ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝 @feddit.uk A geologist and archaeologist by training, a nerd by inclination - books, films, fossils, comics, rocks, games, folklore, and, generally, the rum and uncanny... Let's have it!
Elsewhere:
- Yrtree.me - it's still early days for me in the Fediverse, so bear with me
Jon Watts tells fans that Skeleton Crew will be a Star Wars show for viewers who have never seen Star Wars
> According to Hulu, there is over 350 hours of Star Wars content. It sounds like you have a lot of catching up to do (Popverse can help with that). > >However, you don’t need to be familiar with any of that to watch the next Star Wars television series. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is an upcoming series which is expected to stream on Disney+ later this year. The series is the brainchild of Christopher Ford and Jon Watts, the director behind Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy. > >Speaking to a crowd at CCXP Mexico City 2024, Watts revealed some details about the storyline. > >"It’s about a group of kids that find a buried spaceship on their boring planet. They accidentally turn it on, get blasted off into the galaxy, and it’s the story about them trying to find their way back home.” > >Since the storyline is being told from the kids’ perspective, you can watch Skeleton Crew without having ever seen any other Star Wars movies or television shows. > >“You don’t need to have any prior Star Wars knowledge to enjoy it, but if you do, you can enjoy it on many levels.” > >Of course, the television show will have adult characters too. > >“Jude Law is in it too, and he’s great,” Watts said with excitement. > >According to Lucasfilm, Law will be a Force-user, and the series will take place sometime after Return of the Jedi. Other than that, Watts wasn’t sure what he could say without getting in trouble.
Highlander - I know the dialogue off by heart and can do better accents too.
Crew members on Francis Ford Coppola epic 'Megalopolis' claim director was unprofessional as video of filmmaker kissing extras surfaces
> With two months to go before the release of “Megalopolis,” things are about to get awkward. > >Video has surfaced of director Francis Ford Coppola that shows the legendary director trying to kiss young female extras on the set of his ambitious sci-fi epic. Variety has obtained two videos (posted below) that were taken by a crewmember last year during the filming of a bacchanalian nightclub scene. > >Two sources told Variety that Coppola appeared to act with impunity on set. And unlike traditional movies, Coppola financed the entire $120 million budget himself, so there were none of the traditional checks and balances in place. The videos would appear to corroborate a bombshell report in the Guardian that claimed the 85-year-old director “tried to kiss some of the topless and scantily clad female extras” and told them “he was ‘trying to get them in the mood.’” The Guardian story broke right before “Megalopolis” made its world premiere in Competition in Cannes. > > The scene in question, which features actress Nathalie Emmanuel, was shot on Feb. 14, 2023, at the Tabernacle, a concert hall in Atlanta. The call sheet, which Variety has reviewed, says the actresses playing female party goers had been “cleared for topless nudity” while others in the scene had been “cleared for scantily clad.” > >The sources claim that Coppola’s behavior was unprofessional. One source who was on the set during the nightclub scene estimated that between 150 to 200 people were assembled, including background actors and crew as Coppola started directing the scene. The filmmaker kept leaping up to hug and kiss several women, often inadvertently inserting himself into the shot and ruining it, which the source said was unusual. > >“I’ve worked with really important directors and that behavior is uncommon — the most I’ve ever seen any director do is say something like, ‘high energy, guys,'” the source adds. “I’ve never seen anyone on set, and this extends to a camera operator, so much as touch an actor.” > >The source said that after multiple takes, Coppola got on a microphone and announced in earshot of everyone in the room, “Sorry, if I come up to you and kiss you. Just know it’s solely for my pleasure.”
