Hot Technology and Science News

Robin Wright makes it clear: Time's up, and Netflix is going to be frank about Frank in the sixth and final season of the show.

During the 2018 Oscars Sunday night, Netflix decided to get presidential, sharing a short clip teasing the last season of "House of Cards," featuring Robin Wright as President Claire Underwood. (Not Frank, as Kevin Spacey is long gone.)

**** PLEASE STAND BY FOR A MESSAGE FROM YOUR PRESIDENT ****

— Netflix US (@netflix) 5 Mart 2018

We're just getting started. pic.twitter.com/h2XafRynew

— House of Cards (@HouseofCards) 5 Mart 2018

Some applauded Wright's move to the top job.

We stan a queen pic.twitter.com/JzE13lQjHR

— Tear (@Tearrr_) 5 Mart 2018

WE GONNA GET SO MUCH CLAIRE 4TH WALL

— Dan Pollitt (@dtpollitt) 5 Mart 2018

Oh I see you @netflix announcing Claire Underwood’s presidency in the middle of the #TimesUp Oscar edition!

— bevysmith (@bevysmith) 5 Mart 2018

But others still want Spacey back for season 6.

No Francis no care..

— Antonio Esquivel (@HoneyBucketHero) 5 Mart 2018

How can you just write out the main protagonist? Seriously? Just end the show. We’ll never know what happened to Frank. There’s just no point now.

— Joshua Savage (@kingofsavages) 5 Mart 2018

The duo of frank and Claire was what made the show great. Spacey should of finished the show without pay.

— 🍺 (@MaesterGooner) 5 Mart 2018

My president pic.twitter.com/NKZJ0NP3oz

— Toni (@Toni_Chi18) 5 Mart 2018

The sixth season of "House of Cards" is expected in the fall.

2018's hottest new sci-fi and geeky TV shows

source:CNet News

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.

source:TechCrunch

Maybe the nuclear mutations in Springfield aren't limited to Blinky, the three-eyed fish, because what is up with this?

Homer looks horrifying, Bart is bizarre. Twitter user butchcoded tweeted on Monday that the characters from "The Simpsons," funny-looking on their best day, look absolutely terrifying when they face forward and look straight at us. Cowabunga, they're creepy!

Turns out this is such a well-known fact to some that there's even a Tumblr, "Front Facing Simpsons," highlighting the outlandish images. Of course, the Tumblr has its own Twitter account.

is there anything more cursed than front facing simpsons characters pic.twitter.com/vFk3AoKtgj

— chess (@butchcoded) 27 Şubat 2018

I've never noticed it in decades of watching, but though the characters look perfectly acceptable in profile, something happens when they swing their heads toward the audience. The cartoony faces that are cute from the side seem to melt, and what the heck happens with the way their noses and eyes smoosh together? Maybe it's the runoff from Homer's nuclear power plant that created Blinky, the famed three-eyed fish.

Childhood didn't protect the characters from freaky face syndrome, it seems to be with them from birth.

Front Facing Edna Krabappel

(Team Homer) pic.twitter.com/rB8HpB3uGW

— Front Facing Simpson (@frontsimpsons) 5 Nisan 2016

Front Facing Ralph Wiggum

(New Kids on the Blecch) pic.twitter.com/duKI0rF2Q6

— Front Facing Simpson (@frontsimpsons) 30 Mart 2016

Front Facing Nelson Muntz

(Team Homer) pic.twitter.com/2mnxQ7xKxv

— Front Facing Simpson (@frontsimpsons) 5 Nisan 2016

Even the animals are unnerving when they look right at you.

Front Facing Cow from Bovine University

(Lisa the Vegetarian) pic.twitter.com/sPaWh4kAVz

— Front Facing Simpson (@frontsimpsons) 29 Mart 2016

The one exception? Angelic-looking mom Marge.

this is like the only pure front facing simps picture & the only reason why is because it's marge pic.twitter.com/V85ecaSors

— chess (@butchcoded) 27 Şubat 2018

Well, in that above photo, at least. But even the Simpsons' matriarch has her melty-face moments.

Front Facing Marge Simpson

(Co-Dependents Day) pic.twitter.com/Ibi9UicfFW

— Front Facing Simpson (@frontsimpsons) 24 Nisan 2016

"The Simpsons" is in the middle of its 29th season on Fox, and has been renewed for a 30th season.

source:CNet News

Pups are peeing on the computers and life at Pied Piper is pretty much its normal chaotic state as season 5 approaches.

