Amazon Prime Video just added a heaping helping of reality TV to its catalog, including multiple seasons of Hell’s Kitchen, River Monsters, Whale Wars, Miami Ink, Survivorman, Hoarding: Buried Alive and a whole lot of other shows that have ruined the once sterling reputations of networks like TLC, A&E and others (via Variety).
These shows are pure, unadulterated trash and that’s why I love them all so much. So, so very much. Amazon has effectively ruined me with this addition, since I’m already inclined to both A) binge on streaming services and B) watch the broadcast marathons of most of these shows when they happen to air on their original networks.
The shows I mentioned above were mere highlights, too, and there’s such a rich tapestry of vile, reprehensible “reality fare” that it was hard to narrow it at all. Here’s the full list for your guilty pleasure:
Hell’s Kitchen” (Seasons 1-15)
“Toddlers & Tiaras” (Seasons 1-9)
“Kitchen Nightmares” (Seasons 1-7)
“Miami Ink” (Seasons 1-6)
“Addicted” (Season 2)
“Man vs. Wild” (Seasons 1-3)
“Survivorman” (Seasons 1-7)
“Hoarding: Buried Alive” (Seasons 4-8)
“What Not to Wear” (Final Season)
“Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction” (Seasons 1-4)
“Unsolved Mysteries” (Seasons 1-12)
“Forensic Files (20 seasons)
“Most Haunted” (Seasons 1-15)
“My Five Wives” (Season 1-2)
“I Shouldn’t Be Alive” (Seasons 3-6)
“Rich Bride Poor Bride” (Seasons 1-6)
“Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer” (Season 1)
“River Monsters” (Seasons 1-9)
“Whale Wars” (Seasons 1-6)
“Leah Remini: It’s All Relative” (Seasons 1-2)
Now I have to go because I have to watch ALL OF IT. Never tell anyone I told you I like this stuff: That’s our little secret.
Apple will apparently have every kind of show from anyone with any kind of name working in Hollywood when it launches its updated approach to original video content: The latest original on its slate is a 10-episode, half-hour thriller series order that will be executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, who is also going to direct the first installment (via Variety).
The thriller is being written by writer Tony Basgallop, who wrote 24: Live Another Day and 24: Legacy (so he is familiar with action-packed TV productions). There’s not much else we know about the show at this stage, beyond that it’s described as a “psychological thriller,” which makes sense given that Shyamalan is attached.
The Unbreakable director’s latest foray into TV, ‘Wayward Pines,’ just ended after a two-season run, but last year’s Split was a hit and will lead into the forthcoming sequel Glass.
Meanwhile, Apple’s upcoming original TV slate is looking positively packed, and includes a Reese Witherspoon/Jennifer Aniston hour-long drama about morning news shows, a sci-fi show from the creator of ‘Battlestar Galactica,’ an ‘Amazing Stories’ reboot from Steven Spielberg and a bunch more.
Despite surpassing analyst expectations for the quarter, Roku disappointed Wall Street when it shared its fourth-quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday. The digital streaming business fell about 18% in after-hours trading, in the minutes following the news release.
Roku posted $188.3 million revenue, when Yahoo! Finance estimates showed $182.5 million. It’s also up from $147.3 million in the same period last year. Earnings per share was 6 cents, much better than the negative 10 cents that Wall Street forecast.
However, the earnings per share for the quarter wasn’t considered comparable to the analyst expectations because of a $2.3 million debt charge. Yet it was still much better than what Wall Street predicted because of significant growth in Roku’s platform business, which includes licensing fees and ad revenue.
Revenue for last year was $513 million, 29% growth from the year prior. The number of active accounts increased 44%, ending the year totaling 19.3 million.
So what’s spooking investors?
There was an issue with guidance. Roku said that next quarter it expects $120 million to $130 million in revenue, beneath the $131.7 million that experts were forecasting.
Investors are also worried about the decline in Roku’s device business. Its player revenue was $102.8 million, down from $110 million in the same period the year before.
The stock drop is a big disappointment for Roku investors, for what otherwise has been a very solid run. Roku went public on the stock market last year and has since nearly quadrupled its share price.
The company went public at $14 per share and closed Wednesday at $51.10.
Phil DeFranco is betting on a new cryptocurrency called Props to help stoke a YouTube rival that rewards both creators and fans.
This is part of "Blockchain Decoded," a series looking at the impact of blockchain, bitcoin and cryptocurrency on our lives.
