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(08/15/17 12:00pm)
Brian Krzanich, the chief executive officer of Intel Corporation, has tendered his resignation from the American Manufacturing Council late Monday. In a public blog post on his company’s website Krzanich wrote, “I resigned because I want to make progress, while many in Washington seem more concerned with attacking anyone who disagrees with them. We should honor – not attack – those who have stood up for equality and other cherished American values. I hope this will change, and I remain willing to serve when it does.”
(08/12/17 12:00pm)
Warning: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Rick and Morty.
(08/11/17 7:01pm)
“August 11 is going to be a #BitOfADay... for a few reasons.” So was the message from the official Hamilton social media team this past Tuesday. After fans have been waiting for some news about what special thing was happening on August 11, Hamilton the Official App was finally announced and released for free on Android and iOS.
(08/11/17 6:41pm)
by Jeremy Rogers
“August 11 is going to be a #BitOfADay... for a few reasons.” So was the message from the official Hamilton social media team this past Tuesday. After fans have been waiting for some news about what special thing was happening on August 11, Hamilton the Official App was finally announced and released for free on Android and iOS.
The app description claims it facilitates “Fans’ access to all things Hamilton: An American Musical.” Key features of the app include a ticket lottery, Stickers to share on social media, the “#HamCam” which offers Hamilton-specific filters, news updates about the show, and a store from which fans may purchase official merchandise.
Though the App is sitting pretty with a 4.9 out of five stars on the Google Play Store, the announcement was met with more mixed reactions from fans expecting the release of the long awaited original cast video recording.
The original announcement said that there may be more than one reason for today to be a “#BitOfADay”, so maybe more announcements are on the way. One thing the Hamilton team should keep in mind though? The Internet has its eyes on you.
Source: Facebook, Google Play Store
Images: Facebook, The Wine-Dark Sea
(08/11/17 8:00am)
by Jeremy Rogers
Earth, fire, wind, water, and heart. It is only through these powers being combined that Captain Planet, the environmentalist super hero from the 90s show Captain Planet and the Planeteers, can fight to make the world a better place. Captain Planet relied on his Planeteers: Kwame from Ghana, Wheeler from Broooklyn, Linka from the former Soviet Union, Gi from Asia, and Ma-Ti from Brazil to fight alongside him to help save the world from those who would abuse the Earth’s resources by polluting and destroying nature.
Captain Planet did not always fight for environmental causes though. There was an episode about fighting panic about AIDS, one on fighting drug addiction, and probably the one that has aged worst of all, an episode about fighting gang violence. (The 90s were a different time.)
Captain Planet is still fighting environmental and social issues even after being off the airwaves for over 21 years. The official Captain Planet Facebook page posted a picture early yesterday with accompanying text urging all Australians to register to vote so they can legalize marriage equality. It read: “Without heart, there would be no Captain Planet! Australia, you have only 14 days to make sure you are enrolled to vote for the postal vote on same sex marriage: http://www.aec.gov.au/enrol/ THE POWER IS YOURS!”
This voter registration will be for a non-compulsory postal vote of eligible voters in Australia to voice their support or lack thereof for marriage equality. Despite what seems to be the majority of Australians being in favor of marriage equality, the contentious political landscape of the country has not allowed for a legislative change. According to the Huffington Post, Prime Minister "Turnbull’s Liberal-National coalition has a slim, one-seat majority, and there’s a real fear that it could lose control of Parliament." If Australia can achieve marriage equality, that would make it the last developed, English-speaking country in the world to do so.
Ironically, despite Captain Planet's recent voice in Australian politics, Australia was the only inhabited continent to not have a member in the Planeteers.
Source: Facebook, YouTube, Huffington Post
Image: Facebook, Slash Film
(08/11/17 12:00pm)
Earth, fire, wind, water, and heart. It is only through these powers being combined that Captain Planet, the environmentalist super hero from the 90s show Captain Planet and the Planeteers, can fight to make the world a better place. Captain Planet relied on his Planeteers: Kwame from Ghana, Wheeler from Broooklyn, Linka from the former Soviet Union, Gi from Asia, and Ma-Ti from Brazil to fight alongside him to help save the world from those who would abuse the Earth’s resources by polluting and destroying nature.
