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

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JBL L100 CLASSIC SPEAKER

Released in 1970, JBL's L100 became a classic both for its performance and its eye-catching design. The L100 Classic updates it with modern components. Behind the removable, iconic Quadrex foam grille sits a 1-inch titanium dome tweeter, a 5-inch pure-pulp cone midrange driver, and a 12-inch pure-pulp woofer with a bass-reflex enclosure and front-firing port. The result is a speaker that can hold its own against contemporary options, with a design that pairs perfectly with vintage pieces — particularly when paired with the JS-120 stand. $4K

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GRILLSKAR ISLAND

Sold with its own private island in Sweden, the timber-clad cabin on Grillskär is a textbook Scandinavian retreat. The seaside home features a cozy, minimalist atmosphere with white plank walls and natural birch floors. Rows of elongated windows flood the living spaces with natural light while affording views of the coastal setting. Its two bedrooms expand out to wooden terraces overlooking the rocky shoreline. Along with the main house, the property also includes a boathouse and guest cabin, all secluded by the island's densely forested inland.

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VENUS SPIRITS GIN

Made from a blend of 10 different fruit, herbs, and botanicals, this Gin was the first release from Santa Cruz, California based Venus Spirits. An award winner for both taste and packaging, each unique botanical blend is marked on the bottle and given a specific blend number. The citrus-centric gin is certified organic with notes of ginger and lavender for a refreshing addition to any cocktail that calls for the spirit.

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Neil Gaiman's Sandman Is Becoming An Expensive Netflix Series

After years of struggling to escape the clutches of development hell, a live-action adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman looks like it’s finally becoming a reality, thanks to a surprising (though not all that unexpected) partnership between Netflix and Warner Bros.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that Netflix has greenlit a live-action Sandman series based on the critically-acclaimed Vertigo comic that follows the travels of Morpheus (or Dream of the Endless), an anthropomorphic being who manipulates dreams and reality. Wonder Woman screenwriter Allan Heinberg is attached to showrun with Gaiman and David S. Goyer acting as executive producers.

According to THR, multiple studios (including HBO) were presented with the chance to claim Sandman, which is said to be a particularly expensive production, before Netflix emerged as the frontrunner. THR writes, “Sources familiar with the pact note it is the most expensive TV series that DC Entertainment has ever done.”

While there’s no news about casting or which aspects of the Sandman mythos the series might get into just yet, the deal itself says interesting things about the show because of the parties involved. Over the years, Netflix has proven its ability to produce quality programming based on comic books thanks, in part, to the massive amounts of money the studio has a habit of sinking into its projects.

Over on Warner Bros.’ side of things, the studio’s most recently been in the news over the curious case of Swamp Thing, a series, like Sandman, that features high concept-fantasy (and costs quite a bit to bring to the screen.)

There’s still no official definitive word as to why Swamp Thing was almost immediately canceled after its first season began airing.

It’s also interesting that Sandman is coming to Netflix rather than WB’s own comics-centric streaming platform DC Universe, which might not be much longer for this world. Earlier this year, Warner Bros. insisted that DC Universe was in good shape despite the production woes plaguing Swamp Thing, but that was before Swamp Thing was flat-out canceled and before Warner Bros./AT&T became much more serious about yet another, comprehensive Netflix competitor separate from DC Universe.

There’s still no word as to what the future holds for DC Universe, but the decision to announce Sandman and the partnership with Netflix rather than, say, debuting it on DC Universe or Warner Bros.’ new service is telling.

Now that Netflix’s Marvel deal is through, the streaming platform’s looking for the next big block of content that could fill the comic book-shaped hole left in its catalogue.

With Lucifer recently added to its catalogue, the platform’s not exactly a stranger to content from the DC universe, and a beloved series like Sandman could be just the thing it needs to keep people watching when the show inevitably premieres.

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How Historians Can Now See Invisible Text On Ancient Manuscripts

Historical documents considered lost to the ravages of time, like crumbling parchment thousands of years old or medieval manuscripts whose ink long ago faded away, are being given a new life thanks to a technology known as multispectral imaging. The sophisticated tech requires specialised training and expensive equipment, but researchers have recently been trying to make its use more widespread.

In March, scientists from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in the U.S. brought one of MegaVision’s multispectral imaging systems to Dubrovnik to demonstrate to conservationists, researchers, and government officials how the technology can be deployed to reveal ancient text and preserve fading medieval manuscripts.

Dubrovnik, the city in Croatia whose 13th century city walls have been used in Game of Thrones, has about 30,000 medieval manuscripts, according to David Messinger, who headed up the project for RIT’s Center for Imaging Science.

“We have a campus over there,” Messinger told Gizmodo. “So this was like a first contact workshop to show them in a hands-on way what the tech could do.”

