggesting total Fire Emblem sacrilege?
Listen. Conquest is soul-crushing. Even the early chapters can tear you down, and I say this as a Fire Emblem veteran. But I’ve wasted enough hours on tricky Fire Emblem Fates levels to feel confident in saying that the time I lost trying to make it work just wasn’t worth it. Conquest is built to test the player, and it succeeds in doing so through level design alone.
Permadeath especially doesn’t make sense when you consider that A) the game keeps key characters alive in the story regardless B) even without permadeath, you always run the risk of leveling your characters wrong and putting yourself in an unwinnable situation. You’re going to have enough to worry about, permadeath or not.
Be open to turning the difficulty down
If you’re not convinced by my tip about permadeath, at least consider turning down the difficulty if you’re having trouble. The difficulty options in Fire Emblem Fates are actually misleading. I tried playing Conquest on Hard, which is supposed to be fine-tuned for Fire Emblem fans. I found it too grueling and had to turn it down to Normal—which is supposed to be for newbies! Even then, I still got my ass handed to me plenty of times.
Fortunately, you always have the option of making things easier via the “Difficulty” option on the overwold menu. Before you commit to it by saving, try out a few missions with the new difficulty first. While Fates allows you to turn it down a notch, you can never turn the difficulty back up. (Paradoxically, it’s possible to play Fates on the easiest difficulty with permadeath on!)
Arrange your teams
Before a battle starts, select “view map.” Here, you can swap your units’ positions. Make sure everybody is standing where you want them to. I prefer putting more mobile units near the front, and healers / weaker units near the back. If you’d like, you can even pair units up before the match starts.
Give everyone health items
Every soldier should go to battle with a Vulnerary or Concoction, so you can raise their health if they take too much damage. Your healers can’t get to everyone.
Use the left shoulder button
Forget manually finding which soldier should take a turn next. An easy way to cycle between your available fighters is to tap L. If you highlight an enemy, you can also cycle through all your foes with that same button, too. That’s a good way of scoping out the competition, their weapons, and their loot. Any character with an actual name may either be a boss, or a recruitable character, so keep an eye out.
Track enemy range and movement
If you highlight an enemy and press “A,” you can see that unit’s individual range. This is great for strategizing, particularly for preventing unit overreach and making sure your characters are positioned in the right place. (You can also press X to see movement radius of the entire enemy outfit, but I find it’s more useful to know the specifics of what each unit can do.)
Know the Weapon Triangle
Swords and magic are stronger than axes and bows. Axes and bows triumph over lances and hidden weapons. Lances and hidden weapons tear down swords and magic. Remember! If nothing else, keep Sky Knights and Wyverns away from archers.
Support your characters
Units that are next to each other can eke out extra damage by attacking together. Plus, whenever a character fights side-by-side with someone, they’ll bond and become friends. Once a battle is over, if two characters have developed their relationship enough, they’ll actually talk to each other. The scenes are always cute or endearing, so they’re worth watching.
You can also pair units up for an increase in stats. A good rule of thumb is, make characters fight alongside each other when you want more power, and consolidate them into one unit when you want more defense.
Use Dragon Veins
Most maps will have glowing tiles which can be activated by either Corrin, or any of the royal family. Take control of them and use them to your advantage—Dragon Veins can totally turn the tide of battle.
In Conquest, play defensively
It may be tempting to play offensively, bringing the fight to your enemy whenever you can. Resist that urge! Few things will get you killed more than overreaching, or than sticking a unit’s neck out willy-nilly. Sometimes, it’s even a good idea not to attack at all. Try using strong characters as bait, to pull stronger enemies toward you. It’s much easier to kill foes when you can swarm them, and this is especially true of bosses. Above all else, don’t get into situations where most of your party has to play catch-up with your more mobile or strong units. That’ll get people needlessly killed.
