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

[MIKA27]

The Suicide Squad’s Secret Guest Star Is the Trailer’s Biggest Surprise

Even though Warner Bros. and DC might not want you to think of James Gunn’s upcoming The Suicide Squad as a sequel to David Ayer’s Oscar award-winning 2016 film with a similar name, it’s hard not to get that vibe from the movie’s first red band trailer. But there are plenty of fun surprises along the way.

Much noise as there’s been about Gunn’s latest project ever since news first broke that DC poached the director from Marvel back in 2018, the new trailer still goes out of its way to introduce you to its large new cast of criminal rogues who Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller has rounded up for yet another mission that might leave them all dead. 

While this squad’s specific mission in Corto Maltese is rather different than the previous film, everything from the way the trailer explains what the team is to the way Harley (Margot Robbie) brightly introduces herself to Bloodsport (Idris Elba) feel rather familiar. Here, the team’s meant to be on yet another rescue mission, which seemingly goes south in ways that bring the rest of the movie’s characters like Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Guardian (John Cena), and Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), and King Shark in gory, fantastic ways.

What’s most surprising in this new glimpse of Gunn’s film is the somewhat unexpected character who shows up in the trailer’s final moments — DC villain Starro — in what might be one of the movie’s more outlandish scenes. There would be a lot of wild potential in the mind-controlling Justice League foe as the main villain but it’s unlikely that the studio would show its full hand this far out from the movie.

The Suicide Squad may have a few more tricks up its sleeves it’s yet to reveal ahead of its premiere in Australian cinemas on August 5.

The film also features Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Peter Capaldi as Thinker, Michael Rooker as Savant, Nathan Fillion as T.D.K., Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Storm Reid as Tyla (Bloodsport’s daughter), Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Flula Borg as Javelin, Mayling Ng as Mongal, and Taika Waititi and Sylvester Stallone as King Shark.

[MIKA27]

You’ll Need the Galactic Empire’s Budget to Afford This Mechanical Star Wars Death Star Watch

After creating one of the most elaborate collectibles imaginable for Batman fans with its $US29,900 ($39,229) Batmobile mechanical desk clock, Kross Studio is now tempting Star Wars fans with a new wearable timepiece celebrating the Empire and its planet-killing superweapon: the Death Star. But the only thing this watch will wipe out is your life savings.

Inside the watch’s 45-millimetre titanium case (which is finished with a black diamond-like carbon coating created by literally blasting its metal surface with tiny carbon particles to make it scratch-resistant) you’ll find a partial skeletal recreation of the Death Star, complete with a green accent for its superlaser cannon. Inside the miniature Death Star is a mechanism known as a tourbillon which keeps the watch’s mechanical escapement and balance wheel in constant motion to help negate the effects of gravity and improve the accuracy of its timekeeping. As a result, the Death Star and the tourbillon inside both make a full rotation every minute.

If you look closely you’ll also notice the watch’s hour hand is actually a tiny Imperial-Class Star Destroyer, while the minute hand is a Super-Class Star Destroyer, and both make their own respective orbits around the Death Star throughout the course of a day. One missing feature that’s usually a mainstay on mechanical watches is a crown dial on the side used to wind the mechanics inside and keep the timepiece running. It’s been moved to the back of the watch’s case in the form of a pop-up D-ring that sits flush when not in use to help preserve the clean aesthetics of the piece. After a winding, the watch will run for about five days before it’s time to power it up again.

Possibly even more impressive than the Death Star watch itself is the collectible case it comes in. Assembled from over 700 parts made from wood and aluminium, it’s a half-scale, four-foot-long replica of the armoured shipping containers used to transport kyber crystals as seen in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The outside of the case features an electronic control panel and Aurebesh markings, while inside there are nine storage units holding the watch, three sets of swappable straps, a replica movie prop kyber crystal, and extra compartments for holding other Star Wars collectibles.

If you haven’t already guessed how this story ends, it’s unfortunately not good news for the under-funded Rebels. Kross Studio is only producing 10 of these collector sets and each one comes with a $US150,000 ($196,800) price tag. Nowhere near as expensive as a real Death Star, and probably even cheaper than an astromech droid, but even die-hard Star Wars fans will have a hard time convincing themselves their collection isn’t complete without one of these.

[MIKA27]

Microids Is Bringing Fallback Over To The Nintendo Switch

Microids along with developer Endroad revealed this week that Fallback is getting ported over to the Nintendo Switch this year. Originally released back in the Fall of 2019, the game has had a slow but steady loyal following with a ton of praise for its unique 3D action platforming levels. It's no surprise they want to bring the game over to the Switch. It appears this will be an up-to-date version, so all the content so far will be included. No release date was set for it yet, just word that we'll see it before year's end.

[MIKA27]

The Real-Life ‘Killer Clown’ That Terrorized America

The six-part Peacock docuseries “John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise” examines the notorious serial killer responsible for the deaths of at least 33 young men.

John Wayne Gacy was one of America’s most prolific—and horrific—serial killers, responsible for the deaths of 33 young men, 26 of whom he buried in the crawlspace beneath his Norwood Park Township home in Chicago. An egomaniacal sociopath who ran a remodeling business, had strong local political ties (and aspirations), and moonlit as a children’s hospital clown named Pogo, Gacy was the worst of the worst. He was also, unsurprisingly, a cunning liar, as reconfirmed by a 1992 interview that functions as the centerpiece of John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise, in which he claims that the police and media “created this fantasy monster image” of him, and that “I had nothing to do with the murders of anyone.” Rarely has a cocky killer lied so much, and so brazenly.

In fact, the only true thing he may say in the entire chat, conducted by legendary FBI profiler Robert Ressler, is that “clowning has taken a bad name because of what they’ve used in my case.”