Visible-light image of 5th-century document.

What multispectral imaging can do in some cases has been impressive.

Digital camera sensors are fundamentally multispectral sensors to begin with, meaning that they can detect light outside the visible wavelengths. Multispectral systems, such as MegaVision’s EV package, take advantage of this property and use high-resolution 50-megapixel sensors and computer-controlled cameras with LED lighting systems to take photographs in the ultraviolet, infrared, and visible spectra, creating dozens of images of a fragment in different reflective wavelengths.

“It is this kind of fluorescence imaging that can reveal the presence of ink even if it is scraped away because those areas suppress the fluorescence,” said Messinger. It can literally make invisible text visible again, and in the process change our view of history.

One of the most startling projects involving multispectral imaging is the continuing work by the Israel Antiquity Authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls, over 2000 years old, are actually a collection of more than 900 different texts in tens of thousands of fragments.

They were originally discovered in a series of 12 caves in the desert near Qumran in the mid 1940s and 1950s. The texts include the earliest copies of books from the Torah and the Old Testament.

But deciphering all the parchment was nearly impossible, primarily because many of the writings in Greek, Aramaic, and paleo-Hebrew had lost the visible ink over the centuries or had turned black because of exposure to the elements.

Multispectral imaging changed all that, allowing scholars to see text and read words not seen by human eyes in several millennium. Last year, a study of one fragment using multispectral imaging revealed that it was from a previously unknown text.

Visible-light image (left) of a 5th-century Arabic document. Ultraviolet imaging (right) revealed illustration of an herb.

Similar camera systems have been used to reveal words that Thomas Jefferson rubbed out and changed on an original draft of the Declaration of Independence.

Other researchers have use the technology to reveal forged works, such as a purported copy of a work known as John’s Gospel. Researchers have even discovered a palimpsest of a manuscript of Archimedes’ principles that had been erased and overwritten with the text of a Christian prayer book.

Some of the most controversial discoveries may have yet to be made using such technology.

In an obscure monastery in the Sinai peninsula, a team is now using a MegaVision multispectral imaging system to examine and catalogue scores of palimpsests dating back to the 4th century.

Many of the erased texts have never been seen or studied by scholars before. And the work has been closely watched, not least because St. Catherine’s Monastery was where the contested “Secret Mark” text that was supposedly redacted from the canonical Gospel of Mark was discovered.

So did Messinger’s team from RIT discover anything as controversial in any Croatian manuscripts?

“We were only looking at binding fragments (pieces of a manuscript recycled to bind another book),” said Messinger, “and what we imaged and processed was in Latin, so we don’t know what it actually said.”

Time-lapse of multispectral imaging process revealing hidden Latin text.

Messinger is more focused on getting the technology in the hands of other scholars to do the translating, including getting the Croatian government to help fund a permanent multispectral imaging system in Dubrovnik. But Messinger acknowledged that such systems are still expensive, costing around $110,000 and up.

The hope, of course, is that by spreading the gospel of multispectral imaging, its use will become more widespread. Aside from making invisible “lost” text visible once again, the technology can help determine the authenticity of some texts (by identifying the kind of ink used, for example), as well as conduct dating analysis on rare material in a non-destructive manner. (Widely used carbon dating involves destroying some part of the original material in the process.)

And the resulting pictures from multispectral imaging amount to a digital database, preserving priceless ancient documents for future study.

Making multispectral technology commonplace will require lower-priced equipment for researchers to decipher ancient texts stored in remote caches around the world. Currently, MegaVision has one system that fits into two large suitcases and takes about half a day for an experienced technician to set up. Going forward, though, Messinger thinks that models with fewer features could be made more portable and available for around $7100.

With such tools at their disposal, who knows what lost manuscripts might be found in the future?

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Scientists Find Dozens Of Lakes Buried Far Below Greenland's Ice

For decades, scientists working in Antarctica have been documenting subglacial lakes, bodies of water buried kilometres beneath the ice. They’ve spotted more than 400 of them, and even drilled into a few and found evidence for both living and long-dead lifeforms.

But despite their ubiquity at the bottom of the world, no one had really looked to see if subglacial lakes were widespread beneath the Greenland ice sheet as well. Until now.

Only four subglacial lakes had previously been documented in Greenland. This week, an impressive survey published in Nature Communications added another 56 new lake candidates.

Further, the researchers behind that survey think this is just the beginning. As in Antarctica, subglacial lakes could be a key feature of Greenland’s underbelly. Some of them might even influence the motion of the ice above as they fill and drain.

“I’m sure this is the tip of the iceberg in terms of what can be found,” co-author Stephen Livingston, a glaciologist at the University of Sheffield, told us.