Create choke points
Sometimes, limiting where your opponents can go and restricting who they can hit is the best thing you can do, especially if you have some good tanks lying around (like Effie!) If you do this, keep a healer nearby just in case, along with units who can either support your tank, or attack at range. Bottlenecks require patience, but they’re really worth it, particularly in Conquest.
Level up your weak fighters
Often, your weakest characters can grow into your strongest. But you’ll need to invest in them first. In Conquest, being mindful of how you distribute XP is particularly important, since you can’t actually grind. Every kill, and who actually lands that final blow, really matters. Make sure everyone is gaining a steady amount of XP every battle, else you might find yourself in an unwinnable situation full of underleveled allies.
So, yeah. You should definitely use Mozu. She’s basically the new Donnel, and will eventually transform from a useless character, into a badass archer.
Speed things up
You can make battles go faster if you press down A while they unfold. Or, you can turn off those animations altogether in the settings. I like watching kills from time to time, because characters sometimes have funny things to say, or it’s gratifying to watch tough units go down.
Use your abilities
Every fighter accrues specific talents as they level up. Get acquainted with these abilities, because they can be used to your advantage. It helps to know, for example, that a certain knight can heal itself every turn if it is near other units, or if your soldier has the ability to rally others around it. It’s also good to know when an ability actually hurts your character—Arthur in Conquest has something called “Gamble,” for example, which affects his hit percentage negatively. That’s one ability I’d rather turn off.
Look at your stats
Everyone is built with different affinities, so you should become aware of what those are. Sometimes a character design will make a character seem good or bad in ways they aren’t, numbers-wise.
Use Azura
The songstress might be meek, but her ability to give units two turns is very handy in battle. Just make sure to keep her safe.
Open chests
Oh, the spoils waiting around for you in Fire Emblem. All you need to do is kill whatever enemy character happens to hold a key (which you should scope out before battle). Heck, more stealthy units, like Ninjas and Outlaws, can actually brute-force chests open without keys. Just be smart about it. Sometimes beelining a single unit toward a chest is pretty dangerous.
Block enemies
Sometimes maps will spawn extra enemies mid-battle...unless a unit happens to be standing right over the door or stairway where these enemies spawn. If you find yourself retrying a stage multiple times, take note of where enemies spawn. Next time, make sure to block ‘em, or at least anticipate ‘em.
Reload if you get crappy stats
Your level-up bonuses are random, which means that sometimes you’ll barely get a single point to a useless stat. I can’t stand when this happens, especially when its my main character, so sometimes I’ll retry an entire battle just to get a better level-up. Hey man, stats really make a difference, especially in Conquest!
Grind, if you can
Birthright lets you do extra chapters and challenge stages, which is a great way of beefing up your troops (or meeting new characters.)
Get to level 20
Class upgrade items are plentiful in both Birthright and Conquest, but hold off on using them. You’ll gain the most from Master Seals and the like if you max out your character first, and then upgrade their class.
Play cupid
One of the most gratifying things in modern Fire Emblem games is watching romance blossom. It’s worth looking at the Support menu and seeing who can marry whom, so that you can then go into battle with the objective of pairing specific people up. Married couples produce babies, which can also be used in the battlefield. Nothing says parenthood like war. (Here’s a guide on what kids your characters can make.)
Of course, some people aren’t very cute together, so don’t feel like you have to settle down with the first people who hit it off. Shop around, see which duos have the best conversations together. This especially goes for you, the player. S-ranking someone means marriage, and whoever you marry is final. Don’t settle down unless you’re absolutely sure! Luckily, Fire Emblem isn’t old-fashioned here, and you can totally invite people into your ~personal chamber~ first before making a decision.
Invite the right people to your personal chamber
Fire Emblem may give you a master list of every available ally when you retreat to your personal chamber, but only the people with hearts next to their names will actually bond with you. If you want to increase your relationship status, make sure to select someone who is actually down to hang. Otherwise, sure, you’ll still get the up-close 3D model no matter who you pick, but you won’t actually benefit in a meaningful way from the encounter.