(08/09/17 12:51am)
by Jeremy Rogers
Warning: This review contains spoilers for this episode and previous episodes of Rick and Morty.
This week’s cold open seems like a throwback to the earlier seasons of the show: Rick is calling Morty to participate in some wacky adventure that looks like it’ll take about 20 minutes to resolve. Afterwards the show picks up with the overarching Season 3 narrative of Beth and Jerry’s divorce.
An interesting fixture of this season that is still being explored is the character development for everyone affected by the divorce. Last week’s “Rickmancing the Stone” was very much Morty and Summer’s episode about how they were coping with their changing family dynamic with only a brief hint that Rick was also not dealing with his emotions in a healthy way. “Pickle Rick” is similarly about Rick and Beth exploring their emotions.
Beth takes the kids to family counseling because Morty wet himself in school, and Summer was caught huffing pottery enamel. Rick turns himself into a pickle to avoid going to the therapy, but that’ll come later. Beth refuses to believe that her father would do this, much the to chagrin of her kids. The tables are turned on her as her frustration with Rick dodging therapy becomes the focus of the family’s session with Dr. Wong.
After some debate, Dr. Wong pretty much outlines Beth’s relationship to her father saying that, among other things, she admires her father for his emotional detachment in part because she cannot detach herself emotionally from a father who does not reciprocate her affection. The scenes with Dr. Wong were very well written, getting to the heart of the emotional issues of the characters to help them realize their situations.
Now for Rick’s part in this episode. The episode starts with Rick disappointing Beth and angering Summer and Morty by turning himself into a pickle to avoid therapy. Because being a pickle leaves Rick without arms or legs, he is unable to stop Beth from taking his “anti-pickle” serum, leaving him stranded in his garage. Soon after Rick is left alone, the family cat jumps onto his workbench and swats Rick into the driveway, where he bakes until rain saves him from a heat death. Unfortunately the rain sweeps Rick into a sewer grate.
Once in the sewers, Rick then uses his tongue to control a dead cockroach’s body as a vehicle for his pickle body. Soon after, Rick constructs a rat suit (made from a decapitated rat) that’s outfitted with several weapons and gadgets. Right as he gets the suit on, Rick takes some pent up frustration out on a pack of sewer rats before getting back to Beth.
Even though the Netflix series Castlevania generated a lot of buzz due to its dark, violent imagery, the resulting sewer fight scene bests the action sequences of the Netflix show and makes for one of the best, goriest animated action scenes of recent memory. The visceral nature of the fight instantly brought to memory the moment the armies of Hell were released onto Wallachia by Vlad Dracula Tepes. However the brutality and quick pace of the action made for one of the Rick and Morty’s best moments so far.
Rick then exits the sewer via the toilet in some Russian compound. This part of the episode felt more like padding than the other sections, partly due to the slowing of the action for Rick to play a cat-and-mouse game with the Russians hunting him. The Russian compound climaxes with an action scene that is fairly tame in comparison to the earlier sewer scene. Eventually Rick makes it to therapy, and after getting his anti-pickle serum, he tries to reconcile with Beth.
There was something metaphorical there in how Rick’s use of science as a crutch to avoid emotionally engaging with his family led to him becoming impotent and helplessly falling into a pit filled with human waste. This seems to hint at Rick’s arc this season: falling from grace because of his science and having to work his way back into his daughter’s life. Maybe this was an intentional inclusion from the creative team or maybe, as Rick said, “Stop digging for hidden layers, and just be impressed.”
All images from Rickipedia
(08/04/17 9:33pm)
by Jeremy Rogers
Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said that the reboot of the Crash Bandicoot series, Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy, had “surpassed our wildest expectations by a very large margin”. Topping the US and European PS4 download charts and receiving an 80 on Metacritic, all agree that the game has done exceedingly well for a PS1 remaster.
Hirshberg did not just get on the call to brag about sales numbers though. Given the success of the game, he hinted at the future of Activision: “while there are no new announcements today, there will be more activity like this in the future...” this could be hinting at a sequel to the N Sane Trilogy, putting Crash back into action in some of the other Bandicoot games.