You’d see no obvious signs of them if you were walking across the ice, but there are a few ways researchers can detect subglacial lakes.

In Antarctica, many have been spotted using satellites like NASA’s ICESat (and its recently launched replacement, ICESat-2), which flew over the same parts of the ice repeatedly to measure small changes in the height of the surface — interpreted to be the result of subterranean lakes filling and draining.

Where lakes are less active, so to speak, scientists have other means of detecting them. They can, for instance, shoot radio waves through the ice and use their reflections to produce a picture of the bedrock below. That’s how, in the mid 1990s, researchers were able to confirm the presence of Lake Vostok, a 10,000km2 subglacial lake buried near the South Pole.

It’s that latter approach that helped scientists detect most of the new — albeit far smaller — subglacial lakes in Greenland.

The authors turned to the vast database of radio echo sounding (RES) data collected by Operation IceBridge, a NASA-led airborne survey of Earth’s polar regions, from 1993 to 2016. From this, they spotted 54 subglacial lake candidates, or regions where the waves bouncing back produced a “brighter” signal indicative of pooled water at the ice sheet’s base.

Eleven of those lakes could be observed over at least a decade of RSE data, boosting the researchers’ confidence that lakes are persistent.

“At least on decadal timescales, these lakes appear relatively stable,” Livingston said.

Two more active-looking lakes were spotted by examining high-resolution topographic maps of Greenland’s icy surface. Taken together, these 56 lake candidates range in length from 0.2 to 5.9km. With the exception of the two active lakes in the southwest, most fell into three distinctive clusters in central-eastern, northern and northwestern Greenland.

Those in central-eastern Greenland tended to coincide with geothermal hotspots, suggesting that heat from Earth’s interior has played a role in their formation.

The small number of active lakes scientists have documented, meanwhile, occur closer to the ice sheet’s margin, where there’s significant surface melt occurring in the summertime, suggesting they may be getting recharged as meltwater percolates from the surface down to bedrock.

That raises questions about whether climate change, which is accelerating melting across Greenland’s surface, could influence the activity of some of these lakes and in turn, the motion of the ice above them.

Livingston said it’s too early to say, but that understanding the connection between the lakes and motion of the ice above them is an important area for future research.

There’s also plenty more work to be done simply documenting the existence of these lakes. Livingston noted that while the data from Operation IceBridge is extensive, it still only covered a “small percentage” of Greenland’s ice sheet. He suspects many more lakes can be found looking more closely at those topographic maps, something the researchers are continuing to do.

Finally, scientists can now begin to do more detailed studies of individual lakes that have been found. Perhaps, in a few years, they’ll be gearing up to drill into one, as a team recently did in Antarctica. Who knows what they could discover in its waters.

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Mysterious Cosmic Radio Burst Detected In A Completely Unexpected Region Of Space

For years, astronomers have struggled to understand the source of fast radio bursts, powerful split-second pulses of energy that originate far outside our galaxy. In an astonishing technical feat, astronomers have finally managed to pinpoint the galactic origin of a one-off FRB - but its unexpected location in space suggests scientists need to go back to the drawing board.

New research published today in Science describes the first single FRB to have its location pinpointed to a specific galaxy.

“This is a very significant result,” Shriharsh Tendulkar, an astronomer from McGill University who wasn’t involved with the new study, told Gizmodo. “Firstly, from a technical point of view, it is a very challenging task to find a non-repeating fast radio burst and to precisely measure its position at the same time with the same telescope.”

Indeed, a repeating FRB has been localised to a distant galaxy before, a feat accomplished by a Cornell University-led team in 2017. But FRBs come in two flavours: repeaters and one-offs, the latter of which are more common but, up until this point, were impossible to pinpoint in space owing to their transient nature.

A team led by astronomer Keith Bannister from the Commonwealth Science and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) at the Australia Telescope National Facility is now the first to localise the galactic origin of a single, non-repeating FRB.

A view of the ASKAP radio telescope array in Australia. 

First detected in 2007, fast radio bursts remain a poorly understood celestial phenomenon. As the name suggests, these pulses are fast, lasting for a few milliseconds; they reside within the radio spectrum; and they’re extremely powerful, originating a long time ago in galaxies far, far away.

Astronomers can only guess at the source of FRBs, with prevailing theories involving neutron stars with strong magnetic fields (magnetars), dark matter, black holes, supernovae, and even the activities of extraterrestrial civilizations.

The process of locating fast repeaters is relatively straightforward because they happen at the same point in space. Triangulating the position of a non-repeater with multiple observatories, however, is considerably more difficult, as astronomers can’t predict where the next one might appear. To pinpoint the location of a non-repeater, Bannister’s team developed a new approach that allowed them to freeze and save astronomical data less than a second after the burst was detected.