Phil DeFranco has 2.2 billion views on YouTube. If each one were a penny, the stack could loop around the planet once and then some.
Now imagine if every view and every "like" on YouTube deposited a penny in a piggy bank, one that's broken open daily to pay both fans and stars.
YouTube star Philip DeFranco is advising and investing in a new cryptocurrency aiming to rebuild the ecosystem for online video. Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
That's the basic idea behind Props, a cryptocurrency that aims to reward anyone who contributes to a new social live-video app called Rize. Anytime you stream, you can earn Props. Every time you get a "like," you can earn Props. If a friend of yours joins, you earn Props.
Theoretically, it's a YouTube where the only participant notgetting a payday is YouTube itself.
"The biggest part is just removing the middleman as much as possible," DeFranco, an adviser to and investor in Props, said in an interview last month. "The thing that's really exciting about Props is that it's creator-forward first."
Like cryptocurrency-based social network Steemit, Props and Rize are aiming to create a new ecosystem in which blockchains and tokens recompense everyone whose contributions make the network worth visiting. It's one of the many uses of blockchain, a technology best-known for underpinning bitcoin but used in a wide range of applications, such as tracking prescription drugs, tracing organic foods and ensuring the legitimacy of elections.
Props payouts are based on a formula that evaluates how valuable your contribution is: A stream with thousands of viewers will work out to more Props than you'll earn from a live-video chat with friends in a virtual living room. You can convert Props to dollars, you can use them to send virtual gifts on Rize, or you can hold onto them if you believe they'll rise in value.
Props is one of the latest cryptocurrencies to crop up after the massive attention garnered by the likes of bitcoin and Ethereum, and another example of how their foundational technology -- blockchain -- is poised to change your life.
Blockchain paradox
Blockchain is a technology designed to hard-wire trust and security into transactions. But the irony of blockchain and cryptocurrency is that they're so unfamiliar and confusing to the average person, they've created a breeding ground for scams and mistrust.
DeFranco's advocacy for Props, for example, brings him adjacent to the dubious realm of celebrity cryptocurrency endorsements.
Socialite Paris Hilton and boxer Floyd Mayweather, for instance, have hyped cryptocurrencies to their large followings. "I'm gonna make a $hit t$n of money on August 26th," Mayweather said on his Instagram account in July, four months before the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a warning to token-touting celebs. If stars don't detail how they're benefiting from a token offering, they could be breaking the law, the agency said.
DeFranco isn't exactly tweeting about the $hit ton of l00t he's going to score with Props. "I'm talking about this because it's something that I believe in," he said. "I actually plan on using it. It's not a cash grab for me."
Paris Hilton publicized a cryptocurrency last year by tweeting about it. Cole Bennetts/Getty Images
DeFranco, whose news commentary channel on YouTube has 6 million subscribers, is an adviser to the team launching both Props and Rize, which opens to the public Feb. 23 as the first place Props will be earned and paid.
He's staying on the legitimate side of the fence, he said, by being transparent and encouraging people to research Props' white paper. In cryptocurrencies, he said, "you have a lot of situations that people really are just being blinded by hype."
As payment for his role as adviser, DeFranco has been awarded Props during a token distribution event. (Longtime YouTuber Casey Neistat is another Props adviser and was also awarded tokens.) DeFranco is personally investing some of his own money in Props too, but he's keeping the amount private.
"While he is open to discussing what he's invested in, he doesn't disclose actual details of the deals," a representative said in a follow-up email, after DeFranco deferred to his legal team when asked about how much he's investing.
A new model
Ultimately, DeFranco was attracted to Props because of its mission to toss out the current model divvying up the riches of online video and rebuild it based on rewarding creators foremost, rather than enriching a tech giant, he said.
Props and Rize are being launched by the same team behind YouNow, a social live-video app. YouNow has 42 million registered users and has generated $50 million in sales of virtual goods, such as paid "likes" that help the receiving broadcaster trend on the network.
Adi Sideman, the founder and CEO of YouNow, said he wanted to decentralize the current business model of user-generated video, in which big entrenched players rely on creators and users to generate billions of dollars in value. Typically, that value goes back to founders and investors, while some creators get a cut and users get zero.
Karthik Kannan, a management professor at Purdue University's Krannert School of Management, said Props' pedigree, having descended from the same team behind YouNow, lends the new ecosystem legitimacy. YouNow has already built a virtual market of coins and gold bars, without a cryptocurrency foundation that many of its users take part.