The possibilities laid out be Hirshberg did not stop at a possible sequel for N Sane Trilogy. “... we are looking at other IP in our catalog… beyond remasters, I think we can look at IP like this and see if it can be reborn on new platforms.” Though Activision has many games that it has had a hand in publishing in the past that some may like to see a reboot or remaster of, the only other IP of theirs that fits the same mascot-platformer/adventure game niche of Crash Bandicoot is Spyro. This is great news for fans of Spyro who are eager to fly and breathe fire once more.
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Source: GameRant, NeoGaf
Image: Area Jugones
(08/04/17 9:33pm)
Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg said that the reboot of the Crash Bandicoot series, Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy, had “surpassed our wildest expectations by a very large margin”. Topping the US and European PS4 download charts and receiving an 80 on Metacritic, all agree that the game has done exceedingly well for a PS1 remaster.
(08/04/17 8:29pm)
Episode four of the newest season of Game of Thrones has been leaked and posted to Reddit. The episode has been verified independently of HBO as genuine. A watermark on the episode read “For internal viewing only”, and the resolution of the video was low quality. The video file, hosted on Google Drive, has since been removed from the initial post.
(08/04/17 8:24pm)
by Jeremy Rogers
Episode four of the newest season of Game of Thrones has been leaked and posted to Reddit. The episode has been verified independently of HBO as genuine. A watermark on the episode read “For internal viewing only”, and the resolution of the video was low quality. The video file, hosted on Google Drive, has since been removed from the initial post.
According to those familiar with HBO’s cybersecurity, this leak is not the result of the 1.5 terabytes that were obtained from HBO systems earlier this week. Indicators point to a distributor as the source of the leak and not hackers. HBO distribution partner Star India has released a statement responding to the leak: "We take this breach very seriously and have immediately initiated forensic investigations at our and the technology partner’s end to swiftly determine the cause. This is a grave issue and we are taking appropriate legal remedial action."
HBO and Game of Thrones have been popular targets for hackers and leakers alike in the past. Episodes from season five were posted online before their premier and an episode of season six was also leaked before it was set to air.
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Sources: The Verge, Mashable
Image: The Refined Geek
(08/04/17 12:00pm)
Known to many Millennials and possibly Gen-Xers for his role as the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter movie adaptations, actor Robert Hardy has died at the age of 91.
(08/04/17 2:11am)
by Jeremy Rogers
Known to many Millennials and possibly Gen-Xers for his role as the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter movie adaptations, actor Robert Hardy has died at the age of 91.
However, always having an air of authority, Hardy had been known for decades for his various roles as heads of state on the screen and on stage. Hardy has played such high-born roles as Prince Albert, Gordon of Khartoum, Mussolini, Robert Dudley (the Earl of Leicester), and multiple Shakespearean royals.
One of his most famous portrayals strayed from the realm of politics, placing him as Siegfried Farnon, the owner of the Veterinary surgical facility Skeldale House in the 1978 British drama All Creatures Great and Small.
The role Hardy claimed was his most challenging was portraying a childhood hero of his: Winston Churchill. Young Robert Hardy was eleven when he first met Winston Churchill in the 1930s and three years later he recalls watching aerial dogfights over his school in Warwickshire, England. It was at this time that he recalled the effect that Churchill’s leadership had on his home country. He described how he readied himself to play the man he had admired for so long: “I spent nine months listening – morning, afternoon and evening – to 24 double-sided long playing records of all the speeches he’d made.”
Christopher Timothy, a co-star on All Creatures Great and Small, told the press, “He has left an unbelievable legacy of fantastic work for many generations to enjoy and appreciate… A fascinating man, he didn’t suffer fools I can tell you, but he was a good fellow… May he rest in peace.”
Author J. K. Rowling took to Twitter to remember the famed actor:
According to a statement from his surviving children and grandchildren, Hardy spent his last weeks in Denville Hall, a retirement home for actors in London, where he was given top notch care.