An important tool that enabled this is CSIRO’s Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in western Australia, which consists of multiple dish antennas. ASKAP detected the single FRB, named FRB 180924, and the team found that it came from within the outer regions of a galaxy some 3.6 billion light-years away, called DES J214425.25–405400.81.

They were able to get its location by taking advantage of the fact that the FRB travelled a slightly different distance to reach each dish antenna, arriving at a slightly different time.

“From these tiny time differences—just a fraction of a billionth of a second—we identified the burst’s home galaxy and even its exact starting point, 13,000 light-years out from the galaxy’s centre in the galactic suburbs,” explained Adam Deller, a co-author of the study and an astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology, in a CSIRO Australia press release.

Bannister described the accomplishment this way: “If we were to stand on the Moon and look down at the Earth with this precision, we would be able to tell not only which city the burst came from, but which postcode—and even which city block.”

The galaxy was then further investigated by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile, and its distance from Earth was measured by the Keck telescope in Hawaii and the Gemini South telescope in Chile. Together, these are the world’s three largest optical telescopes.

“What I think is most remarkable is that for a single, one-off radio pulse, they’ve managed to capture so much in-depth information,” Emily Petroff, an astronomer from the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy who’s not affiliated with the new study, told Gizmodo. “Not only were they able to precisely pinpoint the burst to the galaxy it came from, but they were also able to make a measurement of the magnetic field in the environment around the burst source.”

This achievement is now threatening to overturn pre-existing conceptions of the environments in which FRBs are presumed to exist. As noted, FRB 180924 came from in the outer reaches of its galaxy. The only other localised FRB, the repeater from 2017, originated from a dwarf galaxy in a dense star-forming region.

Naturally, astronomers figured this dynamic, turbulent environment contributed to the emergence of FRBs, but FRB 180924 was found in a large galaxy about the size of our Milky Way, and in a region where star formation has practically ground to a halt.

Petroff said these two galaxies “could not be more different,” and that this new result “gives us more questions than answers.” But “at least we know that ASKAP can localise FRBs from one-off pulses, so hopefully we will get answers from more localised bursts soon,” she said.

“The model that astronomers had thought out for the repeating FRB coming from a young magnetar—a strongly magnetized neutron star—simply does not work for this non-repeating FRB,” Tendulkar told Gizmodo. “Finding a young magnetar in the outskirts of a massive galaxy with old stars is like finding a whale in the Sahara. It is very early in the field of course, but this might suggest that repeating and non-repeating FRBs come from completely different origins.”

As Petroff and Tendulkar both pointed out, this result is giving rise to more questions than answers. But that’s good! Astronomers now have more avenues to explore, and though unexpected, these pathways could eventually lead us to the truth.

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The Original G-SHOCK Design Is Reborn With Modern Technology

Looking back at the watch that put the G-SHOCK name under the spotlight, it’s easy to see why the ultra-tough horological line took off and why it has no intention of slowing down. The G-SHOCK GMWB5000 is that original timepiece reborn with modern touches to celebrate the brand’s birth.

This striking wristwatch takes inspiration from the DW5000C with its classic aesthetic, including its iconic square shape case and bezel along with its brick-shaped face pattern. The watch is packed with plenty of reliable technology, including a super illuminator LED light, solar battery for self-charging, and a unique STN LCD display. It also comes with G-SHOCK’s Multi-Band 6 Atomic Timekeeping technology for precision timekeeping anywhere you roam thanks to radio signals from up to six different transmitters around the globe and two-way time sync via Bluetooth Connectivity and the G-SHOCK app. As expected with G-SHOCK watches, this model is ultra durable with 200-meter water resistance, and shock resistance. You can sport the retro GMWB5000 today for $500.

 

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Professional Electric Flying Car Racing Is Just Over The Horizon

Most of the automotive industry has begun the inevitable transition into all-electric power — including the racing world. But the folks at Airspeeder are looking beyond that into the future. Or rather, they’re bringing the future to us, as they’ve just announced that they’ll be pioneering a flying car racing league, set to commence in 2020.

This new, futuristic form of high-speed racing will hinge on the brand’s Airspeeder MK4 — an automotive-inspired, manned VTOL multicopter that has the same power-to-weight ratio as a fighter jet, courtesy of an ultralight construction and beefy 500kw battery. Unlike the racing drones the MK4 resembles, however, this carbon fiber flier will actually seat a flesh-and-blood pilot — upping the stakes and lending credence to the brand’s claim that this flying car race league will become “the world’s most watchable sport.” There’s still a lot of ground to cover before the inaugural 2020 season, but the test footage is certainly making this an enticing prospect, to say the least.