Erlich Bachman may be gone, but the "Silicon Valley" crew is perfectly capable of messing things up without him around. T.J. Miller, who played the egocentric Bachman, left the show after the fourth season ended last June, and his character was last seen floating in a happy haze in a Tibet opium den.

In the latest trailer, the Pied Piper crew doesn't even mention Bachman. They've got enough problems.

Richard (Thomas Middleditch) starts things out in the hospital. The company has added 50 "randos that we've never met," in Gilfoyle's words, to try and get their New Internet up and running. (You'll recall from the January trailer that those "randos" all watched a panicky Richard throw up.)

And apparently Richard has waived the company's "no dogs" policy, which leads to pups peeing on the computers and makes Dinesh barking mad.

"Silicon Valley" returns to HBO on March 25.

2018's hottest new sci-fi and geeky TV shows

source:CNet

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.

Roku has a market cap of $5 billion.

Roku Image: TechCrunch

source:TechCrunch

Australian actress Dichen Lachman talks "Altered Carbon", the Netflix sci-fi series weighed down by white-washing and nudity controversies.

Dichen Lachman at Netflix's "Altered Carbon" season 1 premiere in Los Angeles. Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic

Eight women stand naked around actress Dichen Lachman in an eerie dark-blue set covered in shards of silicon glass. Beside the merkin covering her private parts, she is naked. Completely naked. She lifts her TV sword and kicks off what will become a memorable (and controversial) fight scene.

That scene is from the new Netflix series "Altered Carbon", the latest sci-fi blockbuster from Netflix's big spending spree. At $6 million to $7 million per episode (there are 10) it's almost as pricey as the Will Smith-led "Bright", the sci-fi and fantasy film that cost $90 million.

Lachman plays Rei, sister to main character Takeshi Kovacs (played first by Will Yun Lee, then Joel Kinnaman -- read on for how that works) in the dystopian future of 2384, where people can cheat death. Everyone has a device that stores their consciousness, called a "stack", installed in the back of their neck. It can be surgically inserted into another body, or "sleeve", when their previous body gets turned into a holey red mess in a gunfight. That's something that happens a lot over the course of the murder-mystery plot.

Rei's naked sword fight presented a logistical challenge. First of all, Lachman had to agree to do it. Then the producers had to find eight girls who looked like Lachman, both physically and in skin tone. On top of all that, they had to be proficient with a sword.

"It hasn't been done before," Lachman tells me in our cramped corner of the busy Westin Hotel lobby in Sydney. "Of course when I heard about it I was terrified. I did not expect that."

"That" fight scene. Netflix

Since release last week, the show has faced questions over why there's so much nudity. Nearly every episode contains it.

Lachman knew the nudity was justified.

"Not only does it underline in this world bodies are just sleeves, there's not a lot of self-consciousness. You can be anybody or anything."

After reading the scene and talking to the producers, she felt reassured. Especially upon learning it would be directed by a woman and all men had to leave the room.

"Altered Carbon" has faced questions over its white-washing of main character Takeshi Kovacs, played by Joel Kinnaman (right). Katie Yu/Netflix

Despite that idea, the show has faced some criticism over white-washing. Kovacs, a Japanese man, is put into a white male body.

"First of all," Lachman says, "it's staying true to the book. At its core, it's still him. There's so much representation on this show, more than anything I've ever seen."

Lachman grew up in Adelaide, Australia, with parents of German and Tibetan descent. The show features Japanese characters like Kovacs and Rei, as well as Ortega, from Mexico, who has several scenes in Spanish with her mother.

Lachman points to "Game of Thrones" as an example of a series where she's more concerned about the racial politics. "In a world of dragons and zombies and all sorts of crazy creatures, there are still no Asians."

As a bleak dystopia, "Altered Carbon" cops flak for being a lesser "Blade Runner". But on the diversity front, Lachman thinks "Altered Carbon" is superior.

"In 'Blade Runner', there's sanskrit and Japanese and Chinese writing on all the buttons and everything, and not one person who looked like they could read it."

Unlike "Blade Runner", "Altered Carbon" features people of colour. Katie Yu/Netflix

She gushes about working with Netflix.