"This isn't any random company," he said. "This YouNow community has some credibility already."
Phil DeFranco and YouNow CEO Adi Sideman discuss Props, a cryptocurrency being created by YouNow's team. YouNow
Launching a cryptocurrency can sometimes be a sneaky way to raise a bunch of money and jet, but the way YouNow has devised Props and Rize indicates that the company is creating its cryptocurrency in good faith.
"They could have gone and stolen a golden egg, but they already have an ecosystem that was laying golden eggs," Kannan said. "They will probably generate more value by letting that ecosystem flourish."
Make no mistake, online video creates riches. Google's YouTube, the biggest digital video source in the world, booked an estimated $10.7 billion in revenue last year, according to analyst Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson. Like many sites, YouTube gives a cut of that back to people who run ads next to their videos -- but it keeps a large portion of those ad revenues to itself, and it takes a cut of the "tips" that viewers can give to creators, like a Super Chat donation during a live stream.
But some complain that systems like YouTube, which wouldn't exist without users voluntarily posting their creations and ideas, don't return a fair amount of value to those contributors.
Still, the wider cryptocurrency universe is too much of a complicated mess even for DeFranco, who built his name on plain-English explanations of complex cultural news.
"It's the reason why I haven't done an 'explaining cryptocurrency' video," he said. "I'd have to do a 30-minute video to make sure I didn't sound like an asshole."
Pandora Premium, which allows listeners to listen to specific albums and songs, is getting a website to accompany its app.
Pandora's box is opening wider.
The curated music service launched a web client for Pandora Premium, which allows listeners to listen to specific songs and albums on-demand. Until Thursday, you were only able to do this through Pandora's app.
Pandora Premium was the online radio company's answer to Spotify, and launched last March for $9.99 a month. For a while, listeners on Pandora were limited only to songs automatically selected based on radio stations.
With the new website, Pandora Premium users are able to do everything they can on the app, but from a computer screen. This was the most requested feature from Pandora users, a Pandora spokesman said.
The website also has new features not available on the app, including listening history, collections under "My Music," and better playlist controls.
Disney shows and movies will steam in China through Alibaba's media and entertainment arm.
Disney entertainment will flow into China.
Buena Vista International, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Co., has signed a multi-year licensing deal with the media and entertainment arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. The deal will bring more than 1,000 episodes of animated Disney series to the Youku video-streaming platform and other platforms, Alibaba said Monday in a statement. The deal also includes more than 100 live-action and animated Disney movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Frozen."Disney didn't immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.
Ryan Reynolds (@vancityreynolds)'in paylaştığı bir gönderi ()
Have a very Goonie birthday, Josh Brolin.
The actor, who plays Cable in the "Deadpool" sequel and Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War," turns 50 on Monday. Ryan Reynolds, who plays Deadpool, was not about to let such a milestone go unnoticed.
Reynolds posted an Instagram photo of his character painting a portrait of Brolin, but the painting reflects Brolin as he looked circa 1985, when he made his film debut in "The Goonies." Deadpool's mimicking the famed Norman Rockwell triple-self-portrait from 1960.
"Happy Birthday, Bright Eye," Reynolds snarked in the Instagram caption, joking about the character's one-eyed face. "You don't taste a day over 40."
For more Deadpool teasing of Cable, check out the movie trailer released last week, where Deadpool stops the footage to complain about the CGI on Cable's metal arm.
The "Deadpool" sequel opens May 18 in the US and June 1 in the UK. No Australia release date has been listed yet.
2018 sci-fi, fantasy and geek movies to get excited about
A Russian An-148 regional jet airliner carrying at least 71 people crashed after takeoff from Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport, with authorities saying everyone on board was killed, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Flight 703 was headed to the city of Orsk near the Russian-Kazakhstani border, but Flightradar24 data shows it “descended rapidly about five minutes into its flight after departing Moscow at 11:22 GMT,” the Journal wrote. It was plummeting at 22,000 feet a minute by the time it lost contact, with state TV reporting that it left a six-foot crater upon impact with the ground.
According to CNN, the cause of the crash remains unknown, and per the BBC, the pilot of the aircraft was experienced with over 5,000 hours of flight time. Authorities have recovered the plane’s black box—though the craft itself disintegrated across a huge area.
“The scatter of fragments of the aircraft and bodies of dead passengers occupies a large territory; the radius is not less than 1 kilometer (0.6 miles),” Investigative Committee of Russia spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told CNN.