 

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The LUNARK Habitat Was Made For Life On The Lunar Surface

With humanity pushing toward the next frontier, our species’ longing for a life among the stars seems to be closer than ever. By 2024, our planet will have sent the first citizen spacecraft to the moon (and possibly beyond), reigning in an entirely new era for mankind. But what does colonization entail? SAGA Space Architects’ LUNARK moon habitat looks to reveal the answer.

The LUNARK habitat was conceptualized by Sebastian Aristotelis and Karl-Johan Sørensen — Danish architecture students who went on to create the esteemed SAGA Space firm. Over a three month span, both Aristotelis and Sørensen will live in Greenland’s most remote regions, utilizing the spherical living space you see here. To battle the harsh inhibitors of an “alien” environment, the LUNARK embodies a Dynamic Circadian Light System (to mimic natural day/night cycles), solar panel skin (for energy generation), and a modular structure that can be transported, built, and reformatted with ease. To satiate humanity’s desire for nature, a biology-based life support system has been devised, giving the sphere’s inhabitants a taste of home. The project, which hopes to measure the stresses, impediments, and capabilities of those living in the lifeless expanse, is set to take place in April of 2020.

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Omega Reissues A Special Edition Of Their First Space Watch

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the monumental Apollo 11 moon landing, Omega is sponsoring The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition entitled Apollo’s Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography. The iconic watch company is also releasing the Omega Speedmaster “First Omega in Space” The Met Edition watch before the exhibition opens.

The Met Edition timepiece is inspired by the Omega Speedmaster worn by astronaut Wally Schirra during the 1962 Mercury Sigma 7 mission, as well as The Met. Omega’s Met Edition wristwatch has a 39.77 mm stainless steel case, black varnished dial, black anodized aluminum bezel, and a red and white NATO strap, which is a nod to the museum’s signature colorway. It houses the Omega caliber 1861, a descendant of the movement that was trusted by NASA on the moon. The Met’s logo is engraved on the case back, as is Omega’s Seahorse medallion. And the special edition watch is presented inside a presentation box containing an additional leather strap. You can pick up your very own Omega Met Edition today for $5,200.

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The Glenlivet Engima

When someone hands you a glass of single malt, you want to know its origins, right? Maybe you don’t, and you just like to be surprised. As a follow up to the Code, Glenlivet has unveiled another black-bottled mystery known as Enigma. But this time instead of unlocking a code to the spirit’s secrets via digital deciphering, Engima asks you to jump through the hoops of complex crossword puzzles in order to gain access to the distillation and aging info. But you have to know something about single malt in order to get the answers right because the questions involve taste, mouthfeel, finish, etc. We love the fact that The Glenlivet is adding not just truly a truly attractive bottle for the packaging but a fresh way to engage the Scotch lover. You’ll have fun, learn new skills, and enjoy what’s likely to be a very tasty dram (or more) in the process of playing. The Enigma launches on July 10th.

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Grovemade Headphone Stand

Portland-based workshop Grovemade have introduced a beautifully crafted headphone stand, a bold statement piece for your desk. Made with premium materials, the elegant stand uses natural vegetable-tanned leather molded into a subtle scoop, solid hardwood with machined grooves to hold your headphones in place, and stainless steel, combining beautifully for a sleek, layered look that complements your desk and your headphones. The Wood Headphone Stand stands at 9 inches tall and fits most over-ear headphones. For a limited time the Wood Headphone stand is available in walnut and maple at an introductory price of $100 via Grovemade´s website.

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‘The Walking Dead’ Comic Series Comes to a Surprise End

There’s a surprise in store for fans of The Walking Dead comic series, and it’s one that few people saw coming. Tomorrow, Issue #193 of Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard‘s long-running comic will bring the story to a close. Don’t worry though; the billion-dollar-plus franchise will roll on for some time, especially if AMC has anything to say about it. We’ll keep spoilers out of this write-up, both from the final issue and the rather dramatic moments of the issues leading up to it.

As THR reports, despite the fact that cover art had been produced for issues #194 and #195, tomorrow’s issue will indeed be the last. It’ll be supersized at 70+ pages, but it will also wrap up the story so far. Prepare thyself!

Here’s Kirkman’s explanation for the abrupt ending, which can be found in the final pages of Walking Dead #193:

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“I hate knowing what’s coming. As a fan, I hate it when I realize I’m in the third act of a movie and the story is winding down. I hate that I can count commercial breaks and know I’m nearing the end of a TV show. I hate that you can feel when you’re getting to the end of a book, or a graphic novel. Some of the best episodes of Game of Thrones are when they’re structured in such a way and paced to perfection so your brain can’t tell if it’s been watching for 15 minutes or 50 minutes … and when the end comes … you’re stunned.