Use the mess hall
Cooking can give you an edge in battle, Monster Hunter style. If you have some ingredients lying around, stop by the mess hall and whip something up for your troops. Not only is it useful, depending on the chef, cooking can be pretty hilarious.
Check the Records Hall
The fortunes are hilarious.
Also, you can check your roster here, which is good for knowing when your favorite characters have birthdays. If you talk to characters on their birthday, you’ll get a bunch of neat goodies! Also, the Records Hall lets you learn a bit more about everyone in your army, which is nice.
Buy at a discount
Depending on the cashier, different things will go on sale in the armory and rod shop. There’s no reason to purchase anything at full price.
Give your healers Rescue and Psychic rods
They’re useful! So are the other rods, though there’s a limit to how much you can carry. I found that Rescue and Psychic saved my butt more times than I can count, especially in Conquest.
Give fighters Beast Killers and Armorslayers
Even the wimpiest fighter can take down strong foes with the right tool.
Heal wounds, no matter how small
Your healers don’t get very many opportunities to gain XP...unless someone is hurt. You’ll burn through rods faster this way, but really, XP is worth more than money. Plus, if you’re looting all the chests you can and are purchasing things at a discount, you should have plenty of moolah left over.
Let people die
If you’re playing with permadeath, the only way it’ll really make an impact is if you let people go from time to time instead of just reloading whenever you lose a unit.
Build your castle
Before you go wild trying to make a fancy castle, make sure you have the essentials first. It’s worth building an armory, rod shop, and mess hall before anything else, as these will grant you vital resources for battle. After that, I’d recommend erecting an arena, hot spring, lottery shop, prison, and an accessory store. These facilities will give you extra things to do every day. Once these are put in place, feel free to put up more decorative things, like statues.
Customize your castle
In addition to building your castle just the way you like it, you can also change its style, its music, your assistant, and even the castle’s name. Just go up to your butler or maid and talk to ‘em.
Play every day
Even if you don’t have time to go into battle, make sure to check in on your castle daily. Fire Emblem is now built more like Animal Crossing, where you can collect assets every day. These resources can then be cooked for bonuses, or traded for accessories. Plus, characters move in and out of your castle, and they sometimes have new and unique things to say to you. Be friendly!
Press “L” while on castle grounds
The top-down view is so impersonal...but you can actually zoom in and see everything modeled in 3D! It’s always nice to take a good look at your friends this way, or to marvel at your newest building.
Visit other people
Everyone has a castle, and you can check ‘em all out. Better yet, you can collect unique materials from other castles, too. This is how you can save up and buy that one hat from the accessory shop you really, really want. It’s also how you’ll get to meet characters from other games, which is always fun. Sometimes, you’ll even be treated to castles that are built with a more decorative flair.
If you want to visit specific castles, you’ll need a castle ID, which can be obtained via your in-game Crystal Ball. And, if you find a random castle you actually really like (read: castles that have materials you need), make sure to go up to that Corrin and save his or her Calling Card. Next time you go online, your saved castles can be accessed via a “Visit Castles” menu.
Finally, you’ll also get bonuses if people decide to visit your castle too, so make sure to build something hospitable! Feel free to use the comments here to share Castle IDs for this purpose.
Battle against other players
What good is a castle if it cannot be seized? Fire Emblem lets you duke it out in other people’s castles, and if you win, you’ll even get some decent bonuses. Try it out, see how you like it. You can even take on people who are higher level than you, thanks to built-in handicaps.
If you like online battles, make sure to feed Lilith daily, too. That’s what she’s there for.
Customize your card
Your Calling Card is your public face to the world of Fire Emblem, so make sure it says what you want it to. In your Crystal Ball, select “StreetPass Team.” There, you’ll have the option to edit your card. Here’s what one of mine looks like.
(Don’t judge me! I played Birthright to make characters kiss, so difficulty wasn’t a concern on this version of the game.)