This show pushes boundaries. There is nothing like this out there, not in terms of the story, but the questions it's asking about our society. Even on a technical level, it's like a 10-hour long feature film.

"They give creators a lot more power, they're more autonomous."

She brings up "Dollhouse", the sci-fi TV series she appeared in from 2009-2010, for comparison.

"I know the writers wanted to push the show even further if they could. But you're limited. You have to have a rating."

Lachman has a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and says Netflix producers accommodated her schedule between the set in Vancouver and her home in LA, where her daughter lives. She did three months of sword-fighting training and braved stunts with no protective padding.

"At the end of it I felt so strong. If I can get through that I can get through anything."

"Altered Carbon" is currently available for streaming on Netflix worldwide.

2018's hottest new sci-fi and geeky TV shows

source:CNet

Netflix continues to be a powerhouse in stand-up comedy specials.

Chris Rock signed on for two comedy specials with Netflix. The first is finally here. Netflix

Welcome back to your guide to finding out what's new online. Every week, we put together a podcast that lets you know what's been added to services like Netflix, Hulu and (sometimes) Amazon Prime. The audio is about a minute or two long.

It's hard to beat Netflix with its selection of comedy specials. Chris Rock's last stand-up special came out way back in 2008. The new special has a more subdued Rock riffing on topics ranging from his divorce to race relations to bullying.

Netflix also has a new original show called "Everything Sucks!" The exclamation point is in the title, I'm not being emphatic. The show seems reminiscent of "Freaks and Geeks," although Judd Apatow is not involved.

Since you're reading this, let's give you some extra information not found in the podcast: Speaking of Judd Apatow, Netflix announced that the final season of his series "Love" will arrive on Mar. 9. Two seasons are already available if you want to watch two people fumble their way through a relationship.

Want to know what else is new? Listen to this guy:

For more information on what's available to watch online, check out CNET.com/Netpicks or subscribe to the podcast -- it's free! And go to TVGuide.com to see what else is out in the world of streaming.

source:CNet

Commentary: Harmony still rules the roost, but that can't last forever. Will the category change drastically or just go away?

I use a $130 Harmony universal remote at home and I tell everyone who has a complex-enough system to do the same. And I've been a happy Harmony camper for more than a decade.

But after spending the last week reviewing Caavo, a $400 universal remote, I've come to view the category in a different way. Yes, Caavo is fatally flawed since it doesn't work with the highest-quality video format available today (HDR), but what it succeeds at is really interesting.

Watch this:Is Caavo the ultimate high-end universal remote?

Caavo basically makes a new TV home page for all your entertainment gear, one that's simpler to understand and use than a bunch of different menu systems spread across myriad devices.

When I described the Caavo universal remote to Jeremy Toeman, my CNET colleague and former VP of product at Sling Media, he nodded sagely and said "Yeah, that whole category is ripe for disruption." I agree. Harmony has been doing basically the same thing for years, and while challengers like Caavo and the Ray Super Remote have tried to challenge the king, they've largely failed. So far.

I still recommend Harmony to everyone, but in the next few years, I wouldn't be surprised to see that changing. Here's how.

Caavo wood like to be your universal remote

Disruption

In this scenario a product like Caavo, or its presumed successor -- one that actually supports HDR and costs less, say $200 -- becomes popular among AV enthusiasts sick of the complexity of the various apps, devices and services needed to watch TV and movies today. If you have a bunch of devices and a surround system and a nice TV, that's a small price to pay for a single, simple set of on-screen menus, along with Alexa voice control, to command it all.

Take it a step further and Caavo partners with a real AV receiver maker, say Sony or Denon, and basically takes over their user interface. I also agree with Dan Jacobsen, who replied to a Twitter thread on my review: Caavo would be better off built into a receiver. That single hub/box would handle all the switching, interface and audio goodness required of a big system.

No TV apps is an issue too as that is the only way to get Dolby vision for many. Can't help but thinking this would be better off as a $1000 receiver

— Dan Jacobsen (@DanJacobsen) 14 Şubat 2018

In the near future Caavo could sell itself to the receiver makers of the world in the same way Roku appeals to TV makers: We'll handle the software, updates and interface, you stick with the hardware. Roku has been very successful in reclaiming the appeal of Smart TV, providing as much disruption as that category has ever seen. It's no wonder the company is getting into audio.