Russia has a mixed track record when it comes to air travel, the Journal noted:
Russia’s top carriers have improved their safety record in recent years, but air-safety problems still plague the country’s second- and third-tier airlines. Sunday’s disaster is the worst in Russia since 2016, when a Defense Ministry aircraft full of soldiers, musicians and journalists crashed into the Black Sea after taking off from Sochi on its way to Syria, killing all 92 on board.
A Russian Airbus A321 also blew up over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula with the loss of all 224 passengers and crew in 2015, though authorities concluded the cause of that crash was terrorism.
Update 6:05pm ET: ABC News has obtained surveillance footage showing the plane crashing in the distance, generating a huge explosion.
A small group of advertising industry insiders have developed a novel campaign for this years’ ad awards season — nominating Russia’s misinformation and manipulation efforts for an award.
The Webbys is an award ceremony that purports to provide accolades and acknowledgement to “the best of the internet”.
The submission video itself is something to see.
Working with a team of volunteers, the advertising professionals make a compelling case for Russia’s work as a masterpiece of marketing and immoral suasion.
The industry insiders use the language of marketing to call attention to the blatant manipulation of the system to disseminate Russian propaganda and misinformation.
Image: TechCrunch
The campaign also notes that the Russian-backed campaigns tried to exploit popular apps like Pokemon Go and social media blogging platforms to create “news” to advance their agenda.
Image: TechCrunch
It’s impossible to argue that these messages didn’t have at least some impact on the election results given the scope and reach the campaigns enjoyed.
Image: TechCrunch
The decision to submit the campaign to awards organizations was made to confront the industry with its own hypocrisy. And ideally encourage executives to take action.
“My hope is that, of all the powerful people sitting in that room, at least a few of them go, ‘What am I doing to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again?’ ”, one of the participants told The New Yorker.
After barring Logan Paul earlier today from serving ads on his video channel, YouTube has now announced a more formal and wider set of sanctions it’s prepared to level on any creator that starts to post videos that are harmful to viewers, others in the YouTube community, or advertisers.
As it has done with Paul, the site said it will remove monetization options on the videos, specifically access to advertising programs. But on top of that, it’s added in a twist that will be particularly impactful given that a lot of a video’s popularity rests on it being discoverable:
“We may remove a channel’s eligibility to be recommended on YouTube, such as appearing on our home page, trending tab or watch next,” Ariel Bardin, Vice President of Product Management at YouTube, writes in a blog post.
The full list of steps, as outlined by YouTube:
Premium Monetization Programs, Promotion and Content Development Partnerships. We may remove a channel from Google Preferred and also suspend, cancel or remove a creator’s YouTube Original
Monetization and Creator Support Privileges. We may suspend a channel’s ability to serve ads, ability to earn revenue and potentially remove a channel from the YouTube Partner Program, including creator support and access to our YouTube Spaces.
Video Recommendations. We may remove a channel’s eligibility to be recommended on YouTube, such as appearing on our home page, trending tab or watch next. The changes are significant not just because they could really hit creators where it hurts, but because they also point to a real shift for the platform. YouTube has long been known as a home for edgy videos filled with pranks and potentially offensive content, made in the name of comedy or freedom of expression.
Now, the site is turning over a new leaf, using a large team of human curators and AI to track the content of what’s being posted, and in cases where videos fall afoul of YouTube’s advertising guidelines, or pose a threat to its wider community, they have a much bigger chance of falling afoul of YouTube’s rules and getting dinged.
When one creator does something particularly blatant—like conducts a heinous prank where people are traumatized, promotes violence or hate toward a group, demonstrates cruelty, or sensationalizes the pain of others in an attempt to gain views or subscribers—it can cause lasting damage to the community, including viewers, creators and the outside world, writes Bardin. That damage can have real-world consequences not only to users, but also to other creators, leading to missed creative opportunities, lost revenue and serious harm to your livelihoods. That’s why it’s critical to ensure that the actions of a few don’t impact the 99.9 percent of you who use your channels to connect with your fans or build thriving businesses.
The moves come at a time when the site is making a much more concerted effort to raise the overall quality of what is posted and shared and viewed by millions of people every day, after repeated accusations that it has facilitated a range of bad actors, from people peddling propaganda to influence elections, to those who are posting harmful contentaimed at children, to simply allowing cruel, tasteless and unusual videos to get posted in the name of comedy.