Premiering March 25 on Peacock, John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise is part history lesson, part psychological inquiry, and part showcase of cold, deceptive inhumanity, treading a fine line throughout between investigation and voyeurism. Its main hook is that 1992 conversation between Gacy and Ressler, which gazes in close-up at the incarcerated killer as he chats amiably and confidently about his innocence—he goes so far as to say that he didn’t even know the dead—while flipping through an enormous tome of research material that, he believes, exonerates him. No one on planet Earth is buying that nonsense, including this docuseries. Yet if anyone comes close, it’s Craig Bowley, a long-time prison correspondent with Gacy who helped set up Ressler’s videotaped meeting with the fiend, and who spent years befriending him, to the point that he recounts being just about heartbroken when he finally had to say goodbye—via a hug—to his long-time acquaintance and confidant.

Bowley’s warped fascination with Gacy is an area into which John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise might have pried much harder. For the most part, however, this six-part non-fiction venture is a bit too comprehensive; like so many of its genre brethren, it could have been at least one episode shorter without losing any key facts or insights. That’s especially felt in its back half, when an inordinate amount of attention is given to the minutiae of Gacy’s trial (and, in particular, his futile insanity defense), as well as on efforts to name the handful of victims who were never officially identified at the time. Such topics are relevant to the larger portrait painted here, but more concision would have strengthened those passages’ impact, as well as improved the proceedings’ momentum.

Fortunately, John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise is otherwise exhaustive, illuminating, and intriguing. The Gacy it reveals is a ruthlessly ambitious, narcissistic man who grew up with an abusive alcoholic father and a sexual appetite for young men. He was married and divorced twice (fathering kids with his first wife), all while carrying on homosexual trysts with countless individuals (he held firm to the line that he was bisexual). He strove to make inroads with political organizations and power players in Chicago (sometimes via the dissemination and promotion of pornography), and he ran a remodeling business staffed with male teens who had a suspicious habit of disappearing. When one potential recruit, 15-year-old Des Plains native Robert Piest, vanished in 1978 while seeing Gacy about a job—this as the boy’s mother waited for him outside his place of employment—cops began snooping around. What they eventually found was a mass grave the likes of which had never been seen before.

Utilizing interviews with detectives, journalists, relatives, friends, victims’ family members and more, as well as archival news broadcasts, crime scene footage, home movies and photographs, John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise provides a thorough account of cops’ surveillance and arrest of Gacy, and the excavation of his nightmare dwelling. The series eschews formal sensationalism at most turns; dramatic recreations are absent (only staged shots of sets resembling key locations are employed), and images of Gacy as Pogo—a guise he didn’t use to lure victims—are kept to a minimum. There’s a sobering quality to its storytelling, which also looks at Gacy’s checkered pre-Chicago past in Iowa, where he was convicted of sexually assaulting a state representative’s teenage son and was given 10 years behind bars at Anamosa State Penitentiary.

That Gacy was paroled only 18 months into that sentence proves one of many instances in which the criminal justice and law enforcement systems came up short. John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise details how Gacy repeatedly appeared on cops’ radar for various crimes and missing persons cases, and yet always seemed to skirt by, whether due to his personality or the political connections he’d made throughout the area. Moreover, in its epilogue chapter, the series contends that police, fearful of dredging up revelations that would cast a disparaging light on their initial investigation, may have deliberately ignored leads and evidence in subsequent years that would have unearthed additional Gacy victims (he boasted that his body count was closer to 45).

Overt and implied accusations against the police are regular components of John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise, and they’re complemented by a rather persuasive conspiracy theory regarding the possibility that Gacy didn’t act alone, but was instead aided by members of John Norman’s pedophilic sex-trafficking ring that Gacy was linked to via an employee (Phil Paske). Gacy’s familiarity with those individuals, as well as with his shady trench-digging cronies Michael Rossi and David Cram, makes it wholly possible that others helped him carry out facets of his long-running killing spree. Consequently, even though Gacy was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994, the case continues to pose uneasily answered questions.

John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise’s conclusion makes a convincing argument that, in some respects, more should still be done—for example, cops digging up the yard at the apartment building where Gacy’s mom used to live, and where he very possibly buried more bodies. What needs no further elaboration, however, is the depths of Gacy’s deviant depravity, which despite his affable 1992 routine to Ressler, can be seen lurking behind his hard, emotionless eyes.

[Fuzz]

7 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

Robots Really Hate Humans in the Teaser for Netflix’s Original Anime, Eden

 

Bender's dream to kill all the humans has come to pass.

7 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

The Suicide Squad’s Secret Guest Star Is the Trailer’s Biggest Surprise

 

I wonder if John Constantine will be making a cameo....

 

7 hours ago, MIKA27 said:

You’ll Need the Galactic Empire’s Budget to Afford This Mechanical Star Wars Death Star Watch

 

Not perfect unless a little X-Wing comes along and blows up the Death Star if you set an alarm.

[MIKA27]

Sony Confirms PS3, PSP, and Vita Stores Are Going Away

Sony confirmed today that it will be closing its PS3, PSP, and Vita stores by the end of the summer, according to The Verge. Previous rumours indicated the PS3 and PSP stores would be permanently shut down on July 2, with the Vita store following on August 27, and now we know that information was indeed true.

The company has updated its Important Notice webpage to include the closure notification and provide more information on how folks with games on those systems will be affected. Users who purchased games on any of those stores prior to the closure dates will still be able to download them again moving forward. Additionally, as long as you remain a PlayStation Plus member, you will be able to re-download and play previously claimed games, and redeem game and PlayStation Plus vouchers. Previously purchased video/media content will remain available as well.

What you won’t be able to do is purchase any PS3, PS Vita, and PSP digital content that you don’t already own, and you won’t be able to make in-game purchases via PS3, PSP, and Vita games. The ability to redeem PSN wallet fund vouchers will also disappear, so if you’ve been hanging on to any of those, make sure to spend them before the stores close forever.

Another important note for those who only own a PS3/PSP/ or Vita and not a PS4 or PS5: You will still be able to access PSN wallet funds, since those are tied to your PSN account, but you’ll only be able to redeem them for PS4 and PS5 games moving forward. However, Sony said players will be able to request a refund of those wallet funds if you don’t plan on using them to purchase PS4 or PS5 games.

