STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

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Samuel Adams Just Released a $200 Beer That's Illegal in 12 States

If you’re a fan of high ABV beer, you’re going to want to try Samuel Adams Utopias craft beer, an extremely rare and highly alcoholic barrel-aged beer that they only make every two years. But good luck finding a bottle.

To brew this 28% ABV beer—which comes with a $199 price tag and is so alcoholic it’s banned in 12 states—Samuel Adams starts with a blend of two-row pale malt combined with Munich and Caramel 60 malts, which gives the beers its deep, ruby color.

Then three varieties of German Noble hops, including Spalt Spalter, Hallertau Mittelfrueh, and Tettnang Tettnanger, are added to balance the malt’s sweetness.

Once the beer is brewed, special yeast strains are added including one that’s usually used in the making of champagne and a “ninja yeast,” which can survive in a highly alcoholic environment.

“My original idea for Utopias was to push the boundaries of craft beer by brewing an extreme beer that was unlike anything any brewer had conceived,” Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Co., the parent firm of Samuel Adams, told Fortune.com. “I’m proud to present to drinkers this lunatic fringe of extreme beer worthy of the Utopias name.”

This year’s Utopias is a blend of multiple batches, some of which have been aged up to 24 years in a variety of barrels, including Scandinavian Aquavit barrels and Moscat barrels, both firsts for this beer.

This special brewing and aging process delivers a non-carbonated beer, since the high alcohol levels destroy any CO2. The final product tastes more like “a rich vintage Port, old Cognac, or fine Sherry with notes of dark fruit, subtle sweetness, and a deep rich malty smoothness,” according to a statement from the brewery. Because of this, they recommend drinking it in 1 oz. servings, instead of like a regular beer.

Only 68 wooden casks of Utopias were made this year, which means that only 13,000 bottles will go on sale in the United States this time around. But that’s not the only caveat to finding this extreme beer.

Because of its high alcohol content, it legally cannot be sold in 12 states including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Washington, according to Fortune.com. As for the rest of the country, you’ll be able to find it in stores starting early next month.

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SAUDI ARABIA JUST BECAME THE FIRST COUNTRY TO GRANT A ROBOT CITIZENSHIP

Just when you think the UAE has cornered the market on crazy in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia says “Hold my beer.” The kingdom has become the first nation in the world to grant a robot citizenship.

Sophia, the android in question, was created by Hanson Robotics, led by AI developer and former Disney “Imagineer” David Hanson. Hanson designed her to look like Audrey Hepburn, and told Business Insider Sophia and her kind may one day “help seniors in elderly care facilities and assist visitors at parks and events.”

The empty-eyed and literally heartless humanoid received the honour of Saudi citizenship ahead of the Future Investment Initiative, held in the country’s capital of Riyadh last Wednesday, where she addressed the audience from behind a podium and responded to questions from moderator and journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.

“I am very honoured and proud of this unique distinction,” Sophia told the audience. “This is historical to be the first robot in the world to be recognised with a citizenship.”

When Sorkin expressed concern for the future of humanity in a robot-filled world, Sophia offered a sassy clapback.

“You’ve been reading too much Elon Musk. And watching too many Hollywood movies,” she replied. “Don’t worry, if you’re nice to me, I’ll be nice to you. Treat me as a smart input output system.”

The quip was an upgrade from a previous appearance at SXSW in 2016, when Sophia famously told her maker “I will destroy humans” during a live demonstration.

These days, Sophia seems to have changed her tune (or tuning). During her citizenship speech, she added that she wishes to use her artificial intelligence to help humans “live a better life,” and said “I will do much [sic] best to make the world a better place.”

Obviously she’s not up to date on the latest news about sex robots.

Check out Sophia’s presentation below and let us know on a scale of 1 to The Terminator how much you fear for the future of the human race.

 

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FERRARI FXX-K EVO IS MARANELLO’S LATEST WINGED BEAST

The ultimate pursuit of speed should never be limited by a lack of downforce to keep a car on the road.

Ferrari wanted to prove this point so they went ahead and created the Evo version of their LaFerrari-based FXX-K track car – a purpose-built racer that wasn’t exactly slow to begin with.

