- The next comic book adaptation for the big screen is
marching ahead and director Edgar Wright is at the helm. Wright will lead the
forthcoming “Ant-Man” adaptation for Marvel and he is already insisting that he will try to
bring his own style to the project and not be hemmed in by the constraints of
that franchise’s back story. Wright has directed films such as “Shaun Of The
Dead,” “Hot Fuzz” and “Scott Pilgrim Vs The World” and each has had a distinct style. "I
like the challenge of doing something slightly different," Wright said.
"I think there will be some elements of my previous movies in there, and I
think that's why Marvel wanted me to do it in the first place. I don't think
they hired me to do something completely anonymous. So it's fun – it's got lots
of new elements. I'm excited about it." Whatever his vision for the film
is, it will not be shot at Pinewood Studios in London, as it was previously
scheduled to be. "Ironically, Ant-Man was meant to shoot in London, but
London is full because I guess that Pinewood extension got turned down," Wright
added. "While the tax break is good for Hollywood films shooting here,
it's probably not that great for British films shooting in the UK. Some
middle-to-low budget films are going to find themselves without crew because
all the American films are shooting here.” Wright’s hands are all over the
film, as he co-wrote the film's script with Joe Cornish. “Ant-Man” is scheduled
to open in theaters on July 31, 2015, a mere two weeks after the much-hyped “Batman
vs. Superman” epic. For the comic book ignorant, Ant-Man made his Marvel comic
book debut in 1962 but has never appeared on screen before. He is the superhero
alter ego of Dr Hank Pym, a scientist who invents a shrinking serum that makes
him insect size and allows him to solve mysteries and take out bad guys…….
- The eternal struggle of man v. tumbleweed rages on. This
titanic struggle of humanity v. a rolling ball of prairie weeds is being waged
in Pueblo County, Colo., where residents have been buried under a blanket of tumbleweeds for
weeks in spite of the best efforts of public works crews. Highway workers have
been toiling around the clock to tackle the problem, but in spite of their
work, dozens of tumbleweeds are piling up against fences and houses. The Pueblo
County Public Department has had crews out on the scene for four straight weeks
and PCPD Superintendent Chuck Colletti added that his workers have been putting
in ten hour days during that time using four road graders, two rollers to smash
the tumbleweeds and mowers to turn them into mulch. Rare hard work by
government employees or not, the tumbleweeds just keep on piling up and
creating major problems for drivers attempt to traverse roads in the area. "The
roads are blocked so whoever drives out here just needs to be careful and know
that any time you come over the top of a hill it could be clogged with
tumbleweeds on the other side so they just need to be careful," Colletti
said. The El Paso County Department of Transportation has also been involved in
the cleanup effort and some of its trucks a few weeks ago, but most of that
area has already been retaken by the tumbleweeds since then. Sadly, no one has
taken this cue to stage a duel at high noon as these tumbleweeds blow by, nor
has anyone embraced the obvious idea of setting them all on fire because they’re
in the freaking middle of nowhere and Colorado could use some heat at this time
of year……..
- Two of the longest-tenured events in Winter X Games are
back after X Games officials announced the lineup for the next event in their
action sports franchise. The world's best freeskiers, snowboarders and snowmobilers are preparing to
compete in central Colorado on Jan. 23-26 and they will do so with Snowboarder
X and Snowmobile Long Jump back in the rotation. Snowboarder X last appeared in
2012, while Snowmobile Long Jump (then called Knockout) last appeared in 2010.
The event will also serve as the final major snowsports event before the 2014
Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Adding a dose of intrigue to the proceedings,
10 of the 17 events to be contested in Aspen also will be featured in Russia
when the Olympics start two weeks later. That’s especially big news for longtime
X Games disciplines Ski and Snowboard Slopestyle and Ski SuperPipe, both of
which will make their Olympic debuts alongside Olympic disciplines Snowboard
SuperPipe and Snowboarder X as events that made the leap from the X Games to
the Olympics. "We're excited to showcase the talents of over 200
world-class athletes at X Games Aspen," said Scott Guglielmino, senior
vice president of X Games. "Since 1997 the Winter X Games has become the
pinnacle event for the world's best, and this year many of these athletes will
also be representing their countries at the Olympic Games in Sochi right after
X Games Aspen." Big names such as Brown, Kelly Clark, Jamie Anderson, Kaya
Turski, Mark McMorris, Torin Yater-Wallace, Lindsey Jacobellis, Seth Wescott
and Tucker Hibbert will all be in the mix and Wescott will compete for his
first X Games gold medal in a career that has seen him win four silvers and
three bronzes. Snowmobile Freestyle is also back at Winter X after a one-year
hiatus following the death of rider Caleb Moore from injuries sustained in a
crash during competition……..