Sony also said players will be able to purchase content through the PlayStation Store on the web, PlayStation App, or on PS4 and PS5 consoles. This only applies to games that have already been ported from one console to the next (PS3 games are still not compatible with the PS5), but at least there will still be a way to buy a PS3 game to play on your PS4, for instance.

[MIKA27]

Earth Is Safe From Infamous Asteroid Apophis for the Next 100 Years, NASA Says

Asteroid Apophis — one of the scariest rocks in the solar system — won’t pose a threat to Earth for at least another century, according to updated NASA calculations.

Every 80,000 years or so, an object measuring around three football fields in length smashes into Earth, unleashing the equivalent of over 1,000 megatons of TNT. The discovery of Apophis in 2004 fit the description of one of these once-in-80,000-year events, understandably freaking a lot of people out. A hit from Apophis wouldn’t be Chicxulub bad — the 16 km-wide asteroid that wiped out most life on the planet some 66 million years ago — but it’d inflict catastrophic levels of local damage and trigger a global-scale impact winter.

In 2004, astronomers detected asteroid 99942 Apophis, a near Earth object measuring around 340 metres long. Its status as a potentially hazardous object has been continually refined over the years, but 2068 continued to represent a particularly worrisome year for the asteroid to hit us.

We can now breathe a sigh of relief, however, as the latest calculations suggest the asteroid won’t pose a threat to Earth for the time being, according to a NASA statement. A recent flyby of Apophis, in which the asteroid came to within 44 times the distance of Earth to the Moon, allowed NASA to refine its measurements, resulting in the new assessment.

“A 2068 impact is not in the realm of possibility anymore, and our calculations don’t show any impact risk for at least the next 100 years,” Davide Farnocchia of NASA’s Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies explained in the space agency’s announcement.

As a consequence, NASA has now removed Apophis from its naughty list, otherwise known as the Sentry Impact Risk Table. This table, maintained by CNEOS, had ranked Apophis as the third most dangerous known object, assessing an impact probability at around 1 in 150,000. The odds were slim but undeniably nonzero. The new calculations have allowed CNEOS to remove Apophis from the risk table altogether.

“With the support of recent optical observations and additional radar observations, the uncertainty in Apophis’ orbit has collapsed from hundreds of kilometers to just a handful of kilometers when projected to 2029,” said Farnocchia. “This greatly improved knowledge of its position in 2029 provides more certainty of its future motion, so we can now remove Apophis from the risk list.”

The year 2029 is notable because that’s the next time Apophis will fly past Earth, during which time it’ll seriously invade our personal space. It will come to within 32,000 km of our planet, which is a tenth the distance of Earth to the Moon and within the reach of some satellites. Apophis will be so close that it’ll be visible to small telescopes and binoculars.

When Apophis flew past Earth in early March this year, it was just 17 million km away. NASA took the opportunity to study and refine the asteroid’s position, which the space agency did using the radio antenna at Deep Space Network’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California. This instrument allowed the team to calculate Apophis’s position to an accuracy of roughly 150 metres.

Marina Brozovic, the JPL scientist who led the radar campaign, said if “we had binoculars as powerful as this radar, we would be able to sit in Los Angeles and read a dinner menu at a restaurant in New York,” as she explained in the statement.

Using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, the team was able to double the strength of the incoming radio signal, resulting in an imaging resolution of 38.75 metres per pixel.

Analysis of the data is still incomplete, and the team is hoping to better characterise the shape of Apophis (it’s suspected to have a bilobed appearance, in which two asteroids fused together to create a peanut-like shape), along with improved estimates of its rotation rate and spin state along its axis. These numbers will help to predict the object’s behaviour for the 2029 flyby, which scientists say is a once-in-a-thousand-year opportunity to study an object of this size from such close proximity.

With Apophis officially booted from the Sentry Impact Risk Table, the top rated NEOs in terms of risk are the 2 km-wide asteroid 29075 (1950 DA), which has a 1 in 8,300 risk of hitting Earth in 2880; the 490 metre-wide asteroid 101955 Bennu (1999 RQ36), which has a 1 in 2,700 chance of impact from 2175 to 2199; and the 37 metre-wide asteroid 2009 JF1, which has a 1 in 3,800 chance of hitting Earth next year (May 6, to be exact, so mark your calendars).

These rankings are based on the Palermo Technical Impact Scale, which takes other variables into account aside from impact probability, such as an object’s potential to inflict wide-scale damage.

[MIKA27]

The Obi-Wan TV Series Has Found Its Tremendous Cast

The next chapter of Lucasfilm’s plans for Disney+ is about to begin — taking us back to a broken friendship that changed the Star Wars galaxy forever. Now, as Obi-Wan Kenobi prepares to enter production, we officially know who’s joining prequel stars Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen in the streaming series.

To celebrate the show commencing filming in April, Disney+ has officially confirmed the full cast for Obi-Wan Kenobi. The series is set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith, “where Kenobi faced his greatest defeat, the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker turned evil Sith Lord Darth Vader,” the provided press release notes.

Alongside Ewan McGregor as the Jedi Master, Hayden Christensen will reprise his role as Darth Vader for the first time since the prequel trilogy came to an end in 2005. Here’s the full cast, including previously rumoured stars like Indira Varma.

Although character details were not released — beyond the obvious naming of just who McGregor and Christensen will play — highlights joining the cast include Marvel’s Eternal’s Kumail Nanjiani, Joel Edgerton, Queen’s Gambit’s O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Fast and Furious’s Sung Kang, who will almost certainly not be playing the Han Seoul-Oh we’d be more familiar with in this galaxy.

Obi-Wan Kenobi will release on Disney+ at a currently undisclosed date.

[MIKA27]

Here Are The First Photos Of The 2022 Mercedes-Benz EQS’s Massive Screen

When Mercedes-Benz announced its 2022 EQS, it was quick to mention the MBUX Hyperscreen that spans the entire width of the dashboard. And while it released a few teaser images, we now have some actual renders of the full interior featuring the 56-inch (yes, that’s nearly five feet) screen.