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Source: The Guardian, The Daily Mail, The Daily Echo
Images: The Guardian, Twitter
(08/01/17 1:07pm)
by Jeremy Rogers
With season seven of Game of Thrones in full swing and episode three airing this Sunday, executives at HBO find themselves in the midst of their own battle to fight. This fight is not being fought with swords on battlefields like the characters in their biggest series but rather with encryption on the web. Reports have come in that HBO has found itself the victim of a cyberattack with 1.5 terabytes of information now in the hands of hackers.
HBO CEO and chairman Richard Plepler sent out an email to employees letting them know the situation. “As most of you have probably heard by now, there has been a cyber incident directed at the company which has resulted in some stolen proprietary information, including some of our programming,”
So far the extent of the information taken is not clear. What is certain is that upcoming episodes of Ballers and Room 104 have been leaked online ahead of their planned release dates. Also obtained is writing allegedly for season seven, episode four of HBO’s most successful and recognizable series, Game of Thrones.
This is not the first time HBO has been a target of cybercriminals. Game of Thrones has proven a popular target for leakers and hackers alike, as during season five of the show, four episodes leaked before their air dates. In a statement, HBO has confirmed that they are working with law enforcement and cybersecurity to get to the bottom of the latest cyber incident.
Source: Entertainment Weekly, Business Insider
Image: Gallery Hip
(07/29/17 10:00am)
by Jeremy Rogers
First, it was the ipod Classic in 2014. Now two other ipod models are being shelved by Apple. The tech giant seems to have avoided a large amount of fanfare as it has recently retired the ipod Nano and ipod Shuffle. These signal the last of the MP3 players that did not directly connect to the internet. This leaves the ipod Touch as the only remaining ipod sold through Apple’s official channel.
Once Apple took the ipod tab off their website in June of 2015, many saw the writing on the wall for the once ubiquitous portable music players. When searching for the ipod Shuffle and Nano on the apple website, clicking the pages for those ipods redirects to the Apple Music page. Could this be indicative of Apple’s plans for the future of itunes?
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Source: Cnet
Image: Serinletici
(07/29/17 2:00pm)
First, it was the ipod Classic in 2014. Now two other ipod models are being shelved by Apple. The tech giant seems to have avoided a large amount of fanfare as it has recently retired the ipod Nano and ipod Shuffle. These signal the last of the MP3 players that did not directly connect to the internet. This leaves the ipod Touch as the only remaining ipod sold through Apple’s official channel.
(07/29/17 3:00pm)
Mobile game developer Niantic had a pretty rough time trying to get their Pokemon Go Festival off the ground last weekend in Chicago. Tickets sold out almost immediately for the event that was to be held in Grant Park in downtown Chicago last Saturday. However, problems arose quickly after the event started.
(07/28/17 5:50pm)
by Jeremy Rogers
Mobile game developer Niantic had a pretty rough time trying to get their Pokemon Go Festival off the ground last weekend in Chicago. Tickets sold out almost immediately for the event that was to be held in Grant Park in downtown Chicago last Saturday. However, problems arose quickly after the event started.
Once a large amount players entered the park trying to use their GPS and data plans to catch legendary pokemon, cell networks were quickly overloaded. Players gathered around the announcement stage that had been set up in the park, eager to voice their displeasure at those organizing the event. As the CEO of Niantic took the stage to address some early problems attendees were facing, the crowd started chants of, “We can’t play” amid the rampant booing.
Despite having refunded attendees the price of admission for their catastrophic Chicago Pokemon Go Festival, some are saying that Niantic has not done enough to compensate fans who had to travel to the event from out of state. Niantic reimbursed festival goers the $20 ticket price and $100 worth of in-game currency, but with many having to pay for travel and hotel expenses to attend the event, many believe that Niantic owes its fans more. So much more that a class action lawsuit has been started, with dozens alleging that Niantic has not done its due diligence.
According to the plaintiffs, Niantic violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud Act as well as other consumer protection laws in California, where Jonathan Norton, the man on whom the lawsuit was originally being brought against Niantic, travelled from to attend the event. The suit hinges on the claim that the promotions for Pokemon Go Festival were misleading, as many of the promises that enticed players of the mobile game were left unfulfilled.