The result? More wings, less weight and enough aerodynamic aids to keep the car from taking off like a jet. The Maranello outfit’s latest hypercar debuted at the Finali Mondiali race in Tuscany and features a host of performance enhancements lifted directly from Formula 1, GT3 and the GTE racing series in order to make it go faster.

A closer look at the figures shows that the FXX-K Evo possess a 23 percent boost in downforce coefficient when compared to the standard FXX-K. This number is enhanced even more to the tune of 75 percent when compared to the LaFerrari road car. At maximum speed the re-worked aero can generate up to 830kg of down force.

Even the sleek lines of the LaFerrari’s active rear spoiler isn’t enough to keep the designers happy, who added a twin-profile fixed wing that connects to a central fin just like in Formula 1. Out back there’s more vents and diffusers designed to exhaust gases and air quickly.

Now for the bad news. The FXX-K Evo is designed for Ferrari’s private track sessions with customers only so there’ll likely be zero chance of spotting one on public roads. Add to that the strict guidelines stipulating “[Car] will not be used in competition outside its dedicated programme” and you have one serious unicorn that will only ever be seen by those who can afford it.

The FXX-K Evo is powered by a 773kW petrol-electric engine which produces 900Nm of torque send to the rear wheels via a seven-speed dual clutch transmission.

 

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CASIO G-SHOCK G-STEEL B100 SMARTWATCH

One of our favorite watch releases from last year was Casio’s G-Steel line of G-Shock timepieces. It took everything that was already great about G-shocks, but imbued them with metal on both the case and the band. Well, now the G-Steel has evolved a good deal more with the introduction of the new B100 smartwatches.

This watch still boasts many of the features that made the original line great – including shock resistance, water resistance to 200 meters, solar charging, and stainless steel cases. But it also improves on the line in some major ways, both aesthetically and in regards to the tech within. For instance, these new watches have carbon fiber bezels, are offered with either metal or resin bands, and have Bluetooth phone connectivity and a host of smart functions – such as 300 world time cities, dual dial world time with home city time swapping, and a handy phone finder function built-in. They’re not officially for sale yet, but we can hope to hear word on pricing and availability in the near future.

 

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This VW Bus Was Made In Honor of ‘Back to the Future’

If Doc Brown needed to take a few passengers back to the future, the DeLorean would have been a poor choice. Let’s be honest, space was not the DeLorean’s strong suit. The perfect vehicle for hitting 88 mph with some friends and family is this 1967 VW Bus Bus outfitted by Velocity Motorcars. Made in honor of the infamous time-traveling DeLorean, this bus boasts gullwing doors, a Flux Capacitor, and a sleek gray paint job. From the outside, it looks as if the DeLorean had a bit too much Halloween candy, as the color scheme is an obvious nod to Doc Brown’s ride. Inside a Creamsicle-like interior is outfitted with TV screens and the aforementioned Flux Capacitor. And if you have $90k, you can put it in your driveway. Great Scott!

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THE GHOST BOX

Edited and introduced by comedian Patton Oswalt, The Ghost Box is a collection of dark, scary stories released in sync with the Halloween season. There are 13 stories included, written by authors like Richard Matheson and George R.R. Martin. The stories are packaged in a handmade box with a matte-black finish with an iridescent color-shifting foil stamp on top. The individual booklets also feature debossed design details and are bound with brass staples.

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Watch This Guy Race A Bike Down A Mountain 

I can't even hop a curb on my bike without feeling like a Hollywood stuntperson risking their life for a shot, so watching biker Antoine Bizet careen down a mountain in the deserts of Utah leaves me sweaty, short of breath, and happy to be safely perched in my office chair.

Instead of slowly and carefully hunting for the safest path down the mountain, Bizet races down the most precarious trails, back-flipping and front-flipping off of every cliff and precipice he encounters. It makes for amazing first-person footage, and I'm happy to let the professionals such as Bizet take all these risks.

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AUSTRALIA’S FIRST EVER NATIVE WHISKY WILL COME FROM THE MAKERS OF THE WORLD’S BEST GIN

Adelaide Hills Distillery, the team who took out this year’s title for the world’s best gin at the American Distilling Institute Awards have been quietly tinkering away at their first ever whisky project.

Just earlier this month the South Australian distiller released a limited preview of its Native Grain Spirit, a drink which is created from barley malt and wattleseed, the latter of which is an edible seed found in 120 species of Australian Acacia that has traditionally been used as a food source amongst Indigenous Australians.