Leave other people comments
If you visit someone and like what you see, let them know! Heck, you can even give other people accessories if you’re feeling generous.
Check your gifts
If you bought more than one version of Fire Emblem Fates, the game rewards you with a few goodies, including items that can permanently change your stats. Check “Bonuses” under your Crystal Ball and take everything the game offers!
Try your Amiibo
If you have any Fire Emblem amiibo lying around, put ‘em to use! Fire EmblemFates can read these plastic figurines, and once inside your game, they’ll give you gifts. Actually, if you can best the character in battle, you’ll even be able to recruit them in your game.
Get the “Before Awakening” DLC
It’s free, and you can see some familiar faces, so why not? Oh, and make sure to bring Odin along with you. Trust me. (DLC can be viewed under the “Dragon’s Gate” menu.)
Mulder and Scully’s newest adventures might be coming to a close on TV tonight, but they’re getting more stories to tell in a duo of new Young Adult novels... or at least their teenaged versions are.
Sadly—or thankfully, depending on your point of view—these books won’t see teen Mulder and Scully team up for some sort of Famous Five-esque teenage X-Files series. Instead, the books follow young Dana and Fox in 1979. In X-Files: Origins, the two teens, yet to meet, find themselves thrust into separate incidents that set them on their paths to joining the FBI later in their lives. Mulder’s book will be called Agent of Chaos and be written by Kami Garcia, while Scully’s, Devil’s Advocate, will be written by Jonathan Maberry.
No further details were released, other than that the late 1970s setting is meant to be emblematic of the time period’s fascination with government conspiracies like the fallout of Watergate, as well as occult practices and serial killers like Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris. Presumably the books won’t just be about teen Mulder complaining about his sister being taken by aliens or Scully doing a buttload of revision for her studies and med school prep (which would be kind of hilarious, but not great book material).
But it’s interesting to see Fox pushing X-Files across various media platforms—and, considering Garcia and Maberry’s books are specifically Young Adult stories, targeting an audience that didn’t grow up watching the original series.
Who is DuckManBoy? One’s a duck-headed, man-bodied, suit-wearing, long-suffering business type; the other’s a boy-headed, duck-bodied free spirit whose fondness for meat-based shakes sets the bickering duo on a collision course with a madman who’d like to add them to his latest recipe. Gasp!
This short, by Louis Hudson and Ian Ravenscroft, was produced as part of the 2014-2015 Nickelodeon International Animated Shorts Program. It packs a lot of wackiness and creativity into three minutes—plus, the voice actors are hilarious, and the theme song is jaunty as hell.
George R.R. Martin is setting aside all other writing work until he finishes The Winds of Winter, the infinitely anticipated next installment of A Song of Ice and Fire. The author announced this on his blog in the comments of this post. There’s still no ETA on when the book might be done, but he’s definitely buckling down.
Every day, troves of hungry marine organisms—shrimp, jellyfish, squid and bony fish—migrate from the ocean’s murky depths to the surface. For the first time, marine biologists have captured the sound of their collective lunch outing. May it be the sonic backdrop to all of your future, jellyfish-induced nightmares.
Cynics will point out that this sounds more like a struggling air conditioner than an epic call of the wild. But even if it isn’t the most musically interesting soundbite, this recording is ecologically fascinating. Worldwide, an estimated ten billion tons of scaly and tentacled critters make the daily trek from the ocean’s mesopelagic zone—200 to 1,000 meters beneath the surface—to the phytoplankton-rich surface, moving at night to avoid the prying eyes of hungry predators. By dawn, the animals are headed back to the safety of deep ocean darkness.
It’s an enormous migration event that plays a key role in the marine food web and planetary carbon cycle. And aside from a handful of biology nerds, few human beings will ever pause to consider it. You can now count yourself among those lucky few.