Mercedes notes that the Hyperscreen is composed of single pane of scratch-resistant glass. The system itself also uses eight CPU cores, 24 GB of RAM, and 46.4 GB per second of RAM bandwidth — which are some impressive numbers packed behind an impressively designed screen.

It is important to note, though, that this massive screen is not available on the base model EQS.

Mercedes’ press release really waxes poetic about how this car can engage all of your senses to create an exceptional driving experience. Basically, that means that the screen uses haptic feedback, the car comes with a HEPA filter and a special Mercedes fragrance, and you can filter in soothing nature noises. It’s a lot of words to say that the EQS is designed to be a very luxurious vehicle.

The interior design that Mercedes has released is admittedly gorgeous — in theory. The clean white-and-blue colour scheme blends very nicely with the large, dark screen, and you can definitely tell the designers wanted to create a streamlined interior that draws your eye right to that big ol’ screen. It’s a nice blend of futuristic design and the kind of luxury you’d expect at a mod hotel in a hip town like Austin, Texas.

But how the big screen fares remains to be seen. Some folks have been critical of the large-screen concept because, within hours of driving it for the first time, the screen will be covered in fingerprint smudges — and it’s also a magnet for dust. Plus, a high-powered, massive infotainment system is necessarily going to hike up the price tag. Not that a Mercedes is exactly an affordable vehicle to begin with, but it just seems a little egregious.

We’re still waiting on all the details on the EQS, but we can expect them soon, since the car will be released in Europe this August.

[MIKA27]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Is A Brand-New Old-School Beat-Em Up

Quick, name a memorable modern Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game. It’s ok if you can’t, those turtle teens peaked during the age of the four-player side-scrolling beat-em up, which is why it’s so exciting that Dotemu and Tribute Games have teamed up to make a completely new old game for PCs and consoles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

There’s nothing broke about the beat-em up formula that made games like Turtles in Time arcade classics, so Dotemu and Tribute aren’t trying to fix it. Shredder’s Revenge takes perfectly pixellated versions of Donatello and his lesser brothers on a side-scrolling adventure that’ll take them from the sewers of New York City to Dimension X, because that’s what good TMNT games do. That, and splat members of the Foot Clan against the screen, like so.

No word on when the game is coming out, just that it’s coming soon to consoles and PC via Steam. To balance this sad lack of solid information, we have an announce trailer featuring the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon theme sung by Faith No More’s Mike Patton.

MIKA: Massive memories for me heading to the local Blockbuster to play Ninja Turtles arcade along with Street Fighter etc. A classic. 

[MIKA27]

Spider-Man Receives A New Life-Size Bust From Sideshow Collectibles

Sideshow Collectibles has announced some new weaseling action with their new life-size Spider-Man bust. Standing at 23" tall, Spidey is placed on a silver base as we get his order torso and head in sculpted detail. Spider-Man is leaving forward in this piece as the detailing on his suit is shown in elegant detail, from the symbol to the etched webbing of his costume. The muscle definition is just right, and the wide white eyes can captivate any Marvel Comics fans out there. This is not a small valued statue either, as the Life-Size Spider-Man Bust from Sideshow Collectibles is priced at $895. The statue is set to release between December 2021 – February 2022, and payment plans are offered, so take advantage of them if needed. This is one truly incurable statue that will take any web-slinging collection to new heights, and he can be found here.

"Spider-Man is back- and I'm here to stay! Sideshow presents the Spider-Man Life-Size Bust, bringing everyone's favorite webhead to your lineup of Marvel collectibles in epic 1:1 scale. The Spider-Man Life-Size Bust measures 23" tall and 19.5" wide, putting you face to face with Peter Parker's heroic alter-ego. Sculpted into a nimble and energetic posture, this lifelike life-size collectible is packed with personality as Spider-Man uses his Spidey sense to scout for danger "

"Perched on a sleek silver base, all the focus remains on the wall-crawler, whose detailed costume sculpt features black web impressions, a raised black spider-symbol on his chest, and large white eyes on his mask to give him a classic Spidey expression. Hints of blue can be seen on his back, and the entire bust is painted dynamically to emphasize Peter Parker's agile, athletic physique. Getting the sense you need to switch up your shelf? Web up the Spider-Man Life-Size Bust and add him to your Marvel Comics collection today!"

[MIKA27]

'Thor: Love and Thunder' Adds Russell Crowe and His 'Unhinged' Energy to Cast

From the moment the credits rolled on The Nice Guys I've been screaming at everyone from family members to complete strangers to put Russell Crowe in more comedies. Finally, Taika Waiti has answered the call. Deadline reports that the Oscar-winning Gladiator star has joined the cast of Thor: Love and Thunder, the Marvel threequel that will see Chris Hemsworth reprise the godly title role.

Crowe's exact role is being kept under wraps, but it sounds more on par of a cameo similar to Matt Damon's appearance in Thor: Ragnarok. (Damon is, hilariously, slated to return for Love & Thunder.) Let him just play his character from the 2020 film Unhinged, would be the official Collider position.

Love & Thunder, Waititi's second time handling the character, is going to be a busy movie, with Chris Pratt also confirmed to appear as his Guardians of the Galaxy character, Peter Quill, as well as Christian Bale taking on the villain role as Gorr the God Butcher. But what we know of the plot is all about Natalie Portman, reprising her Thor and Thor: The Dark World role of Jane Foster, who will reportedly be wielding Mjolnir and taking on the Thor mantle at some point in the film. Obviously, we're expecting Waititi's trademark humor and style, but Love & Thunder is also at least somewhat based on a truly tragic comic book storyline by writer Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman. Here's what Portman said last year:

Quote

"I’m really excited. I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them there are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of The Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side.”

Thor: Love & Thunder is currently set to hit theaters on February 11, 2022. The film also stars Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Melissa McCarthy, Sean Gunn, and Taika Waititi.

[MIKA27]

How Beer Ruled the Ancient World

If the Romans adored wine, the Ancient Egyptians loved a good beer. In later centuries, Bavarian brewers would add chicken blood and ox bile to their beers to improve the flavor.