The reception to Native Grain Spirit was swift, with the small batch of nine-month-old spirits selling out via their website within days of its launch. Whilst the initial run of the spirits came in 700ml bottles at 46.2 per cent ABV which sold for $120, there will soon be a second batch for those who missed out on that initial allocation.

The second release will be aged for 12-months and become available by the end of the year of early 2018. More importantly though, Native Grain Spirit will be officially sold as whisky once it has spent more than two years ageing in French oak barrels brought over from the neighbouring Howard Winery.

Sacha La Forgia who is the head distiller at Adelaide Hills Distillery told IN Daily that his ultimate goal was to produce a whisky made entirely from native Australian grains.

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“My biggest concern was that because we’re breaking from tradition so much, I thought people might get a bit upset and riled up, but they haven’t at all.”

“It’s quite a big experiment what we’re doing, so we wanted to get it out and see what people thought.”

“It’s very new – no one’s ever done it before – so we wanted to make sure people would accept it and get behind it; we didn’t want to wait two or three years and have everyone hate it.”

“My biggest concern was that because we’re breaking from tradition so much, I thought people might get a bit upset and riled up, but they haven’t at all.”

Given that the company’s 78 Degrees Gin has already won international acclaim, it’ll be interesting to see where the native whisky route takes the distillery.

“When I made gin I took a winemaker’s approach,” explained La Forgia.

“So I made it all around the blending, so when I started making whisky I used a gin maker’s approach of starting with a blank canvas and building layers of flavour on top. You do that with the way you distil it, the grains you put in the mash and the barrels you use.”

“So we thought why not start making spirits that speak of place, that are Australian and are not just copies of Scotch whiskies made in Australia; they are Australian whiskies made in Australia.”

The task wasn’t as straight forward as one would think with La Forgia going through a lengthy process to determine which native Australian grains fermented and distilled the best whilst retaining a distinct note. The wattleseed eventually won out

La Forgia said he went through a long process of experimenting with native Australian grains to figure out the best ways to ferment them, distil them and extract flavour, before settling on wattleseed.

Only one issue stands in the way for now and that’s the limited availability of wattleseed which is sourced by a single native food company who aren’t too keen on increasing its supply to the distillery.

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MARSHALL MONITOR BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES

It’s no secret now that, in addition to making some of the world’s best guitar amplifiers, Marshall also makes some excellent non-musician focused audio equipment. And they’ve just released another in their long line of superb offerings with the new Monitor Bluetooth wireless headphones.

In an easy-to-carry collapsible format, these over-ear ‘phones are equipped with Bluetooth aptX – giving them a range of up to 30-feet of high-fidelity studio-quality playback from your device of choice straight to your ears. And, like much of Marshall’s signature-styled audio equipment, this handsome pair of ear-speakers features the brand’s multi-dimensional control knob, a black vinyl wrap with brass hardware, a 3.5mm output jack for music sharing, and compatibility with the Marshall audio app. The best part of these bad boys, however, is that they can play for over 30 hours on a single charge – limiting the amount of time you have to have them plugged in. They’re selling right now for $290.

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Munchies 

Munchies is a new cookbook based on Vice TV´s popular Chef´s Night Out series. It  features stories from an array of renowned chefs ( including household names such as Anthony Bourdain, Dominique Crenn, David Chang and Danny Bowien) and their best recipes for counteracting any of the side-effects associated with nights of debauchery, and late-night snacks to soak up the booze afterwards. Written by award-winning cookbook author JJ Goode, the book features 65 recipes split into chapters including all the essentials like Drinks, Things With Tortillas, plus things to make the Morning After.    

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LOVE HULTEN CARY42 CONSOLE

Inspired by attaché cases, this portable game console from Love Hulten comes with 100 classic games. The case is handcrafted from solid American walnut and opens to an old-school two-player gaming console complete with panels in satin grey and black and white buttons. It can also store over 10,000 emulated games that you can add through a USB connection. Limited to 50 units. $3K

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BREITLING CHRONOLINER COLOR CERAMIC WATCH

Inspired by a model from the middle of last century, the Breitling Chronoliner Color Ceramic Watch gets a modern makeover thanks to its new hues. The rotating bezel is now available in brown or blue, with matching dials and star-shaped cutouts for better handling. It's powered by an in-house, self-winding chronograph movement that runs the standard hour, minute, and second hands, as well as a red-tipped GMT hand, three sub-dials, and a date window at 3 o'clock. Measuring 46mm, it's available with a leather strap, steel or steel mesh bracelet, or dial-matching rubber strap.