The low-frequency hum (300 to 900 Hertz) produced by this fishy diaspora is roughly three to six times louder than background noise, occurs for one to two hours daily, and can be picked up with sophisticated audio equipment. Scientists aren’t yet sure who’s contributing to the plankton-fueled groan, or what purpose, if any, it serves. It could be an ecological dinner bell, signaling the start or end of the feasting frenzy. Or the sound could serve as a warning against predators. If nothing else, it’s reminder that the oceans are a weird and fascinating place—and that we’ve still got plenty of mysteries to solve in their murky depths.
Ten classic episodes of The Twilight Zone will be broadcast in the UK for the first time—but, much like the show’s trademark, there’s a twist. The episodes will be reinvented as radio plays taken from Rod Serling’s original TV scripts, thanks to BBC Radio 4 Extra.
According to the Independent, veteran actor Stacy Keach will step in to perform the late Serling’s iconic monologues; other cast members throughout the series will include Jane Seymour, Jim Caviezel, Michael York, Malcolm McDowell, and Don Johnson. Producer Carl Amari has owned the rights since 2002, which he obtained in part by promising to do the episodes justice in terms of production values and casting.
Each episode will run 40 minutes; the series kicks off in March with Ambrose Bierce adaptation “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” Though it first screened as part of The Twilight Zone in 1964, the “episode” was actually a 1962 Academy Award-winning short film before being repurposed (with added Serling segments) for broadcast. It’s set on a particularly memorable day in the life of a Southern prisoner during the Civil War—with, of course, a hell of a twist ending.
Galaxy NgC 4569 can be seen in the foreground. The red splotches to its right show the hydrogen gas that’s trailing behind it. Credit: CFHT/Coelum
Astronomers at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research have discovered a galaxy with a rather remarkable feature—a massive plume of gas measuring 300,000 light-years across. That’s five times the length of the galaxy itself.
Located in the Virgo Cluster, galaxy NGC 4569 is located 55 million light-years from our own Milky Way. Scientists have known about this unusual spiral galaxy for many years, but they couldn’t explain why it contains less gas than it’s supposed to. An international team of astronomers led by Alessandro Boselli at the Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille in France finally have the answer: The galaxy is moving so fast—about 745 miles per second (1,200 km/s)—that the ensuing pressure is stripping it of its hydrogen.
Galaxy NGC 4569 shown in context to neighboring galaxies in the Virgo Cluster. Credit: CHFT
“We didn’t have the smoking gun, the clear evidence of direct removal of gas from the galaxy,” noted Boselli in a statement. “Now, with these observations, we’ve seen a huge amount of gas that creates a stream trailing behind the galaxy for the first time. What’s very nice is that if you measure the mass of the stream, it’s the same amount of gas that is missing from the galaxy’s disc.”
Boselli said that big clusters trap a lot of hot gas, but when a galaxy enters a cluster, all the accumulated pressure strips matter away from the galaxy. Astronomers call it a “ram pressure stripping event.” In this case, galaxy NGC 4569 has been stripped of 95 percent of the gas required to fuel the formation of new stars. So for all intents-and-purposes, this galaxy is dead. The trail of ionized gas is about 80 kiloparsecs across, or 300,000 light-years. That’s five times the length of the galaxy itself.
The galaxy and plume masked from the emission of foreground stars. Credit: CHFT
The researchers were able to make the discovery using a super-sensitive camera called MegaCam on the Canada France Hawaii Telescope. The details of this work can now be found in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Today on Highlight Reel we have a dabbing Palpatine, bad rocket aim, Rainbow 6 breaching failures, tasers, and much much more.
Watch the video above or on our Youtube page, then talk about your favorite highlight in the comments below. Be sure to check out, like, and share the original videos via the links below.
Highlight Reel is Kotaku’s regular roundup of great plays, stunts, records and other great moments from around the gaming world. If you record an amazing feat while playing a game, send it to us (with a message confirming that the clip is yours!) at highlightreel@kotaku.com.Or, if you see a great clip around that isn’t yours, encourage that person to send it in!