Imagine excavating an ancient burial ground and running across a brewery. This is exactly what happened last month when the Egyptian government announced that a team of Egyptian and American archaeologists had discovered what may be the world’s oldest known beer factory. Pyramids, Pharaohs, and now tasty adult beverages—ancient Egypt had it all.

The factory was unearthed at Abydos, 280 miles south of Cairo and west of the Nile river. Abydos is primarily known for its temples and funerary practices, with a number of monuments honoring Osiris, the god of the dead. Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, noted that the discovery was made at the site of an ancient burial ground and that the beer factory dates to the reign of King Narmer, who lived and ruled at the beginning of the First Dynastic period, more than 5,000 years ago.

Dr. Matthew Adams, of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and one of the leaders (along with Dr. Deborah Vischak of Princeton University) of the mission, said that the factory was built to supply beer for royal rituals. The brewery itself was divided into eight large sections, each of which contained 40 clay pots for mixing grain and water. In its prime, Adams added, the brewery may have produced as much as 22,400 liters (nearly 6,000 gallons) of beer at a time. Beer was an important part of the ancient Egyptian diet, and was drunk by everyone from Pharaohs to peasants, and workers were even sometimes paid in beer.

As ancient as the Abydos factory is, it wasn’t the first place that beer was made. The world’s oldest alcoholic beverage likely comes from China, but beer likely emerged in the Middle East. The factory is roughly contemporaneous with ceramic vessels—still coated with a sticky beer residue—found in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerian “Hymn to Ninkasi” (ca. 1800 BCE), which was sung in honor of the goddess of beer, includes a recipe that was made by female priestesses. For ancient Sumerians, beer was a staple as it was healthier than drinking water from streams, which was often contaminated with animal waste.

Ancient Egyptian beer was flavored with mandrakes, olive oil and dates, which accounted for the sweetness; it was only with the rise of beer among medieval monks that hops were thrown into the mix. Even though hops are the base of the most popular form of beer today, there were rivals in the medieval world. As early as the eighth century A.D., brewers used gruit (a combination of botanicals that, like hops, prevent bacteria from growing in the liquid) in their concoctions. In his book Beer in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Richard Unger argues that gruit was the most popular form of beer in the 12th century.

For many brewers, flavor additives were a necessity. Bavarian summer beers, for example, were fermented in open barrels that were exposed to bacteria and, thus, liable to go “off.” To cover up the taste of these summer beers, brewers would add other ingredients including legumes, salt, chalk, soot, and even ox bile and chicken blood. Beer has to taste pretty bad for you to add bile to improve the flavor. The popularity of beer led, almost inevitably, to regulation. In 1156 the city of Augsburg passed a decree insisting that bad beer “be destroyed or distributed among the poor at no charge.” By 1336 the city of Munich had appointed beer inspectors and in 1516, the Bavarian Duke Wilhelm IV issued the Reinheitsgebot, or beer purity law, which stipulated that only barley, hops and water could be used in Bavarian beer. The decree, which became law for all of Germany in 1906, is the world’s oldest food safety regulation.

The Bavarians were not the first to try and legislate beer, however. Cleopatra introduced a tax on beer—which ancient Egyptians preferred to wine—to finance her wars with Rome. As Jason Lambrecht has put it, “this was so outrageous to Egypt, that it would compare to a tax on water today.” As unpopular as Cleopatra’s tax was, other governments have tried it with varying degrees of success. In the 13th century, the French city of Aix-la-Chapelle decreed that brewers who failed to pay their taxes would have their right hands cut off. When the British raised taxes on beer in the 17th century, they inadvertently made gin the cheapest alcoholic beverage in the country. The ensuing widespread consumption of gin led to substantial alcoholism problems in Britain, with the death rate overtaking the birth rate during this period.

Beer taxation is not always a bad thing, however. When 27-year-old Arthur Guinness set up his brewery in 1752 he chose to make a dark beer with unmalted roasted barley because it allowed him to lower the taxes he would otherwise have paid on malt and extra coal. The introduction of customs duties on beer (and wine) by Britain in 1764 was one of the many tax-related outrages that contributed to the American Revolution. Once Independence was achieved, beer circulated widely and tax-free until Abraham Lincoln and Congress, like Cleopatra before them, introduced a $1 per barrel tax in 1862 to help pay for the Civil War. You might say that when you’re drinking beer, you’re supporting freedom.

Today, beer remains America’s most popular alcoholic beverage. Historically, this seems always to have been the case. Sixteenth-century colonists, adapting a recipe developed by Native Americans, used corn instead of malt in their recipes. It’s revealing that one of the first job advertisements placed by residents of Jamestown, Virginia in England was for “two brewers” to join them and make ale.

Like the Americans, the ancient Egyptians loved their beer. It was only when the Romans, who much preferred wine and bread, turned Egypt into the bread-basket of the Roman empire that breweries were replaced with granaries. With that the beer recipes of the Egyptians were lost—but perhaps this new discovery will help reveal the ancient beer industry’s secrets.

[MIKA27]

WhistlePig’s Custom Handmade Glass Was Designed Specifically For Its Own Whiskeys

While WhistlePig whiskey would likely taste good if drunk out of an old boot, that’s not the best way to enjoy its subtleties. What is the best way to drink WhistlePig is from the company’s new Shoreham Whiskey Glass, which they developed alongside renowned glassmaker Simon Pearce.

Like all of Simon Pearce’s glassware, the Shoreham Whiskey Glass is handmade. It also features a unique shape that allows for the better enjoyment of high-proof whiskeys. While traditional whiskey glasses are ideal for nosing and sipping low-proof whiskeys, their wider base gathers too much alcohol vapor at the top of the glass for high-proof hooch. The Shoreham solves this problem by engineering a new shape that lowers the alcohol concentration at the brim, allowing sippers to more accurately pick up the scents of high-proof whiskeys without getting a blast of alcohol smell. The glass release coincides with the launch of WhistlePig’s second-edition 18 Year Double Malt Rye, the brand’s oldest expression, which comes in a bottle topped with a bespoke glass stopper from Simon Pearce. You can learn more about the Shoreham Whiskey Glass and the whiskey at WhistlePig’s website.