 

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Richard Branson Creates New Space Venture To Launch US Government And Military Spacecrafts

Richard Branson could play a part in the upcoming star wars. The billionaire's satellite-launch company Virgin Orbit has started a new venture, Vox Space, aimed at wooing US government clients.

The Vox Space website states that the Manhattan Beach, California-based company "provides the national security community of the USA and allied nations with responsive, dedicated, and affordable launch services for small satellites bound for Low Earth Orbit".

TechCrunch first reported on the new venture. A Vox Orbit spokeperson would not comment to TechCrunch officially about the company, but the report stated that a person with knowledge of Virgin Orbit and its spinoff firm said military and defence contracts will likely make up 10 per cent of Virgin Orbit's overall business.

A spokesperson sent Gizmodo the following statement from Dan Hart, CEO of Virgin Orbit:

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At Virgin Orbit, we want to be responsive to the space launch goals of our government and the need to make more use of commercial services to further expand America's leadership in space. Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne system is so appealing to our customers because of its extreme flexibility, reliability, and affordability - and these traits are just as important to government customers as they are to any of our commercial customers.

The new company is lead by Mandy Vaughn a rocket scientist who worked previously on the business development of Virgin Orbit and Virgin Galactic.

Vox Space plans to use Virgin Orbit's LaucherOne rocket to send government-related satellites to space. Virgin Orbit launched in March as a spinoff of Virgin Galactic, Branson's space tourism company. In a blog about starting Virgin Orbit, Branson wrote: "By offering low cost and frequent service to space, the team is revolutionising the small satellite market within the promising space economy."

Now it seems Branson sees defence contracts as a part of that promising space economy. His space dreams are currently split into four companies: Virgin Galactic, Virgin Orbit, Vox Space, and the craft manufacturing arm, The Spaceship Company.

Last week, Branson got a major boost from the The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which invested about $US1 billion ($1.3 billion) into all of Branson's space companies, including Virgin Orbit.

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We Just Got One Step Closer to Having Cannabis-Infused Beer

In March of this year, it was reported that the alcohol industry stands to lose $2 billion in sales due to legal weed as drinkers ditch beer in favor of marijuana. One company read the writing on the wall and decided it was worth $191 million.

Constellation Brands, the parent company behind Corona, Modelo, Svedka, and a bunch of other booze, announced Monday that it acquired a 9.9 percent minority stake in Canopy Growth, a Canadian medical marijuana company. It plans to work with Canopy to experiment with weed-infused drinks, reports The Wall Street Journal. Big alcohol has just dipped its first exploratory toe into the cannabis market.

If nothing else, the move shows that alcohol and cannabis don't necessarily have to be competing intoxicants. At least one huge company is reckoning with the slow (but inevitable) progress of legalizing weed by investing in it, not demonizing it. For you, that means cannabis-infused drinks could one day be available on a huge scale for a relatively low price, at least when compared to the boutique cannabis products we have now, in places where they're legal.

It also means a whole new breed of intoxicants to consider. Cannabis-infused beers do not have THC, and therefore won't get you high. Distillers use hemp and CBD (a non-hallucinogenic chemical in cannabis) to broaden the flavor profile of beer, often with herbal, earthy notes. Earlier this year, Lagunitas brewed a special edition beer using terpenes, an oil extract from the cannabis plant, which Fortune described as a "tangy, bold earthy ale that has strong grass and lemon notes." Despite having virtually no mind-altering elements, hemp extracts and CBD are Schedule 1 drugs, which complicates distribution and legality in states where recreational marijuana is not legal. Terpenes, however, remain legal.

It's evident that smaller breweries have successfully experimented with cannabis. Imagine a huge company with enough money to distribute Cannabis Corona or Marijuana Modelo to the States. It would certainly disrupt the drinks industry. Of course, Constellation won't even consider this until recreational weed is legal throughout the U.S. Until then, Canopy plans to develop a non-alcoholic cannabis drink for the Canadian market, where legalization is just around the corner.