Science secretary backs five quantum technology hubs in push for UK to transform healthcare and industry
> Britain’s plans to create advanced devices based on the mind-bending physics of the quantum world have received a £100m boost, in a move ministers hope will have a transformative impact on healthcare, transport and national security. > >Peter Kyle, the science secretary has announced funds to establish five quantum technology hubs across England and Scotland. They will work with industry and government to develop and commercialise devices and ultimately drive a new economy. > > “We are at the foothills of where quantum technology is going to take us and that provides a huge opportunity for British science and British research and development,” Kyle told the Guardian from Glasgow before Friday’s announcement. “If we get this right, we can become global leaders, which means not just solving challenges domestically and creating opportunities domestically, but being able to fully exploit the global market as well.” > > ... > > The hubs, based in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford and London, will aim to build the next generation of devices, from brain-scanner helmets and gravity sensors that detect underground pipes to quantum-enhanced blood tests that catch diseases early, and global positioning and precision-timing services that do not rely on GPS. > >In one project, scientists at UCL are fine-tuning the quantum properties of atomic defects in diamond nanoparticles to develop ultra-sensitive blood tests. The technology allows scientists to draw a blood sample and detect minuscule amounts of proteins or DNA by making them flash like the beam from a lighthouse. > >“A whole new generation of quantum sensors is beginning to appear and our hub is going to harness those to transform early diagnosis and treatment, where it has applications across cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s and infectious diseases,” said Prof John Morton at UCL. “We’re really excited about translating these weird and wonderful quantum sensors into practical applications that patients will benefit from.” > > At the University of Birmingham, scientists are exploiting a quantum effect known as superposition to build gravity sensors that detect underground infrastructure. Such sensors could alert utilities companies to gas and water mains where they plan to dig, or help them find their own pipes to repair. > >“Rather than lots of digging to find things – and lots of holes are dug in the wrong place – we can in principle find the infrastructure quicker,” said Prof Michael Holynski at Birmingham university. “We have already detected tunnels and pipes with the sensor we have in the hub. What we want to do in the next phase is make it something that can move quickly, and more accurately inspect the underground.”
Scientists from King's College London discovered that Komodo dragons' serrated teeth are enhanced with iron, particularly concentrated along the cutting edges. This feature, staining the teeth orange, helps keep them exceptionally sharp. The study analyzed teeth from Komodo dragons and explored p
> Scientists have discovered that the serrated edges of Komodo dragons’ teeth are tipped with iron. > > Led by researchers from King’s College London, the study gives new insight into how Komodo dragons keep their teeth razor-sharp and may provide clues to how dinosaurs like Tyrannosaurus rex killed and ate their prey. > >Native to Indonesia, Komodo dragons are the largest living species of monitor lizard, averaging around 80kg. Deadly predators, Komodos have sharp, curved teeth similar to many carnivorous dinosaurs. They eat almost any kind of meat, from smaller reptiles and birds to deer, horses, or water buffalo, pulling and tearing at their prey to rip flesh apart. > > The researchers discovered that many reptiles have some iron in their teeth, but Komodo dragons have concentrated the iron along the cutting edges and tips of their teeth, staining them orange. Crocodiles and other monitor lizards, by comparison, have so little that the iron is often invisible. > > ... > > Through advanced imaging and chemical analysis, the team was able to observe that the iron in Komodo dragons’ enamel is concentrated into a thin coating on top of their tooth serrations and tips. This protective layer keeps the serrated edges of their teeth sharp and ready to be used at a moment’s notice. > >The research, published on July 24 in Nature Ecology & Evolution, leads to new questions and avenues for research into how extinct species such as dinosaurs lived and ate. > > ... > > “Unfortunately, using the technology we have at the moment, we can’t see whether fossilized dinosaur teeth had high levels of iron or not. We think that the chemical changes that take place during the fossilization process obscure how much iron was present to start with. > > “What we did find, though, was that larger meat-eating dinosaurs, like tyrannosaurs, did change the structure of the enamel itself on the cutting edges of their teeth. So, while Komodo dragons have altered the chemistry of their teeth, some dinosaurs altered the structure of their dental enamel to maintain a sharp cutting edge. > >“With further analysis of the Komodo teeth, we may be able to find other markers in the iron coating that aren’t changed during fossilization. With markers like that, we would know with certainty whether dinosaurs also had iron-coated teeth and have a greater understanding of these ferocious predators.”
It's worked every time for a friend of mine. He is banned from the allotment but still likes to hoover nude.
That's the dirty secret of medicine - they dick about when no-one is looking.
Sounds like a press release from Big Gourd.
James Wan to Direct ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon' Remake for Universal
Will Beall, who penned Wan’s ‘Aquaman,’ is writing the screenplay. The film will most likely be part of Universal’s “Monsterverse” which already includes “The Invisible Man” and the upcoming “Wolfman.”