[MIKA27]

Ranked: The 5 Best Bruce Lee Movies Of All Time

It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes a person comes along that changes the course of popular culture forever. This has been seen in the cases of Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, etc. For martial arts entertainment, the first name that likely comes to the front of everyone’s mind is Bruce Lee. Not only was he wildly famous in his short career, but he’s remained a powerful cultural figure ever since. Truly, without Bruce Lee, there might not be a western understanding of martial arts and martial arts movies — at least not as we know it today.

Sadly, Lee’s life was cut abruptly short — the result of a brain edema, a fatal combination of swelling and fluid buildup in the skull. However, he had already broken out into Hollywood as one of the most exciting and novel entertainers of the day — a legacy that’s just as powerful to this day. While his catalog of films is quite short, each one represents an important moment in the history of Hollywood and the emergence of the kung-fu genre as a whole. To pay tribute to the man and his roles, we’ve put together the following ranked list of the best Bruce Lee films of all time, as well as a brief history of his life and a look at his overall impact on film and popular culture as a whole.

The American Dream - Lee's Rise To Fame

Born Lee Jun-fan in San Francisco’s Chinatown back in 1940, the performer that would become known as Bruce Lee was the child of a Cantonese opera singer by the name of Lee Hoi-chuen (his father) and Grace Ho (his mother). While Lee was born in the United States, he was actually raised primarily in Hong Kong, where his parents were from, alongside the rest of his family in the Kowloon area. As a child, Lee was exposed to and taught martial arts after a series of increasingly-dangerous street fights — at which point he was introduced to his now-famous mentor, grandmaster Ip Man (there are several films about this real-life martial arts legend starring Donnie Yen). Unfortunately, training turned out to be another hurdle for Lee, as he was ostracized by his fellow students after they discovered that, while his father was Chinese, his mother was of Eurasian descent. Ip man, however, chose to continue training the talented Lee privately.

At the age of 18, Lee moved back to the United States and attended university in Seattle, Washington — where he chose to study drama, rather than philosophy (as is commonly believed). It was at this point that Lee began to teach martial arts — a form of mental and physical discipline that defined much of his life, philosophies, and his legacy. Shortly thereafter, Lee ended up dropping out of college and moving to Oakland, California to open a second martial arts studio and teach full-time. After several impressive public showings of his skills — including some high-profile fights — Lee was invited to try out for a television role by producer William Dozier.

Eventually, Lee was cast as Kato, a sidekick-chauffer, in The Green Hornet — which marked the first time American audiences were introduced to the grace of genuine Chinese martial arts, as opposed to the typical American fist-fight-heavy action that was popular on television up to that point. Sadly, despite the popularity of his show and character, Lee still struggled to get roles, as Hollywood was wary of casting a person of Chinese descent as a heroic lead. That was quashed following the success of Lee’s first leading role in The Big Boss — and it was further shattered after his follow-up, Fist of Fury, broke the box office records of the prior film. To call Lee’s rise meteoric is perhaps not doing his wild ascent justice — but news of his sudden death in 1973 was perhaps even more earth-shattering.

Larger Than Life - An Icon's Undying Legacy

As you may or may not know, Bruce Lee passed away suddenly in 1973 with the autopsy revealing that he had a deadly allergic reaction to an ingredient commonly used in painkillers — though the exact reason is still the source of some debate. The tragedy sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry and around the world; one of the most electric martial arts stars ever to appear on film had died right at the height of his career. In fact, two of his films had yet to see an official release: Enter the Dragon, which was released in August of the same year, and Game of Death, which saw a posthumous release in 1978. In spite of the brevity of Lee’s onscreen career, however, his legacy and influence are still both palpable to this day.

There are some extremely clear examples of this in the entertainment industry — including things like the jumpsuit worn by Uma Thurman in the first Kill Bill film from 2003, the fighting style of Spike Spiegel in famed anime Cowboy Bebop, and there’s even a subgenre of film called Bruceploitation — which hinged on filmmakers from around the world tracking down and hiring Bruce Lee lookalikes to star in imitation martial arts flicks. However, Lee’s cultural significance goes much further and deeper than that.

Bruce Lee and his works have inspired pieces of art, video games, apparel, music, and even the worlds of philosophy and self-help — and these are just a fraction of the greater picture. He’s become such a massive cultural figure, in fact, that he’s one of the most easily-recognized people in human history. His larger-than-life persona has transcended his too-short life tenfold and he still stands as a huge inspiration to this day — and likely will for generations to come.

DISCLAIMER: While we’re aware that Bruce Lee got his start in Chinese cinema at an early age and he has appeared in more than just these five movies, we’ve chosen to focus on the films that catapulted the late actor to worldwide stardom. This is not intended to downplay the significance of Lee’s early career, but rather to highlight his meteoric ascension to the top of the box office and better illustrate the tragedy of his death.

5. GAME OF DEATH (1978)

There is one very specific reason that Game of Death begins our list as the fifth of Bruce Lee’s five best films: it was never finished. Were it not for the filming of Enter the Dragon and, subsequently, the late actor’s passing, there’s a possibility that this movie — one Lee himself wrote, directed, and produced — could have been phenomenal. Sadly, though Lee intended to resume filming this movie, it remains unfinished. What’s more, the 100+ minutes of the movie that had actually been filmed was misplaced in studio archives — only to be discovered and later released in 1978, five years after Lee’s death. Interestingly, the movie was “finished” by Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse, who used two stand-ins for Lee. Although this approach was perhaps not the most successful, the options were otherwise quite limited. It’s also worth pointing out that this movie featured an appearance by Lee’s friend and student Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (yes, the basketball star), and had Lee dressed in his signature yellow jumpsuit — which he designed himself.