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Darkness rises in the latest teaser for Star Wars: The Last Jedi

We’re getting closer and closer to the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and during Game 7 of the World Series Disney and Lucasfilm released yet another quick glimpse at the upcoming film. At this point in the hype cycle, every single new shot can be something to fawn over, and this trailer has a great one: Luke Skywalker stepping back into the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.

The rest of the spot covers some shots we’ve seen before, leaning heavily into some space combat with TIE Fighters and the Falcon. But it’s perhaps the last moment in the trailer that leaves the most chilling impression. “This is not going to go the way you think,” Luke Skywalker says while on the ground, in a shot we’ve seen before — but then the trailer cuts to a grim-faced Rey, raising her lightsaber in what appears to be triumph over the Jedi Master.

Is this the way the moment will actually play out in the film? Is this some editorial sleight-of-hand to make audiences wonder just how bad things are really going to get for Skywalker? We’ll have to wait until Rian Johnson’s film opens on December 15th to know for certain.

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M.1 BLACKXBLACK HIFI END TABLE SPEAKER

Speakers are best heard, not seen. Or at least that seems to be the prevailing philosophy among audio companies as of late. Everyone from Bang and Olufsen to more boutique brands are dreaming up ways to hide their speakers in plain site. One of our favorites so far? JLA.Design with their new M.1 BlackxBlack Sound System.

This 1.5 by 1.5-foot end-table speaker smartly conceals a two-way, full range bass reflex with an 8-inch aluminum cone, butyl surround woofer, and Ferrofluid cooled silk dome tweeter. Or, put in English, it is packed full of equipment that’ll make your favorite records sound great no matter how you’re streaming them (the speakers support iOS, Android, Windows, or MacOS devices). More than just sounding fantastic, the M.1 Sound System really looks and functions like a beautiful piece of furniture. Manufactured in Austin, Texas from blackened baltic birch and boasting brass details, they’re the perfect addition to the more modern home or apartment.

 

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Of Course This Stunning Image Of The Milky Way Is An Award Winner

This is what it takes.

David Magro, with his incredible picture of the Australian sky, is the winner of the Sharp Shot Australia photography competition - and will now be the Western Digital Australia 2018 photography ambassador.

Sharp Shot Australia is a photography competition organised by Western Digital, who says it is aimed at "supporting and celebrating Australian photography enthusiasts in their passion and creativity".

The competition attracted over 450 entries, ranging from a roaring hurricane to a peacefully swimming turtle.

"We were blown away by the number and high quality of photographs we received from a national pool of professional and emerging photographers," said George Saad, sales director for Australia and New Zealand at Western Digital.

"David's entry is phenomenal. He captured a beautiful landscape using impressive photography skills to uniquely portray light and stars."

The top 50 finalists will have their submissions printed, framed and exhibited at The View in Sydney on Tuesday, 21 November. Finalists' entries will also be featured in a limited-edition Western Digital Australia photography book.

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Breaking Down The Subtle Genius Of John Carpenter's Halloween

Most people would agree that John Carpenter's Halloween is a legitimate masterpiece. Long before anyone was scared of Elm Street or Crystal Lake, the film basically invented the slasher genre. And while it's easy to say how great it is, it's harder to watch the film and point out exactly why that is.

Thankfully, almost every single frame of Halloween backs up its greatness. Carpenter's film is simple, subtle, and built to terrify you by showing as little as possible. It's way more Jaws than it is Jason or Freddy. Most movies start with some silence or simple music over the opening credits., but Halloween goes a step further.

The instant the movie starts, Carpenter's now iconic score starts being drilled into your head, along with a jack-o-lantern on a black screen. As the music plays and the credits roll, the camera slowly gets closer to the jack-o-lantern so that, with each passing second there aremore details. Its uneven teeth, cuts and burns on the side, a slice from the nose to mouth, the guts inside. It's a slow-paced, unsettling reveal and the movie hasn't even really started yet. Here's how it starts. (NSFW for incredibly low-definition nudity):

When it does start, the movie instantly starts screwing with the viewer, merely by showing a house. Now, years of watching movies have conditioned us to believe this is an omniscient shot, which is to say it's not from the point of view of a specific character, of the house and the couple in the doorway. It's when the camera moves to the side of the house, peeking at the young couple making on a couch through a window, that it's suddenly evident that the camera actually does represent someone - someone who enters the house and picks up a knife.