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15201387
> James Wan is finally done with ‘Aquaman’ and already has a couple of projects lined up. It’s already been announced that he is adapting “The Call of Cthulhu,” based on the 1928 H.P. Lovecraft short story of the same name. However, Wan has seemingly lined up another film as his potential next project. > >Daniel Richtman is reporting that Wan is set to direct “Creature From the Black Lagoon” for Universal. This is a remake of the 1954 classic which tackled a strange prehistoric beast lurking in the depths of the Amazonian jungle and the group of scientists who try to capture the animal to bring it back to civilization for study. > >Will Beall, who penned Wan’s ‘Aquaman,’ is writing the screenplay. The film will most likely be part of Universal’s “Monsterverse” which already includes “The Invisible Man” and the upcoming “Wolfman.”
Art historian Adam Busiakiewicz noticed the barely visible portrait in the background of a picture posted by the Warwickshire Lieutenancy
> A famous portrait of King Henry VIII, long considered lost, has been found after an art historian spotted it in the background of a photo shared on social media. > >The painting in question was once part of a famous set of 22 portraits commissioned in the 1590s by tapestry maker Ralph Sheldon. The portrait hung originally in Weston House, Sheldon’s Warwickshire home, but barely a handful of paintings from the collection survive today. > > Art historian Adam Busiakiewicz, who works as a consultant for famous auction house Sotheby’s, spotted the painting in the background of a picture posted by the Warwickshire Lieutenancy on X on 4 July. The account had shared a photo of a reception held at the Shire Hall, and the portrait is just about visible in the background. > > ... > > “The fact I was lucky to piece together [what it was] in an hour is very exciting,” Mr Busiakiewicz told the BBC. > >“I spend a lot of time thinking about paintings and looking at people’s walls.”
City of York Council says the statue of Long Boi will add to the character of the university campus.
"So I was farming in the nude and slipped in the gourd field and..."
60-years-old farmer was sent to the hospital due to intense stomachache. Doctors found a 40cm bottle gourd lodged in his rectum.
> Doctors in India recently carried out an unusual surgery to remove a 40cm bottle gourd from a farmer’s rectum. > >According to India TV, the patient arrived at Chhatarpur District Hospital in Madhya Pradesh from Khajuraho on Saturday (20 July). > >The 60-year-old was in critical condition, suffering from intense stomach pain. > > An X-ray revealed the entire bottle gourd lodged inside the farmer’s rectum, causing significant internal damage > > ... > > One of the surgeons involved in the operation revealed that the patient declined to disclose how the gourd came to be lodged in his rectum. > > Doctors suspect that a mental health issue might be behind this bizarre incident, though they haven’t ruled out the possibility of an accident.
Some say Ann Arbor's popular Graffiti Alley has taken a turn for the worse in the last year with "Farts" dominating it now.
> It was about a year ago when someone first covered Ann Arbor’s Graffiti Alley with “Farts,” repeatedly spray-painting the word hundreds of times over. > >While it amused some alley visitors who couldn’t help but chuckle at the silliness of it, others saw it as defacing a beloved exhibit of street art and hurting the alley. > > The phenomenon, unlike anything Graffiti Alley has seen in decades, continues to generate mixed reactions and online chatter, including one Reddit thread dubbing it “Farts Wars.” > >Some say “Farts” is art, while others say it stinks. > > ... > > While the debate rages, the identity of the artist behind “Farts” remains somewhat of a mystery, but those who’ve met him say he’s a local, middle-aged dad named Ryan. > >“I met him and I shook his hand because I was like, oh my gosh, you’re the famous farts guy,” Colin Spry, who considers himself Graffiti Alley’s unofficial tour guide, said of his first encounter with the “Farts” artist. > >“He’s probably in his late 40s, he’s got salt-and-pepper hair and a shaved face, like a 5 o’clock shadow,” said Spry, who regularly hangs out in Graffiti Alley and tells visitors about the artwork.
I like the way he doesn't go back for it - if it wants to be free, just let it go.
The store in Wyke Regis, Dorset, puts up posters to warn customers about the crisp-stealing seagull.