4. THE BIG BOSS (1971)

Although this film was not the first piece of western media Bruce Lee had starred in, The Big Boss does mark the first time he was cast in a leading role — defying much of the Hollywood elite that didn’t believe a person of Chinese descent would be a relatable enough hero for western audiences. Thankfully, the numbers told a different story: The Big Boss was a massive commercial and critical hit, shattering several box office records around the world. All told, the film grossed roughly $50 million — which, when adjusted for inflation, amounts to around $300 million. For reference, the movie only cost $100,000 to make — making its success all the more powerful, especially when considering the fact that, technically, it was a foreign film. After the worldwide release of this movie, it was clear that Bruce Lee was destined for stardom.

3. FIST OF FURY (1972)

While The Big Boss marked the highest-grossing total of any Hong Kong film at the time, its reign was remarkably short. This is because, only a year later, Bruce Lee’s Fist of Fury was released and, subsequently, overtook the previous film’s total to the tune of $100 million overall (roughly $600 million when adjusted for inflation) — double that of its predecessor. Also known as The Chinese Connection, this film marked Lee’s second endeavor alongside writer-director Lo Wei and producer Raymond Chow. This movie also introduced several martial arts movie tropes that are still common to this day — including things like a hero defending his home and honor against foreign invaders and a student seeking out vengeance for his fallen mentor. As an added bonus, this movie featured a surprise appearance by another up-and-coming martial arts star: Jackie Chan.

2. THE WAY OF THE DRAGON (1972)

While most people know Bruce Lee as an actor, he also had aspirations as a writer, director, and producer. In fact, his second-best film, The Way of the Dragon, marked his directorial debut and he’s credited as co-producer. Sadly, this was his only directorial work that was ever finished. The film also marked the beginning of another would-be martial arts star’s career, as Chuck Norris was cast as Colt, Lee’s nemesis and primary foil. While it couldn’t recreate the box office-shattering pace of Lee’s previous two films, it did still end up grossing an estimated $130 million worldwide ($700 million when adjusted for inflation) and supplanted Fist of Fury as the most successful Hong Kong film of all time… right up until Bruce Lee’s next flick.

1. ENTER THE DRAGON (1973)

Undeniably Bruce Lee’s most culturally-significant and -impactful film of all time, Enter the Dragon also marks his most successful appearance onscreen — grossing a massive total of $350 million worldwide (equivalent to approximately $1 billion today) on a budget of just $850,000. This movie is so iconic and beloved, in fact, that it is widely regarded as perhaps the greatest martial arts film of all time and one of the best action movies ever filmed. It has even been preserved in the United States’ Library of Congress for posterity. Many of the elements of this movie have since become cultural mainstays — there’s even reason to believe that Mortal Kombat, the massively successful video game franchise, was directly inspired by and even borrowed the themes of the film. To suggest that this is a must-see movie for all lovers of cinema, martial arts, pop culture, and more is perhaps not a dire enough claim. Put simply, Enter the Dragon is a masterpiece that will continue to inspire and influence generations of people around the world.

[Fuzz]

21 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge Is A Brand-New Old-School Beat-Em Up

MIKA: Massive memories for me heading to the local Blockbuster to play Ninja Turtles arcade along with Street Fighter etc. A classic. 

Same here! Those 4 player arcade machines were lots of fun. Many of my dollar coins were sunk into those machines. Did you ever play "Warriors of Fate"? Recently found they had brought that game back on the Nintendo Switch.

18 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

Spider-Man Receives A New Life-Size Bust From Sideshow Collectibles

 

No, Mika. I will not be buying this. It's not the type of bust I'm usually after....

15 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

'Thor: Love and Thunder' Adds Russell Crowe and His 'Unhinged' Energy to Cast

 

Yes, Russell's character in the movie is "Ra Bytt-Oh" - Lord of the Long Eared Warriors.

[MIKA27]

Aston Martin Unveils Its Official Formula One DBX Medical & Vantage Safety Cars

The 2021 Formula One season will mark Aston Martin’s first return to the world championship series in over 60 years, and alongside to unveiling its AMR21 Cognizant F1 race car, the famed British marque has now revealed that it will be supplying two of the support vehicles for the upcoming 23 race season.

Debuting at the opening round of 2021 in Bahrain, Aston Martin will be providing the series with both its official Safety Car and the league’s official Medical car. Packing a twin-turbocharged 4.0L V8, the Safety car will be Aston Martin’s new Vantage while the league’s official Medical car will be a new 542hp DBX luxury SUV. In addition to wearing Aston Martin’s iconic green and yellow livery, both the DBX Medical car and the Vantage Safety car will feature a plethora of FIA-approved equipment including racing seats and safety harnesses, dash-mounted screens showing a live feed of the race, and a live map of the track, supplementary lighting and track sirens, and a “Marshalling System” integrated into the instrument clusters. 

 

[MIKA27]

3 minutes ago, Fuzz said:

Same here! Those 4 player arcade machines were lots of fun. Many of my dollar coins were sunk into those machines. Did you ever play "Warriors of Fate"? Recently found they had brought that game back on the Nintendo Switch.

No, Mika. I will not be buying this. It's not the type of bust I'm usually after....

Yes, Russell's character in the movie is "Ra Bytt-Oh" - Lord of the Long Eared Warriors.

Hi Fuzz!

Yes, I played Warriors of fate, wasn't aware of this on the Switch but might have to search for it now!

 

[MIKA27]

This Smart Wine Cellar Features A 7-Axis Robotic Arm & An AI Sommelier

It typically only takes a few years before cutting-edge technologies begin trickling down to more mainstream production. And while AI-controlled computers and smart robotic arms are still out of the reach of most users, we’re now getting an early glimpse of these state-of-the-art technologies being applied to purchasable, at-home offerings with the reveal of Winecab’s smart wine cellar systems.

Marking the first time that a robotic arm has ever been introduced into a residential setting, the Winecab units are complete, freestanding wine storage systems with a seven-axis smart robotic arm and a built-in smart sommelier, as well as real-time inventory status and access to a live expert sommelier. Crafted from ultra-high-end materials and capable of storing up to 600 bottles, the Winecab units also boast high-end security features such as facial recognition software for unlocking, plus a built-in iPad Pro tablet acting as the Winecab’s touchscreen, and a bottom drawer that users can load bottles in and then have the robotic arm automatically organize and store. Produced in 6-foot, 11-foot, and 15-foot versions — plus a radius-walled Curio Classic variant — the Winecab systems are available now starting from $179,000.