The issue seemed to reach a head with Paul, who posted a video in Japan in January that featured a suicide victim, and has since followed up with more questionable content presented as innocuous fun.
As I pointed out earlier today, even though he makes hundreds of thousands of dollars from ads (the exact amount is unknown and has only been estimated by different analytics companies) removing ads was only a partial sanction, since Paul monetizes in other ways, including merchandising. So it’s interesting to see YouTube adding more details and ways of sanctioning creators, that will hit at their very virality.
As in the case of Paul, YouTube stresses that the majority of creators on its platform will not be impacted by today’s announcement because their content is not on the wrong side of acceptable. These sorts of sanctions, it said, will be applied as a last resort and will often not be permanent, but will last until the creator removes or alters content. It will be worth watching how and if this impacts video content overall on the platform.
Perry Coneybeer, who left college at age 19 to work full-time at corporate file digitizing startup Ripcord, is alleging improper behavior by Ripcord CEO Alex Fielding. Coneybeer also alleges she was fired in retaliation for reporting a fellow employee to human resources.
Ripcord CEO Alex Fielding
In a Medium post published today, Coneybeer alleges Fielding told graphic, sexual stories involving other employees. One story was about an employee who allegedly sent Fielding porn, which Fielding then allegedly watched during the workday.
“He proudly told us he opened and watched the videos all the way through during the audits,” she wrote. “He then graphically described and pantomimed a sexual act called ‘gloving.’ He explained the act several times–it seemed that he interpreted the confusion on our faces to mean that we didn’t quite understand the mechanics.”
Fielding also allegedly had a bazooka next to his desk. But it wasn’t just Fenkell who behaved improperly, Coneybeer writes. It was throughout the company.
What ultimately brought Coneybeer to go to HR was when an employee at a company holiday party allegedly made a joke to her boyfriend about raping her. Coneybeer said she reported this to her boss, who then escalated it to HR.
Ripcord fired the person who made the rape joke. But within one month, both Coneybeer and her boss were also let go. Coneybeer told TechCrunch she considered filing a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and retaliation, but decided going this route may be more effective.
Coneybeer feels confident in telling her story because she did not sign the severance agreement upon being fired, she told TechCrunch. That agreement included a non-disclosure clause pertaining to speaking negatively of the company.
Ripcord, a company that uses robots to digitize paper records, has raised $85 million in total from Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Legend Star, Lux Capital, Silicon Valley Bank, Telstra Ventures, Steve Wozniak and con Ventures.
TechCrunch has reached out to Ripcord and is waiting to hear back. Ripcord, in a statement to Business Insider, said its board is investigating Coneybeer’s allegations and will take appropriate action, if needed. Ripcord also said it “cares deeply about fostering a positive workplace culture. Respect and integrity are absolutely integral to our ability to success.”
As for Coneybeer, she plan to return to school as a sophomore in September. She’s also currently looking for internships in tech, with the hope that the industry can change.
“It disheartens me to think that this is the way the tech industry is right now,” she wrote. “I’m optimistic, though, that a change can be made. The first step is for people to come forward with their stories.”
While we were busy buzzing about Marvel’s big Black Panther debut last night, an interesting story came out. Before he went on to make Blade, Wesley Snipes campaigned long and hard to get the ball rolling on a live-action Black Panther adaptation in which he would have starred. Though the project never quite came to fruition, Snipes’ description of that ‘90s Black Panther film is a fascinating taste of what might have been.
Snipes spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about how his own Black Panther project actually got much farther along in the production process than most people realize (if they knew about it at all). Multiple scripts were written, Snipes himself (who was a hot commodity throughout the early-to-mid ‘90s) was attached to star, and both Mario Van Peebles and John Singleton were in the running to direct.
But for all the potential Snipes’ Panther might have had, comic books and movies based on them didn’t have the same kind of cultural cache and relevance that they do today and not everyone was on board with the idea of sticking close to the source material. Though Snipes felt it was important to emphasize Wakanda’s technological prowess—something we’ll definitely be seeing in Marvel’s film—others, like Singleton, thought it would be smarter to go in a different direction:
“John was like, ‘Nah! Hah! Hah! See, he’s got the spirit of the Black Panther, but he is trying to get his son to join the [civil rights activist] organization. And he and his son have a problem, and they have some strife because he is trying to be politically correct and his son wants to be a knucklehead.’