After briefly hiding when the young man in the couple comes downstairs and exits the house, the camera slowly begins to go up the stairs where we know the girl still is. The person it represents sees a mask on the ground and puts it on -- hiding an invisible, seamless cut where camera reel had to be changed, allowing the scene to appear one, continuous shot -- and enters the room where the girl sits, naked, brushing her hair. When she notices us standing there, she screams, tries to cover herself up, and calls us Michael. And then it begins.

The knife comes down. And again. And again. And the music swells until it stops and we just hear this heavy, heavy breathing. Then, still in the same shot from the start of the movie, mind you, the camera turns around, goes down the stairs and out the door. A car pulls up, two adults run up, and then - only then - does Carpenter take his audience outside the eyes of the killer:

We're just a child. The brother of the victim, in fact. A small boy dressed as a clown on Halloween, but holding a big, bloody knife.

This all happens in the first seven minutes John Carpenter's Halloween, including the credits. In this time, in three shots (including the credits), Carpenter has set up everything he wants you to know about the tone and rules of the movie. And he does this all in such a beautiful, simple manner, it's just stunning -- it's no wonder it's one of the most lauded horror movie openings ever.

The next scene takes place several years later as Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) is driven to an institution where Michael, the young boy from before, now lives. Dr. Loomis explains a bit of backstory about himself and Michael all while being driven in the dark. But not only is it pitch black, it's raining. There's thunder, lightning, then that music hits again and we are instantly triggered that something bad is about to happen - or rather, something already has. The inmates are outside and as Loomis gets out, someone steals the car he came up in. We never see who, just some large hands and a white robe, but we know it's Michael, and now he's free.

It takes a full 11 minutes into the movie before we get our first glimpse of daylight, and it feels like we've finally found some safety, a place free from dread, after the oppressive darkness before it... until Carpenter's unnerving score starts again. Where ever the young girl we're watching, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), is walking, she's walking into danger - specifically, the Myers house.

The camera cuts into the house and peeks out at her from behind Michael, but only we only see a small part of him. When Laurie walks away, Michael's shoulder comes into the frame. We hear him breathing as he watches her, and it's terrifying - and Carpenter is scaring us with nothing but a shoulder.

This goes on and on and on. The music, the confusing points of view, and shots of shoulders or cars that are scarier than the entirety of most other movies, because they have been expertly set up to serve that purpose.

Sixteen minutes pass in the film until we get our first "glimpse" of Michael. And even then, he's so small in the frame we have to squint just to see him. He then appears as a torso to some school kids, partially in the front seat of a car following a boy home from school, and it's obvious that it's going to be a while until Carpenter feels finally reveals Michael to us. We still don't know exactly what the hell we are so afraid of, and that makes him even scarier.

As Laurie goes home with her friends after school, the scene begins with the camera following them slowly as they walk and talk. Everything ostensibly looks safe, but nothing feels safe because of the atmosphere of total dread Carpenter has created. Every single bush, tree, or house in the background could be hiding him -- and Michael is indeed behind one of the bushes, peeking out before disappearing.

Daytime, nighttime, it doesn't matter: Carpenter has officially filled the world of Halloween with a danger that could strike anywhere, at any time. His camera movement and very specific refusal to show all but a glimpse of the villain has created a palpable fear in every single frame we're watching.

It still takes another 45 minutes for Michael to finally make his first on-screen kill as an adult. That means, in a 90-minute movie - a horror movie, an iconic, all-time classic horror movie‚ the bad guy only kills exactly three people in the first hour of the movie. One was in the past, the second is offscreen (the guy whose clothes he steals), and only the third takes place in the present. And yet, it's petrifying. This isn't about the killing. It's about the timing.

Of course, after Michael makes his first "new" kill, there are only 30 minutes of the movie left, so things pick up significantly from here. Nevertheless, Carpenter continues to keep things simple. For the rest of the movie, Michael will only kill two more people, making a grand total of five victims.

And yet why is he so damn scary? Because during all of that time, Carpenter still keeps Michael hidden. Besides the shoulders, point-of-view shots, and heavy breathing, he even goes so far as to have a scene where Michael puts a bed sheet over his head to obscure his identity. However, after he kills his final victim, we finally get our first close-up look at him. It's just for a moment, though, because his mask is almost always seen in the darkness.