 

[MIKA27]

This Majestic Stilted A-Frame Treehouse Cabin Is As Isolated As It Gets

One of the major thrills of escaping to a cabin — either for a vacation or as your primary residence — is the isolation and freedom from the stresses of civilization and, more importantly, nosy neighbors. Well, digital artist Thilina Liyanage has taken that concept to the extreme with the understatedly-named Ocean Cabin.

There’s a lot to unpack with this architectural wonder. For starters, it features an odd pyramid silhouette reminiscent of a-frame cabins you’re likely to see up in the mountains. However, it is also elevated on stilts atop its already-precarious perch. Lastly, the combination of its panoramic window and placement on the coast promises some spectacular views, especially when the water is rough. Unfortunately, this structure is merely a concept for now, but we hope someone has the gall to build something so daring and impressive — and the ability to track down a boulder that’s large and stable enough to manage.

 

[MIKA27]

POC Devour Sunglasses

The new POC Devour are a true hybrid, combining the best features of goggles and sunglasses to provide exceptional coverage and protection. The stylish sunglasses give you ultrawide coverage, maximising peripheral vision, in a massive performance shield. The glasses are equipped with an adjustable nose bridge and adjustable temple stems to ensure a perfect fit, and feature a scratch-resistant Carl Zeiss lens with hyhobic and oleophobic treatment to protect from dirt, water, oil, smudging, and of course, UV rays. It comes with an additional lens (clear) which can quickly be swapped. Available now in several styles.

[Fuzz]

7 minutes ago, MIKA27 said:

This Smart Wine Cellar Features A 7-Axis Robotic Arm & An AI Sommelier

 

I get the climate controlled storage, but why the fudge do I need a vending machine in my home?

[MIKA27]

Posthumous Travel Book ‘World Travel: An Irreverent Guide’ is Available for Pre-Order

Whether it comes to our favorite knives, TV shows, or ways to travel, there’s no denying the fact that Anthony Bourdain had a huge influence on each and every one of the people here at Cool Material. While we all long to experience the world and Travel Like Anthony Bourdain Did, that’s not something in the cards for all of us–especially in the Corona times. And yet, we can all still get a little more insight into the world of Bourdain–even after his death–with the posthumously published World Travel: An Irreverent Guide that is available for pre-order now.  The renowned chef, author, television host and beloved food personality started work on World Travel: An Irreverent Guide before his passing and his former assistant Laurie Woolever, along with some of his closest friends and colleagues, finished the book in his absence. The almost 500 page tome is an exhilarating, whirlwind, travel tour into all things Bourdain that’s supplemented with a handful of essays and experiences from trusted friends, family and colleagues. $20+

 

[MIKA27]

In The Night House's First Trailer, There's Nothing Right About Haunted Houses

In fact, as the first trailer for the upcoming horror movie The Night House reveals, there’s something extremely wrong with the titular house indeed.

The official synopsis for the film—which tells us about Beth (Godzilla vs. Kong’s Rebecca Hall), grieving for her dead husband while battling nightmares about a strange and disturbing being in her home—really undersells all the creepiness going on in the trailer, which vastly understates the craziness happening in the trailer:

Not only has her husband returned from the dead (and is somehow dripping blood despite having just taken a long soak in the lake). Not only are their massively unsettling art pieces playing about the place. Not only are their malevolent spirits hassling poor Beth. But there’s an entire second backward Night House with another Beth in it. Yikes!

The Night House—although The Night Houses seems more accurate—will follow, and arrive in theaters on July 16.

[MIKA27]

NASA’s ‘Other’ Mars Rover Sends Back a Selfie to Remind Us It Still Exists

The newly landed Perseverance rover is understandably stealing much of the limelight these days, which means Curiosity — after 10 years of faithful service — is suddenly having to play second fiddle. Curiosity’s latest selfie reminds us that the six-wheeled probe is very much still around and doing important scientific work, thank you very much.

Curiosity new self-portrait is set in front of Mont Mercou — a 6.10 m-tall rock formation inside Gale Crater. Taken on March 26, the image was stitched together from 60 different photographs. Curiosity has taken many selfies over the years, and it’s fair to say we’ll never tire of these postcards from the surface of an alien world.

A stereoscopic view of Mont Mercou, taken on March 4, 2021

The rover also captured a stereoscopic view of the outcrop, which it did by taking 32 photos from two slightly different positions but at a fixed distance of 40 metres. By studying the outcrop from multiple vantage points, scientists “get a better idea of the 3D geometry of Mount Mercou’s sedimentary layers,” according to NASA.

Earlier this month, Curiosity used its Mastcam to take 126 images that were compiled to create a 360-degree view of its surroundings, including Mont Mercou.

A panoramic view of Curiosity's surroundings, as seen on March 3, 2021.

The rover’s current location looks strikingly different from its previous area of investigation — a region known as the “clay-bearing unit.” NASA is sending the rover up the slopes of the 5 km-tall Mount Sharp to its next target, the “sulfate-bearing unit,” and its current location near Mont Mercou represents a transitional zone between the two sites. As NASA points out in its press release, the transitional area could hold clues about why and how Mars turned into a desert wasteland.

But it was not all fun ‘n selfies for the rover as it loitered near Mont Mercou, as NASA’s Curiosity team commanded the vehicle perform its 30th drill session of its career, resulting in a hole now known as Nontron. The rover, after pulverising the rock into a fine dust, placed a sample of the material inside its built-in chemistry lab for analysis. Nontron is borrowed from “nontronite,” a type of clay mineral found near Nontron, France.

So the mission on Mars continues for Curiosity, despite all the cool stuff that Perseverance is doing, or will be doing shortly, like dispatching the Ingenuity helicopter. Hopefully in 10 years time we’ll likewise think of Perseverance as the grizzled veteran, as some young, sexy new rover steals the spotlight yet again.