I am loosely paraphrasing our conversation. But ultimately, John wanted to take the character and put him in the civil rights movement. And I’m like, ‘Dude! Where’s the toys?! They are highly technically advanced, and it will be fantastic to see Africa in this light opposed to how Africa is typically portrayed.’ I wanted to see the glory and the beautiful Africa. The jewel Africa.”
Snipes also described a number of other angles for the film that would have focused on a version of T’Challa who didn’t grow up in Wakanda in the years before he became king. As odd as that may sound, bear in mind that the ‘90s were a very, very different time for Marvel and Black Panther. At the time, Marvel had recently sold off the film rights to a number of its characters in an attempt to stave off its impending bankruptcy.
Even though Columbia Pictures was interested in potentially producing Snipes’ Black Panther, technological and budgetary constraints proved to be insurmountable issues. CGI wasn’t anything close to what it’s like today and capturing the sheer grandeur of Wakanda would have called for a gargantuan budget. It’s nice to think that there was almost an OG Black Panther film that we could have been looking back on with fondness (or derision, who knows) for years, but to hear the way Snipes describes his vision for T’Challa’s vibranium suit, perhaps it’s best the movie never got made:
source:Gizmodo
At first, I wasn’t impressed by The Shape of Water‘s visual effects.
That might seem like a strange thing to say about a movie whose effects have been nominated for multiple awards (though not an Oscar, despite the film’s 13 nominations). What I mean is this: When I was watching, I never wondered about the technology behind the merman — the sometimes-monstrous, sometimes-beautiful aquatic character inspired by the Creature from the Black Lagoon.
I knew that Doug Jones (who has a long history of playing monsters for director Guillermo del Toro) had the role, and whenever I saw the merman, I assumed Jones was really there on set, wearing the costume as the merman was tortured in a government lab by Michael Shannon’s Col. Strickland, or as he formed a relationship with the kind, mute janitor Elisa, played by Sally Hawkins.
It turns out that Jones’ impressive costume and makeup (and his equally impressive performance) only accounts for part of what we see on-screen. Trey Harrell, CG supervisor at visual effects house Mr. X, told me, “Every single shot of the film where you see the creature is a visual effects shot.”
After all, Harrell said that while “Doug is an amazing actor,” his face was also hidden under “an inch of and a half of foam latex.” So at the very least, Mr. X had to create the merman’s eye and face movements. In other instances, like when the merman was viewed swimming inside the lab’s capsule, Mr. X was responsible for the entire creature.
Mr. X’s work may have been less noticeable because Harrell said he “wanted people to believe” that it was all a combination of Jones’ performance and practical effects, rather than CG.
“We weren’t going for a hyperreal, CG creature,” he said. “We wanted it to be something that plausibly looked like foam latex and silicon prosthetics, a performance that could plausibly be shot on the day.”
That meant being careful about how the merman moved. In fact, Harrell said his team performed “hundreds of scans” of Jones, creating a “Doug Jones animation rig” — so whenever they designed a CG motion for the merman, they could use the rig to see if the motion felt believable for an actor in costume.
Harrell, who’s also worked on del Toro projects The Strain and Crimson Peak, said it’s part of the director’s style to “capture as much as possible in camera,” rather than relying on green screen and CG.
“You know, those of us who are a certain age, our eyes are more attuned to that,” he added. “We just find that style a little more aesthetically pleasing.”
That doesn’t mean Harrell is always in favor of practical, or practical-looking, effects: “You’re starting to see smaller, more personal projects take the best of both worlds. I personally don’t think it’s a binary argument. I’ve also got a background in practical prosthetics and makeup. I’m a fan of having a big toolbox.”
Besides augmenting the merman, Harrell said other effects challenges included creating water effects for the opening sequence and other scenes that were shot “dry for wet” (in other words, they weren’t actually underwater), and adding damage to a classic car.
Mr. X was the only visual effects house that worked on the film — maybe a necessity with The Shape of Water‘s relatively small, sub-$20 million budget, but Harrell said he “loved the hell” out of working on the film because it meant “not having a corporate infrastructure between you and the director.”source:Gizmodo
The 2001 book Quidditch Through The Ages, written by “Kennilworthy Whisp” (aka JK Rowling, you’re not fooling anyone around here), is an exploration of the rich fictional history of everyone’s favorite broom-related sporting event. Now, sixteen years late, it’s getting the fancy audiobook treatment, with Andrew Lincoln stepping in to do the vocal honor, with part of the book’s proceeds going to charity.