- Science, you done done good for a change. Specifically, a
team of researchers has developed a wireless, assistive device that lets paralyzed patients
operate wheelchairs by moving their tongue in the desired direction. Researchers
at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed the Tongue Drive System (the
name needs some work) to help people with tetraplegia, a condition that causes
complete paralysis from the neck down, more independence, and improve their
quality of life. The TDS contains a small, magnetic titanium barbell that is
attached to the tongue of the user by tongue piercing. Yes, paralyzed people
will have to go punk rock and get a tongue stud to make this work. They must
also wear a headset containing wireless sensors that measures changes in the
magnetic field when they flick their tongue, then sends the signals to a
computer, which executes up to six commands based on the tongue position. "It's
really easy to understand what the Tongue Drive System can do and what it is
good for," said study co-author Maysam Ghovanloo, an associate professor
at the Georgia Institute of Technology. "Now, we have solid proof that
people with disabilities can potentially benefit from it." For the study,
the research team tested their invention on 23 able-bodied participants and 11
participants with tetraplegia. Each participant was fitted with a custom-made
titanium barbell piercing and within a mere 30 minutes of training, all 34
participants were able to use the device to complete a variety of tasks. Their
performance improved steadily over the next few weeks and they were able to
click randomly appearing targets on a laptop screen, dial phone numbers and
direct a powered wheelchair through an obstacle course using nothing but their
tongue movements. The TDS was also compared to a popular assistive technology
known as the sip-and-puff device, where patients' sip and puff into a
straw-like tube to operate a wheelchair. TDS users completed tasks three times
as fast with the same level of accuracy. "That was a very exciting
finding," Ghovanloo said. "It attests to how quickly and accurately
you can move your tongue." Up next, the researchers plan to test the
system outside of the controlled clinical to see how it functions in the real
world……….
- In case anyone was wondering, Russia still has not
discovered its sense of humor. This last week of November, a massive symbol of
the capitalist propaganda despot Vladimir Putin and his cronies strive to keep
out of their country showed up in the fabled Red Square Putin's government found itself
struggling on Wednesday to keep wraps on the outrage over a gigantic Louis
Vuitton suitcase set up to house an exhibit on the travel and possessions of
the rich and famous. The display, mere steps from the Kremlin and the mausoleum
of Bolshevik revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin is a suitcase-shaped pavilion
that flies in the face of the communist ideal. "I am ashamed of our
country for putting a suitcase on its main square, this sacred area that should
be protected by the state," said Valery Rashkin, a Communist member of the
State Duma, the lower parliament house, denouncing the display as an
"eyesore.” Protests against the giant Louis Vuitton luggage seem to have
gained traction, as a sign was place on the fence surrounding the display,
announcing that it would soon be dismantled. Putin cannot be happy about all of
this, not against the backdrop of his appeals to patriotism in the face of what
he calls foreign threats to Russian culture. The dictator has positioned
himself as the champion of provincial Russians for whom a trip to Moscow and a
stroll on Red Square is a rare treat. His United Russia party played a
prominent role in the rallies against the outsized suitcase. Nationalist Vladimir
Zhirinovsky offered a compromise, suggesting that the display should be moved
to a more remote part of Moscow. Kremlin sources claimed that Putin's
administration had ordered the 100-foot-long, 30-foot-high suitcase removed,
while his PR flacks tried to soft-shoe the entire debacle. "There's
nothing terrible about the trunk itself and the good intentions – on the
contrary," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "But it is obvious
that there's a problem with the sense of scale." According to Louis
Vuitton, he exhibit – which was to open on December 2 – was a tribute to
its longstanding ties with Russia and that all revenue from it would go to the
Naked Heart Foundation, a children's charity………
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