“I love long movies for that very reason. You lose track of time because you went in convinced that you’re going to be there for a long time, but the story moves at such an entertaining and engaging pace that by the time the movie’s wrapping up … you can’t believe it’s already over. Surprise, it’s over! All I’ve ever done, all a creator can really do … is tailor-make stories to entertain themselves, and hope the audience feels the same way. That’s all I’ve ever been doing … and it seems to work most of the time.” “

 

Kudos to Kirkman (and Adlard, probably?) for ending the super successful story on his own terms. And while that’s a bummer for comic fans, the AMC adaptations will roll on for some time. The Walking Dead is set to premiere for the 10th season this fall, led by Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride, with Danai Gurira exiting. Meanwhile, Fear the Walking Dead is now enjoying its 5th season and a new, third series is set to begin filming this summer. Then, of course, there’s the after-show Talking Dead and the anticipated series of AMC movies starring Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes, written by Scott M. Gimple. So the end of the comic may be down on paper, but the end of The Walking Dead is a long, long way off.

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New Trailer for AMC’s ‘The Terror: Infamy’ Summons a Shape-shifting Demon

Featuring a cast and crew with deep-rooted connections to WWII, the internment of Japanese Americans and the aftermath in Hiroshima, The Terror: Infamy centers on a series of bizarre deaths that haunt a Japanese American community, and a young man’s journey to understand and combat the malevolent entity responsible. Fans of the anthology series, and newcomers alike, can get a taste of The Terror to come in a new trailer just released by AMC.

The Terror: Infamy is co-created and executive produced by Alexander Woo (True Blood) and Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla); Woo also serves as showrunner. The series stars Derek Mio as Chester Nakayama; Kiki Sukezane (Lost in Space) as Yuko, a mysterious woman from Chester’s past; Cristina Rodlo (Miss Bala) as Luz, Chester’s secret girlfriend; Shingo Usami (Unbroken) as Henry Nakayama, Chester’s father; Naoko Mori (Everest) as Asako Nakayama, Chester’s mother; Miki Ishikawa (9-1-1) as Amy, a Nakayama family friend; and renowned actor, producer, author and activist George Takei (Star Trek) as Yamato-san, a community elder and former fishing captain. Takei also serves as a consultant.

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The King's Man Trailer Shows The Birth Of The Kingsmen... And A Sword-Fighting Rasputin

The first trailer is here for The King’s Man, the turn-of-the-century prequel to the Kingsman series.

Taking place in the early 1900s, The King’s Man is about a collection of history’s worst villains (like Rasputin) coming together to plan a war that could wipe out millions of people. It’s unclear whether this war is tied to World War I, or whether it’s something even bigger and deadlier. The Duke of Oxford (Fiennes) and his new protégé Conrad (Harris Dickinson) have to work together to stop this threat, leading to the creation of the Secret Service agency otherwise known as the Kingsmen.

The King’s Man, directed by Matthew Vaughn, is the first in a series of planned “expanded universe” films in the Kingsman franchise (originally titled Kingsman: The Great Game). It also stars Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Arterton, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Charles Dance, Daniel Brühl, and Rhys Ifans as sexy Rasputin.

The film arrives in theatres on February 14, 2020.

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Audi's New R8 LMS GT2 Is Angry About Something

Audi has a new race car, which was unveiled last week at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This is the third different R8-based motorsport monster, and certainly the most powerful of all three. It’s been built for a new-for-2020 international racing spec called GT2, which is a more powerful and less downforce-reliant class aimed at non-professional so-called gentleman drivers. Thus far, only Porsche and Audi have committed to building cars for this GT2 category, but we’re told more are coming.

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“This sports car with its emotive high-performance V10 engine marks the top end of our customer racing program. The legendary event at Goodwood is the ideal venue for unveiling such a fascinating sports car,” said Oliver Hoffmann, CEO of Audi Sport GmbH. 

This Audi R8 will have more horsepower (640) than the GT4 version (495) and the GT3 version (up to 552). With a free flowing intake and exhaust, the GT2 racing version even makes a few horsepower more than the street V10+ model you can buy on the showroom floor right now. GT race cars have not made more power than road-going alternatives for a few years now, relying on tight air restrictors to reduce power.

The R8 LMS GT2 is actually based on a road-going R8 Spyder chassis, allowing for a lower roof line to get more air into the V10's roof-mounted scoop. Interestingly, the interior still carries much of its road-car switchgear. It’s wild looking, and more power is never bad in racing. I’m just not sure where this class is heading.

OK, if you’re not an avid fan of sports car racing, I apologise for this. It’s very confusing, even for an anorak like myself. So, there are a variety of series out there right now for sports car racing that begin with GT and end with a numeral, except GTE, which used to be GT2.