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15262714
> > A shoplifting bird dubbed "Steven Seagull" has been banned from a convenience store for flying off with packets of crisps over a six-year stealing spree. > > > >Staff at the Lyndale Central store in Wyke Regis, Dorset, have put up posters urging customers to "close the door" behind them in a bid to stop Steven. > > > >The manager of the store, Stuart Harmer, said the crafty seagull had made off with about 30 packets of crisps in the past two months alone. > > > >He said: "Trying to explain to the powers that be that I've got stock loss because of a seagull - they think its a joke." > > > >Mr Harmer said Steven "comes in the shop when the doors open, puts his head around the corner of the door, nicks a packet of crisps and flies off with it". > > > > According to Mr Harmer, Steven is particularly fond of BBQ beef flavoured crisps.
Oh, as the King of Over-thinking I have lots of thoughts. Not sure if they are well-formed.but that's never stopped me before!
The Mastodon integration is fairly crude - it just posts your activity to your timeline. I think most people would want that turned off by default unless they are posting a review or promoting something they've made as it could overwhelm your account quite quickly.
Quite how other integrations work would depend on the service. I could see, for example, trailers (or other promotional videos) being integrated straight from PeerTube - in the future, I could see companies running their own Peertube instances.
I may be biased but I find the idea of Threadiverse integration more intriguing. I've mentioned it before but I miss the old IMDb message boards where even the most obscure film had somewhere you could discuss it without it being lost in the mix. So I'd like to see links from NeoDB to relevant threads, so NeoDB wouldn't itself have to include some kind of commenting system beyond the reviews. You could, at least initially, add these by hand but that would be a pain quickly and I'd like to ultimately see a text box on the Threadiverse post page where you could add the name of the specific item and that would automatically generate the link back. It would also add a link from the post to the NeoDB entry. So it's the 75th anniversary of the release of Orwell's 1984. An article is released Looking back on it's cultural impact and I post that to literature.cafe and/or [email protected]. One of the fields to fill in includes one for NeoDB, so I add it in there and that automatically creates a backlink in the comments section of NeoDB but also a link to the NeoDB entry from my post. That way the links go in both directions.
You could do this from micro-blogging services but it would tend to fill the comments with a lot less than useful links and I think the Threadiverse, along with blogs is the better format for such comment links.
Stomp is standard English - it tends to have a more slightly more violent meaning. Ultimately leading to the Skinhead Moonstomp.
DuckDuckGo, Bing, Mojeek, and other search engines are not returning full Reddit results any more.
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17906460
> > DuckDuckGo, Bing, Mojeek, and other search engines are not returning full Reddit results any more.
The store in Wyke Regis, Dorset, puts up posters to warn customers about the crisp-stealing seagull.
> A shoplifting bird dubbed "Steven Seagull" has been banned from a convenience store for flying off with packets of crisps over a six-year stealing spree. > >Staff at the Lyndale Central store in Wyke Regis, Dorset, have put up posters urging customers to "close the door" behind them in a bid to stop Steven. > >The manager of the store, Stuart Harmer, said the crafty seagull had made off with about 30 packets of crisps in the past two months alone. > >He said: "Trying to explain to the powers that be that I've got stock loss because of a seagull - they think its a joke." > >Mr Harmer said Steven "comes in the shop when the doors open, puts his head around the corner of the door, nicks a packet of crisps and flies off with it". > > According to Mr Harmer, Steven is particularly fond of BBQ beef flavoured crisps.
As Mike Mignola is on scripting duties for this, whatever the rating required to tell the story properly is fine by me.
I love Conan the Barbarian and I don't think it should be that high (although I would have sneaks it into the too 20 somewhere).
The force has said three officers were injured in a subsequent altercation and there was a “clear risk” of firearms being snatched from officers who were carrying weapons.
That old chestnut. Not sure how that justifies stamping on a man's head when you could easily have restrained him at that point removing any such risk.
Well at least something important is coming home.
The utility's problems have been compounded as it is now in breach of its licence requirements, though Thames Water says it was expecting the decision.
> It is now even harder and more expensive for the UK's biggest water provider to borrow money as leading credit ratings agency Moody's has downgraded its debt to "junk" status. > >Thames Water's parent company had already defaulted on some loan payments that make up its £16.5bn debt pile. More pressure will be put on its ability to meet debt obligations as a result of the downgrade. > >The utility is in a perilous financial position, due to run out of money next May as it cannot raise any investment from current shareholders who described the company as "uninvestable". > > Water regulator Ofwat requires utilities to maintain an "investment grade" debt ranking, something Thames Water no longer has.