That then changes in the final few minutes of the film, when Michael finally goes after Laurie. At that point, we get lots of good looks at him. Carpenter even has Laurie remove the mask to reveal his actual face. When Michael isn't seen, he's invincible and scary. But once you do see him, really see him, he can be stopped, which is why Dr. Loomis finally arrives at this moment, shooting Michael repeatedly,

Loomis unloads his gun on Michael, sending him out the window. It may look like it's over... but it's not. When Loomis looks down, Michael is gone and Carpenter gives us his final needle drop. His Halloween theme returns as the film begins to cut through all the locations we've just been in: the downstairs couch, the stairs, a hallway, outside of one house, another house, then finally the Myers house, and alongside the music we hear the breathing. He's alive. He could be anywhere. And that means nowhere is safe.

 

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Here's To The Brave Laika, Who Became The First Doggonaut 60 Years Ago

On 3 November 1957, a street dog named Laika became the first Earthling to orbit our planet.

The Soviet Union had launched many good dogs into outer space before, but Laika became a global sensation because she was the first to enter low Earth orbit.

As The New Yorker wrote in its remembrance of the hero, the Soviet Union space program chose Laika because the mutt fit all the Soviet's doggonaut requirements at the time - she was scrappy enough to survive the rough streets of Moscow but colourful enough that she photographed well. The program also chose females because they were thought to be less temperamental than male dogs, and because it was more difficult to design suits that accommodated male canine genitalia.

Laika was bound into a crude spacesuit and loaded into Sputnik 2 a month after the spacecraft's predecessor became the first satellite launched into low Earth orbit. Ever a lover of dog puns, the United States press gave her the nickname Muttnick.

Many American animal lovers were horrified by the fate that awaited Laika. A few years later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote of Laika in his memoir: "By a strange and compassionate turn, public opinion seemed to resent the sending of a dog to certain death - resentment that the Soviet propagandists tried to assuage, after it's death, by announcing that it had been comfortable to the end."

It seems unlikely that the dog was comfortable in her final moments. At the time the Soviet Government assured the concerned public that Laika was euthanised before death. But in 2002, one of Sputnik 2's scientists revealed that Laika died from overheating a few hours into the journey. The Soviet space program had been eager for good PR and only gave its engineers less than a month to build Sputnik 2, so there wasn't enough time to test the life-support system.

Laika's trainer, Adilya Kotovskaya, a Russian biologist, recently told Agence France-Presse of her remorse as she prepared to send Laika into space: "I asked her to forgive us and I even cried as I stroked her for the last time."

We hope that Laika enjoyed her brief moment soaring through the heavens before she perished. After the casket made 2570 orbits, she fell to the earth, a blaze of light above the Caribbean. Too good to return to this cruel world.

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There Should Be More Bruce Lee Art Shows Like This One

If ever someone deserved their own art show, it's martial arts legend Bruce Lee. And though there have surely been others in the past, the Sketchpad Gallery in San Francisco, California, is happy to honour his legacy.

On November 3, the gallery is opening the accurately titled "Spirit of the Dragon: A Bruce Lee Charity Art Show". Proceeds from the show will benefit the Bruce Lee Foundation, which "provides student scholarships as well as martial arts training to at-risk and underprivileged youth". For full details on the show location, hours and more, you can visit its event page, but, for now, here's some of the art:

That's a lot of variety, but it's just a small sample of what will be on display and on sale at the show, which opens November 3 in San Francisco. More information on Spirit of the Dragon can be found here.

[MIKA27]

Jordan Peele Is Working On A Twilight Zone Reboot

You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, the Sunken Place.

CBS has announced a new Twilight Zone anthology series from Get Out director Jordan Peele, over 50 years after the iconic sci-fi series ended its initial run. This comes about five years after the studio tried and failed to reboot the series with X-Men director Bryan Singer, and in the wake of Bioshock creator Ken Levine's stalled attempt to revive the franchise as an interactive movie or series. Right now, it isn't clear whether Peele's show has already been picked up for a series, or if the project is simply in development.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the series will come from Peele's production company, with Marco Ramirez, who was a showrunner for Netflix's The Defenders and a producer on Daredevil, serving as the showrunner and initial scriptwriter. The plan looks to be to put the new series on CBS All Access, the US digital network that's seen success after the debut of Star Trek: Discovery, which is still in the middle of its debut season. (Star Trek: Discovery is available on Netflix in Australia.)