Audi currently sells three varieties of R8 to fit into GT4 and GT3, and now they’ve added one to compete in a new specification, called GT2. GT3 is faster than GT4, so you’d expect GT2 to be faster still, but you’d be wrong. It’s more powerful than GT3, but it’s got less aerodynamic downforce and more weight, making for a slower lap time.

The Stephane Ratel Organisation is a motorsport sanctioning body which operates and promotes a variety of global racing events, and sets standards for different classes of international motorsport. GT3 and GT4 specifications are now FIA-recognised classes of race car because of SRO.

Ostensibly GT3 was invented as a less expensive alternative to the pre-GTE GT2 class, but it has gotten faster and more expensive in the years since, which is why GT4 was introduced as a sub-GT3 racing class for non-pro racers. GT4 has, you guessed it, gotten too expensive. Factory effort teams have infiltrated the ranks of both classes.

This new GT2 series plays to the gentleman racer who wants to race something that is fast and flashy, but without the tricky dynamics of full aero downforce. So GT2 fits somewhere between GT4 and GT3, and all of them are slower than GTE, so it’s as clear as mud.

GT2 series will be added to SRO’s European and North American race series. Here in the U.S. market, SRO now promotes and operates the series formerly known as “World Challenge”. Look for the Audi R8 LMS GT2 to compete against Porsche’s 911 GT2 RS Clubsport in the class next season. Time will tell if it is subscribed to and if the racing is good.

[MIKA27]

An Interstellar War Looms In The Latest Trailer For Katee Sackhoff's Sci-Fi Series Another Life

Another Life arrives on Netflix July 26.

[MIKA27]

Enormous Flight Simulator Installed In Tokyo Hotel

If you like aeroplanes, then this is the hotel for you. The Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyu, which is connected to Terminal 2 of Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, will offer a room outfitted with a full-sized flight simulator. Fittingly, it’s called the “Superior Cockpit Room.”

The cockpit is based on a Boeing 737-800.

The hotel offers a couple of different plans. For example, you can book an afternoon 90 minute block with an instructor for 30,000 yen ($400) and experience flying from Haneda to Osaka International Airport.

The double room is also available for the night at 25,300 yen ($333), sans instructor.

At the Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyu, you can apparently see the runway from the rooms, so even if you don’t book the flight sim, you can still enjoy plane spotting.

[MIKA27]

TAG HEUER UNVEILS THE LATEST LIMITED EDITION MONACO WATCH

There’s good news for vintage race fans with TAG Heuer releasing the third version of their five limited edition Monacos to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the iconic square watch.

Limited to 169 pieces for this particular model, the TAG Heuer Monaco 1989 – 1999 features a grey metallic dial contrasted against striking blue and red dial markings. The blue flows onto the chronograph counters which sit at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock, respectively.

The all-important case remains a wearable 39mm and is constructed from stainless steel. Fans of the original Monaco will also be pleased to see a return of the crown to the left side whilst dual chrono pushers sit on the right.

The watch is finished nicely on a blue leather strap with contrast red stitching. After this model TAG Heuer will release two more colourways before wrapping up the 50th celebrations.

Technical Specifications

Case: 39mm x 39mm square
Movement: Self-winding TAG Heuer Calibre 11
Functions: Hours, minutes and small seconds and chronograph counter
Power reserve: 40 hours
Water resistance: 100m
Strap: Blue calfskin leather

[MIKA27]

This Bottled-In-Bond Bourbon Is The First Ever ‘Grain of the Gods’ Whiskey

Since its inception, whiskey has taken on many forms and distillers have imbued it will a wild array of alternative ingredients. So it’s not easy to come by a version of the spirit that’s a true first-of-its-kind offering. But Buffalo Trace’s Colonel E.H. Taylor Jr. brand has managed it with their newest one-time offering.

Called simply the E.H. Taylor, Jr. Amaranth, this is the first ever whiskey of any kind to use amaranth in its mash bill. The wheat-like grain first came to prominence when it was cultivated by the Aztecs — who called it the ‘Grain of the Gods.’ According to the brand, this unusual addition imparts complex flavors and aromas of things like butterscotch, spearmint, pecans, and dark berries. An appropriate tribute to Colonel Taylor, the founding father of modern bourbon, this one-time-only bottled-in-bond whiskey has a suggested retail price of $70. But since it’s so limited, expect to see this on the resale markets for much more because once it’s gone, it’s gone for good. $70.00

[MIKA27]

This Restored WWII Spitfire Fighter Plane Will Fly Around The Globe

Watchmaking and aeronautical engineering have pretty much always gone hand-in-hand — which is evidenced by just how many historically-significant pilot’s timepieces there are. But the folks at IWC are taking that relationship a step further with a new project: this fully-restored 1943 Supermarine Spitfire MX.IX WWII fighter plane they’re calling ‘Silver Spitfire.’