Greater Manchester Police has said it understands the "deep concerns that have been widely raised with us" after the video was shared on social media - with hundreds of protesters gathering in Rochdale on Wednesday night.
> A police officer has been suspended after footage shared on social media showed a suspect being kicked in the head and stamped on at Manchester Airport. > >The suspect has been named as Fahir in an Instagram video where he appears alongside his lawyer Akhmed Yakoob. > >The lawyer is also representing a second man who was arrested in the incident at Manchester Airport and names him as Amaad. > >Mr Yakoob, who is the only one who speaks in the video, does not confirm whether Fahir and Amaad are brothers but says they will be making a formal complaint accusing Rochdale Police of assaulting them and "their elderly mother". > >Greater Manchester Police (GMP) had been responding to reports of an assault at Terminal 2 at 8.25pm on Tuesday before the footage of the police officer stamping on Fahir was filmed. > >The force has said three officers were injured in a subsequent altercation and there was a "clear risk" of firearms being snatched from officers who were carrying weapons.
Indeed. It looks promising but I'l wait and see before making any judgement.
non-American horror movie
I'd personally take that as a reason to be intrigued - other cultures bring different elements to the genre.
another joked: “It is only supposed to be visible to woman under 25!”
The siren call.
I went to a midnight iSense screening and posted about it in the other thread. As I say there, it's quite difficult to discuss without spoilers but there are a tonne of gags, cameos and nice touches. It is probably the most meta of the three so far.
Kevin Feige Confirms MCU Blade Movie Is Being Developed With R Rating
Kevin Feige confirms to ComingSoon that the upcoming Blade reboot movie with Mahershala Ali is being developed with an R rating.
> In a recent interview with BlackTree TV, Feige hinted that the forthcoming Blade movie, which is currently dated for 2025, could be rated R. > >“There were some great Blade movies years ago — they were all rated R. So I think that’s, like Deadpool, inherent with the character of Blade,” he said at the time. “For the last two years, as we’ve been trying to crack that movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it and making sure we are making the right Blade movie.” > > ... > > When asked for an update regarding the film, Feige said, “[We’re] taking the amount of time that it needs. And right now, I don’t think there’s a scoop. If there is, it’s all yours. But Eric Pearson, who’s a great, great writer, is working on a draft right now. That is very exciting. Yeah. so, but we won’t get too excited until it’s really all there because Blade’s a very, very important character. Mahershala [Ali] is an amazing actor who walked in one day and said, ‘I think I wanna be Blade.’ And we wanna find the right way to do that.”
IMAX release slate 2024-2026
In a previous thread @[email protected] said:
> If you download this PDF report from the Q2 2024 IMAX Investor Presentation, there are charts showing which films are being produced with IMAX in mind all the way through to the end of 2026.
And I thought it worth extracting the relevant images (I've kept them high resolution):
2024:
2025:
2026:
In anticipation of his 77th birthday, we appraise the monolithically musclebound Austrian’s action-packed oeuvre
They are:
- The Terminator (1984)
- Conan the Barbarian (1982)
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
- Total Recall (1990)
- Predator (1987)
- Commando (1985)
- The Running Man (1987)
- Pumping Iron (1977)
- Stay Hungry (1976)
- The Last Stand (2013)
- The Expendables 2 (2012)
- Sabotage (2014)
- Raw Deal (1986)
- True Lies (1994)
- Last Action Hero (1993)
- Eraser (1996)
- Maggie (2015)
- Escape Plan (2013)
- End of Days (1999)
- Twins (1988)
A stern Georgian ex-teacher on a mission to make amends with her trans niece learns a thing or two in Levan Akin’s rich, rewarding ensemble film
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/15255690
> > The latest film from Swedish director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced), Crossing is terrific: a rich and rewarding tapestry of characters and cultures flung together and flourishing.
A stern Georgian ex-teacher on a mission to make amends with her trans niece learns a thing or two in Levan Akin’s rich, rewarding ensemble film
> The latest film from Swedish director Levan Akin (And Then We Danced), Crossing is terrific: a rich and rewarding tapestry of characters and cultures flung together and flourishing.