Lincoln has spent the better part of the past decade playing the sherriff’s deputy turned survivor Rick Grimes on The Walking Dead, experiencing the terrible parade of horrors of a world overrun by zombies and terrible memes about his son, Carl.
“The Wizarding world is one that I always wanted to step into,” Lincoln said in a statement. “What makes this project so special is not only that it allows me opportunities to create something my kids love and enjoy, but it also supports great causes, like Comic Relief and Lumos.”
Which is lovely, but I can’t help but wonder: after so long as Rick, will it even be possible to hear Lincoln read a book about Quidditch without imagining a horrible zombie massacre playing out somewhere just back and to the left of his audio booth? Fan artists, help me out here. I need this. The Walking Quidditch Cup. Let’s go.
At half the price of the Roku Stick and Chromecast, the Now TV stick is an inexpensive, portable way to watch Sky's streaming services at home on your TV.
Sky launched the Now TV streaming box in 2013 for £10. Six years later, it's again releasing an inexpensive home entertainment gadget.
On Thursday, the company unveiled the Now TV stick, a plug-and-play streaming device priced at £15. The announcement came alongside other news from Now TV, including the rollout of downloads, the option to stream in Full HD, and new broadband packages.
The Now TV stick is small enough to easily move from room to room, or even to travel with. Katie Collins/CNET
Coming in at half the price of the Roku Stick and the Chromecast, the Now TV stick is an inexpensive and portable way to watch Sky's streaming services at home on your TV. A freshly made-over remote now includes a power button and volume controls for your telly, as well as voice search to help you find and jump into what you want with just a single button press.
The Now TV stick offers a limited number of app options, including BBC iPlayer, but it's primarily geared toward people who want to expand beyond Freeview offerings to pick and choose between Sky services. If you're looking for a device to stream Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, though, this isn't the device for you.
Manufactured by Roku, the Now TV Stick should be available around late February or early March.
Shortcut buttons are designed to make navigation easier. Katie Collins/CNET
Sky plans to begin making Now TV content available for download in the spring, starting with its kids content and introducing entertainment and movies in the summer. Toward the end of this year, live and on-demand Now TV content should also be available in Full HD for the first time. Representatives for the company couldn't confirm whether it would charge more for this. The Now TV stick is Full HD ready, so it'll be all set when 1080p content does arrive.
Sky has been offering Now TV broadband and TV packages for around 15 months, but now Now TV broadband will be available as a standalone and contract-free service for the first time. Prices will start at £18 per month for speeds of 17Mbps, rising to £25 for 38Mbps and £35 for 76Mbps.
The streaming service is morphing into a broadband and landline provider with the launch of its latest box.
Sky's streaming service Now TV is branching into a whole new realm, by also offering customers other services they might need at home, including broadband and phone calls.
A series of triple-play packages called Now TV Combos, launched on Wednesday, will be available from July that will allow you to mix and match various streaming services, unlimited broadband packages and calls. You'll be able to use them all without having to sign up to a contract.
Up until today, Now TV has just been a simple, cheap and easy route to accessing Sky TV shows, sport and movies without having to sign up to a pricey monthly contract. Its latest move sees it putting itself in direct competition with the UK's telecoms companies.
A slick new Smart box, both wider and flatter than the original chunky puck, will come as part of any new Combo package, as will a dedicated router. As with the previous box, this one is also built by Roku. As well as the Sky programming you've paid for, the box will allow access to 60 free-to-air TV channels from the same interface.
The price of setting up Now TV in the past has been minimal -- £10 for the box and then a small monthly fee for one or more of several Sky passes. With broadband and calls thrown into the mix the price goes up significantly.
Three speeds of broadband are available -- 17 megabits per second, 38Mbps and 76Mbps -- with a one-off setup fee of £50. This drops to £40 if you go for the 17Mbps option.
The Combo packages will also require one of these routers. Katie Collins
There is also line rental to take into consideration at £18 per month. Depending on the Sky Passes you choose to add on -- from Entertainment, Cinema, Sports and Kids -- a Now TV Combo could easily take you above the £50 per month mark. But Now TV is offering 12 months of special pricing that means for the most simple package you could be paying as little as £28 per month.
Set for a July release, the Now TV Box could be a great option if you know exactly what you want to watch, what speed of broadband you want and don't want to pay over the odds for a more all-encompassing package.