This is a broad overview of the law in question, Illinois’ Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act:
“Unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices, including but not limited to the use or employment of any deception fraud, false pretense, false promise, misrepresentation or the concealment, suppression or omission of any material fact, with intent that others rely upon the concealment, suppression or omission of such material fact… in the conduct of any trade or commerce are hereby declared unlawful whether any person has in fact been misled, deceived or damaged thereby. “
The plaintiffs argue that since Niantic has plans to hold similar events abroad in Japan and Europe, they, as devoted fans of the game, may attend those events. Since this is the case, they are hoping to legally require Niantic to safeguard their future events against the troubles that plagued their Chicago event so thoroughly as to make the game unplayable.
Sources: Chicago-Sun Times, Illinois General Assembly
Image: Cnet
(07/19/17 9:25pm)
by Jeremy Rogers
On July 18, 2012 Arin Hanson, animator and voice actor, and Jon Jafari, online entertainer, posted their inaugural episode to their collaborative let’s play YouTube channel, Game Grumps. The game was Kirby Super Star, which took 19 videos to complete, but it was just the beginning.
The Grump channel skyrocketed to the forefront of Youtube culture when the site’s algorithms started prioritizing channels that had more minutes watched, a perfect storm to put let’s players front and center on the site. The Grumps became known for their personal chemistry and their amusing rants about the subpar qualities of certain titles.
After a year, Jafari left to focus on his own YouTube series: JonTron, and was replaced by Danny Avidan, a member of the comedic music duo, Ninja Sex Party. Spinoff shows under the Grump name include Game Grumps VS, and Guest Grumps. Since the Channel’s inception many more people have joined the Grump team to host their own webseries including Steam Train and Doodle Doods, both of which were created and hosted primarily by Ross O’Donovan.
The Grumps have also collaborated with many other famous YouTubers and even non-YouTube personalities over the years. Fellow content creators who have appeared on the Game Grumps channel include Markiplier, the Completionist, Jacksepticeye, and many more. Other notable people who have made appearances on their shows include Stranger Things actor Finn Wolfhard, Game of Thrones actor Jacob Anderson, and BoJack Horseman voice actor Paul F. Tompkins.
The Grumps, in addition to making appearances at conventions and similar events, have been hosting a string of live shows for fans to attend. They have toured from coast to coast and have even brought their unique brand of video game comedy to foreign nations.
At five years the Grumps have nearly 4 million subscribers and 3.3 billion views on their channel. To mark the occasion, the Grumps have made limited edition shirts available for purchase. The Grumps also released a collaborative animated episode of Game Grumps featuring animations by multiple online artists.
Additionally, the Grumps will be launching a dating simulator, Dream Daddy, this week, marking the creator’s first attempt at game creation.
Source: Twitter, YouTube
Image: Facebook, YouTube
(07/16/17 7:33pm)
by Jeremy Rogers
After Peter Capaldi, who currently plays the 12th Doctor on the long running British sci-fi series Dr. Who, announced that he would be leaving the show this past January, speculation has swirled about who would replace him. The answer has finally come after the 2017 Wimbleton men singles final.
Taking the helm as the 13th Doctor will be Broadchurch star Jodie Whittaker. In her roll on Broadchurch, Whittaker performed alongside David Tennant, the 10th Doctor.
Celebrating being chosen as the show’s first ever female Time Lord, Whittaker has gone on the record stating, "It feels completely overwhelming, as a feminist, as a woman, as an actor, as a human, as someone who wants to continually push themselves and challenge themselves, and not be boxed in by what you're told you can and can't be."
Some fans are none too pleased about the Doctor becoming a woman, taking to social media to voice their displeasure:
Jodie Whittaker came equipped with a statement to assuage the fears of any who are worried by the changing gender of the doctor. "Because this is a really exciting time, and Doctor Who represents everything that's exciting about change… The fans have lived through so many changes, and this is only a new, different one, not a fearful one."
Fans of the series can look forward to seeing Whittaker take over in the 2017 Dr. Who Christmas Special.
Source: BBC
Images: Facebook, Hello!