Done in conjunction with Boultbee Flight Academy, this project took over two years, 20,000 individually-inspected rivets, and dozens of painstakingly-sourced original parts to complete. This legendary fighter also received some modern safety upgrades, like fail-safe backups, to ensure it’s better than ever before. The 1,700 hp Rolls-Royce Merlin 70-powered polished aluminum aircraft isn’t just for show, either. It’s actually set to circumnavigate the globe starting on the 5th of August from the Goodwood Aerodrome — marking the greatest distance a plane of this type has ever traveled.

[MIKA27]

Bentley Redefines Opulence With The Electric AI-Powered EXP 100 GT

A world-renowned luxury vehicle manufacturer, Bentley is well-known for stretching the definition of “opulence” to its limits, while still somehow avoiding gaudiness. And that’s not just in regards to their past offerings, as can be seen in a new concept they’re calling the EXP 100 GT.

Built to exemplify everything great about Bentley whilst looking to the future of mobility, this magnificent vehicle is like a futuristic spaceship on four wheels — powered by an all-electric powertrain that’s good for up to 435 miles-per-charge. Capitalizing on the sustainable innovations of the engine, the marque has also equipped the ride with an “emotionally intelligent” AI for fully-autonomous driving. That way, you (and your passengers) can enjoy the lavish interior — including 5,000-year-old copper-infused Riverwood detailing, Cumbrian crystal interfaces, and British Farmed Wool carpets. Of course, you can also still take ahold of the wheel yourself if you want to enjoy the drive for a while. It remains to be seen if this concept will go into production, but we certainly like what we see.

[MIKA27]

Dita Redefines Modular Eyewear With The High-End Epiluxury Line

Dita has a long-running history when it comes to affluent eyewear, conceptualizing and manufacturing some of the most renowned variants in the industry. Now, after three years of blood, sweat, and tears, the figureheads behind the already-illustrious brand have decided to dive headfirst in the realm of lavish modularity with the creation of the Epiluxury line.

Epiluxury looks to set itself apart from Dita as an ultra-modular eyewear proprietor, boasting six different styles that utilize interchangeable lenses, bridge architectures, and bespoke temple pieces. To bring the glasses even further into the realm of lavish style, limited edition components crafted from custom woods, Japanese acetate, lightweight titanium, and Asian Water Buffalo horn are implemented — giving buyers a cornucopia of high-end choices when it comes to the construction of their eyewear. To keep the Epiluxury lineup somewhat exclusive, only 500 pieces of each core style are slated to be released, each with their own hand-numbered frame. For the collection’s rarified flagship models, only 200 of each will make their way to retailers. The Epiluxury line is set to launch this month. $1,400.00

[Fuzz]

9 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

The King's Man Trailer Shows The Birth Of The Kingsmen... And A Sword-Fighting Rasputin

The first trailer is here for The King’s Man, the turn-of-the-century prequel to the Kingsman series.

Taking place in the early 1900s, The King’s Man is about a collection of history’s worst villains (like Rasputin) coming together to plan a war that could wipe out millions of people. It’s unclear whether this war is tied to World War I, or whether it’s something even bigger and deadlier. The Duke of Oxford (Fiennes) and his new protégé Conrad (Harris Dickinson) have to work together to stop this threat, leading to the creation of the Secret Service agency otherwise known as the Kingsmen.

The King’s Man, directed by Matthew Vaughn, is the first in a series of planned “expanded universe” films in the Kingsman franchise (originally titled Kingsman: The Great Game). It also stars Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Arterton, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Charles Dance, Daniel Brühl, and Rhys Ifans as sexy Rasputin.

The film arrives in theatres on February 14, 2020.

I wonder how this is going to tie into the original history if the Duke of Oxford created the Kingsmen, as according to Harry Hart:

“Since 1849, Kingsman tailors have clothed the world's most powerful individuals. By 1919, a great number of them had lost their heirs to World War I. That meant a lot of money, going un-inherited, and a lot of powerful men with the desire to preserve peace and protect life. Our founders realized that they could channel that wealth and influence for the greater good. And so began our other venture. An independent, international intelligence agency, operating at the highest level of discretion. Above the politics and bureaucracy that undermine the integrity of government run spy organizations. A suit is the modern gentleman’s armor, and the Kingsman agents, are the new knights.” - Harry Hart

 

8 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

Enormous Flight Simulator Installed In Tokyo Hotel

 

If they had modeled it on the new Max8, they could have gotten a lot of spare cockpits on the cheap!