When does Spider-Man enter the scene in Civil War? Mads Mikkelsen teases his allegiance in Rogue One. Get a better look at Connor Hawke on Legends of Tomorrow. David Duchovny wants more X-Files. Plus, Ronda Rousey sets her sights on another nerdy movie role, and get a look at Agent Carter’s wild dream sequence. Behold, Spoilers!
Captain America: Civil War
A few more tidbits out of this week’s Empire Magazine, for which Civil War is the cover story, have hit the internet. WhatCulture has gathered up a few, including scans of some of the images included in the magazine—including the fact that Spider-Man does not make his presence felt in the movie until after the lines of Team Cap and Team Tony have been drawn (at which point he “forms a relationship with one character”), and the fact that the film will have a“very dramatic ending that will be controversial for a lot of people,” according to Anthony Russo. Head on to the link to see more.
Meanwhile, a high-res picture of Frank Grillo’s Crossbones has been released—and despite the fact we have seen the character in countless set photos, its actually our first official look at the character in this film. There are also two new pictures of Scarlet Witch in her new costume, and Steve and Tony having a disagreement. [Empire]
Star Wars: Rogue One
Speaking to a Danish news site, Mads Mikkelsen briefly teases his character’s allegiance in the movie:
No, my character is actually not a bad guy.
Death Note
According to producer Roy Jones, the Western adaptation of the anime/manga will be aiming for an R-rating:
It’s definitely for adults. It is zero chance it will be below an R-rating...
[The film] will be one of the first manga adaptations that feels very grounded but still has fantastical elements.
After spending months campaigning for the chance to become Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel, UFC fighter Ronda Rousey has set her eyes on another female hero: tight-lipped bounty hunter Samus Aran, in a hypothetical adaptation of Nintendo’s classic series Metroid:
I’ve always wanted to be Samus. That would be badass. I love how people found out later that it was a hot chick on the inside. And then most of the day you’re in a suit, so you can just hang out and eat donuts and be the star of ‘Metroid.’ I hope they make a movie out of that.
Vin Diesel has posted a few new pictures from filming to his Instagram account.
Batman v Superman
Here’s three new character posters for Alfred, Lex, and Lois. [CBR]
Marvel’s Most Wanted/Agents of SHIELD
ABC’s on-again, off-again pilot, based around Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter, is on again, and it has a new log line. And it teases a world where Bobbi and Lance are on the run with no one to trust, or “no SHIELD” to help them.
Centers on Bobbi Morse (a.k.a. Mockingbird) and Lance Hunter of “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., two ex-spies and ex-spouses who are on the run with no friends, no S.H.I.E.L.D. and a long list of enemies looking to claim a bounty on their heads. Able to trust no one but each other, Bobbi and Hunter form an uneasy alliance with Dominic Fortune, a rogue adventurer with a wealth of resources and even more adversaries, who agrees to protect them so long as they help him with his own agenda. These two heroes will help anyone in need, all while trying to uncover the conspiracy that put their own lives in jeopardy.
Could the third season of the show end with SHIELD either incapacitated (and Bobbi and Lance separated from their comrades) or outright in tatters again? [Deadline]
The X-Files
Unsurprisingly, David Duchovny tells Ellen he’s open to doing more of the show following the success of this “event” season:
Yeah, I think we’re all open to it. It’s just a matter of getting everyone’s schedules to jive. Gillian lives in London. I live... I don’t know where I live. I live somewhere. Chris lives here [in California].
I would love to. I think we all would. We’ll see what happens.
Legion
Amber Midthunder has joined the show as Kerry, a young woman “with a childlike sense of wonder.” Described as a savant by Deadline, she has also “lived a sheltered, but never dull life.”
Time After Time
Josh Bowman has been cast in this H.G. Wells time travel series as John Stevenson, a surgeon who secretly lives a double life as... Jack the Ripper. [Complex]
Supergirl
Here’s the brief synopsis for episode sixteen, “Falling”.