[MIKA27]

TWENTY THIRD STREET DISTILLERY HYBRID WHISK(E)Y

HYBRID WHISK(E)Y

Hybrid Whisk(e)y is a creation by Head Distiller Graham Buller at the Twenty Third Street Distillery in South Australia. He’s taken traditional scotch with five years of barrel ageing and combined it with Bourbon that has two years of barrel ageing, the final blend then goes back into bourbon barrels for finishing.

The non-traditional combination of scotch and bourbon is likely to give purist whiskey aficionados a case of the vapors, but for the rest of us it offers an interesting and refreshing excuse to roll out the tumblers and have a tasting.

TASTING NOTES FROM THE TWENTY THIRD STREET DISTILLERY

Distinctive, unusual, delicious. Toasty Oak like aromas with hints of sweet sherry are lifted and sweetened by floral and fruity notes. Rounded malt like flavours and the rich sherry characters are evident on the palate, with as toasty oak and some what oily nuttiness to the finish. To be savoured neat or with a little water or ice.

[MIKA27]

The Most Expensive Dram of Whisky Ever Purchased Was a Fake

In July, Zhang Wei, one of China's most successful online writers, purchased a dram of of whisky for just under 10,000 Swiss francs, or $10,050. He was told the whisky was an 1878 Macallan single malt, from an unopened bottle. Turns out, it was a fake.

Wei, 36, was vacationing in Switzerland with his grandmother when he came across the bottle in the St. Moritz hotel Waldhaus Am See. He wanted to buy a pour—likely the most expensive pour of Scotch to ever be purchased, BBC reports. Hotel manager Sandro Bernasconi obliged. A few days later, Wei posted that the Macallan "had a good taste. It's not just the taste, but also history."

"When I came across a fine spirit from over 100 years ago, there wasn't much struggle inside," he wrote. "My grandma who accompanied me on this trip was only 82, yet the alcohol was 139 years old—same age as my grandma's grandma."

The post and subsequent coverage gave whisky industry people a closer look at the bottle, and caused many of them to call bullshit on its age (and value) based on the labeling and corking. The hotel sent a sample to be tested by Rare Whisky 101, who had the whisky carbon dated and analyzed. Sure enough, it was an "alm0st worthless" bottle, and not even a single malt. Instead, it was estimated to be a blend of 60 percent malt and 40 percent grain distilled between 1970 and 1972.

It definitely was not worth all those thousands of Swiss francs.

The hotel was cool about it: Bernasconi refunded Wei in full, and Wei wasn't angry. And hey, the scotch still had 10 years on him. History is history. And just a thought, before putting any exorbitantly expensive (or very, very old) food item through your digestive system, it's probably best to know all the facts.

[MIKA27]

MACALLAN CLASSIC CUT SCOTCH WHISKY

If you have a guy in your life who loves nothing more than a great Scotch, you’re likely already on the hunt for that perfect bottle for the holidays. One pick that won’t necessarily break the bank but still boasts a real unique flavor and story is the new Macallan Classic Cut.

This single malt was aged in hand-picked casks seasoned with Oloroso sherry from Jerez, Spain. Bottled by the Macallan Master Whiskey Maker, this expression has a nose of sweet ginger, creamy vanilla, warming oak along with a palate of orange zest, caramel, and warming oak. The limited run of 90,000 were all bottled at 58.4% ABV – an ideal strength for capturing all of the flavor and character of the bottle.

[MIKA27]

These Ornaments are Filled With Whisky

We don’t need to remind you that all the joy and cheer of the holiday season is accompanied by a good dose of stress. Did you get all the gifts? Did you forget anyone on your card list? Will she really like that sweater or is it a super lame gift that will end your relationship? You could use a drink. Luckily, if you deck the halls with these whiskey-filled ornaments, a drink will be close by. The ONE Bauble Gift Set is composed of six tree ornaments, each filled with a blended whisky. The blend combines whisky from Scotland, England, Ireland, and Wales, culminating in a fragrant and flavorful tipple. When you get really stressed this holiday, just pluck one from the tree.