KARA TURNS ON HER FRIENDS AND THE CITIZENS OF NATIONAL CITY AFTER BEING EXPOSED TO RED KRYPTONITE MAKES HER MALICIOUS AND DANGEROUS, ON “SUPERGIRL,” MONDAY, MARCH 14
The Hosts of CBS Daytime’s “The Talk” Guest Star
“Falling” – Kara turns on her friends and the citizens of National City after being exposed to Red Kryptonite makes her malicious and dangerous. Also, Cat appears on THE TALK to discuss Supergirl, on SUPERGIRL.
A gallery of pictures from “Star City 2046”, focusing on the arrival of Connor Hawke on the show, has been released. You can find more at the link. [Comicbook.com]
‘Gold’ by Davide Lopresti (Italy). Underwater Photographer of the Year 2016.
It’s often said that we know less about the deep ocean than we do about the surface of Mars. Looking at the 2016 winners of the UK’s Underwater Photography Contest, I can’t help but agree. Life beneath the sea is as alien and entrancing as any ancient, dust-blown crater on the Red Planet.
Although only in its second year, the Underwater Photography Contest has already put itself on the map as a prestigious international competition. This year, the contest drew thousands of applicants, who vied for awards in eight photo categories, including macro, wide-angle, behavior, and more. In addition, four special awards recognized exceptional photographers, and up-and-coming talent, both in the UK and internationally.
The scope, scale, and subjects of the winning images are breathtakingly diverse. I’ve collected a few of my favorites below, but if you’re as captivated as I was, you’ll want to check out all 80 award-winning photos here.
The internet wasall abuzztoday over newly-declassified tape of Apollo 10 astronauts catching a broadcast of alien music on the Moon. Except the tape was not classified, not alien, and not music. Settle in and take a listen for yourself.
We tracked down and clipped out the relevant portion of the original audio for you right here. The minute and a half of tape features pilot Gene Cernan imitating a whistling sound coming in over his radio for his crewmates, before they move on to the truly important issue: Would any of the other astronauts like some grape juice, because Commander Tom Stafford is going to make some and he is definitely not going to do it twice.
Recalling the incident 47 years later, Cernan described the click-and-whistle radio static as “probably just radio interference,” adding “we never gave it another thought.”
So it’s neither alien nor music, but what about the claim that this (secret! confidential! spooky!) footage has been hidden away for the past several decades, perhaps in some secret government lair?
We talked with NASA’s chief historian Bill Barry to trace the footage’s path through history:
You are right that the audio is not “newly declassified.” The very short snippet of discussion that has become a subject of wild discussion on the internet over the last 2 days comes from the inside the Lunar Module recording on Apollo 10. All of the space-to-ground communications were a matter of public record, but the cockpit voice recorder (that isn’t the official name, but that is effectively what they did) tapes were transcribed and studied on the ground after each mission. As a matter of normal procedure we don’t make those transcripts immediately available after the mission. (You can imagine the effect it would have if everyone in your office knew that everything they said would be released to the public immediately.)
Within four years after they made the recordings in 1969, though, the footage was freely available through the US National Archives and Records Administration. The recordings have even been posted online on NASA’s website since 2012. (You can listen to them in their entirety here.)
The recordings remained relatively unnoticed through the decades until two days ago, when—in perhaps the most mysterious moment in the footage’s history—Science Channel made them the cornerstone in a marketing campaign for its new series, NASA’s Unexplained Files.
NASA, however, is pretty clear that there is nothing unexplained about the little clip of audio you just heard—although Barry notes that there is now one question about the footage remaining: “Why they thought this was newsworthy is unclear to us.”
Good news, US Doctor Who fans—Amazon has announced it will stream the first eight seasons of the show, following their pulling from Netflix and Hulu this month. In a year with very little new Doctor Who, losing streaming options was a blow to fans, but now the show will have a home on Prime Video from March.