Roku will soon license audio gear too. The goal? "Simplify." Roku

Irrelevance

If you think about it, a universal remote is just a solution to the problem of home theater gear devices not being "Smart" enough in the first place. And by smart, I also mean working together in a way that makes sense. But it's getting smarter, and more to the point, you need less gear these days to enjoy awesome audio and video.

The less gear you have, the less you need a universal remote, which is why I can see the whole category fading into niche high-end-dom, a.k.a. irrelevance, soon enough.

Samsung TVs can replace a universal remote and control your gear directly. Sarah Tew/CNET

Samsung's Smart TVs basically mimic a universal remote, allowing control of game consoles and cable boxes for example, and also include a solid selection of streaming apps built-in. Add a nice sound bar, maybe one with surround sound speakers and/or Dolby Atmos, and you've got a complete system, easily commanded by a single clicker, that sounds as good as some receiver-based systems.

For more modest systems, Roku's newest streamers, starting with the $50 streaming stick, come with remotes that can control volume and power on a connected TV. If you've cut the cord and don't need a cable box and its requisite remote, you're set. And both Samsung and Roku's systems are cake to set up because, like Caavo, they automatically recognize connected devices and program the remote keys accordingly.

With a power button at the top and volume on the side, Roku's remote is ready to control your TV too. Sarah Tew / CNET

With the increasing popularity of alternatives to cable, including live streaming services like YouTube TV, Sling TV, Hulu with Live TV, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now, that cable box remote is becoming less and less necessary for people. You'll still need the TV remote, but with many devices you can turn it on and control volume and mute (and really, what more do you need) with protocols like HDMI-CEC.

Watch out, Harmony

Look, the Harmony Companion remote / hub system is still great, and easily worth the money if you have a lot of stuff to control. The alternatives I mentioned above are all more limited, and flawed in their own ways, in comparison.

Harmony hasn't changed much in five years. Sarah Tew

But recent trends -- a renewed focus on ease-of-use, particularly voice control; a move away from cable boxes and toward streaming; and the increasing popularity of systems like Roku that focus on affordability and function -- could spell the beginning of the end for Logitech's remotes.

The first Harmony hub / remote system came out in 2013, and is pretty much the same today. I'd say it's ripe for at least a new model.

source:CNet

Can't get enough of watching the 2018 Winter Olympics? Check out this collection of sports movies currently on Netflix.

Everyone has their favorite movie genres, but there's something about a good sports film that lets you bask in the glow of accomplishment through overcoming obstacles. Maybe it's seeing the underdogs fight to have their day, but sports movies always seem to have the greatest feel-good plot lines.

If you're looking for a pick-me-up, these are some of the best sports movies on Netflix right now, including a couple of comedies that may not be as focused on the sports themselves, but are still great.

'Cool Runnings' (1993)

Metacritic score: 60

"Cool Runnings" Walt Disney Pictures

Just in time for the Winter Olympics 2018, this comedy features John Candy as Irving "Irv" Blitzer, a former bobsledder who left the sport in scandal when he was caught cheating. After retiring in disgrace and moving to Jamaica, he's discovered by Jamaican athletes played by Leon Robinson, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis and Malik Yoba, who convince him to be their coach for the 1998 Olympics Jamaican bobsled team. Filled with great one-liners and the late Candy's incredible charm, this feel-good flick is great for getting you in the Olympic spirit.

'Field of Dreams' (1989)

Metacritic score: 57

Arguably one of the greatest sports movies ever made, "Field of Dreams" stars Kevin Costner as Ray Kinsella, a corn farmer who one day finds his fields haunted by baseball players of the past. It's a beautiful story for the whole family with great performances from Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta and Burt Lancaster playing Archibald "Moonlight" Graham.

'Endless Summer' (1966)

In this documentary, filmmaker and narrator Bruce Brown follows Mike Hynsonand Robert August around the globe as they attempt to follow the warm weather and share the sport they love with the world. Complete with a surf rock soundtrack performed by the Sandals, it really brings you to the roots of carving up the waves. Other big names in surfing from the era, Butch Van Artsdalen, Miki Dora and Phil Edwards, also make appearances.

'Icarus' (2017)

Metacritic score: 68

"Icarus" Alex Productions

More of a behind-the-scenes type of sports documentary, Oscar-nominated "Icarus" follows Bryan Fogel as he researches "doping" in an amateur bike race and accidentally uncovers a major international scandal. Helped by Russian scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, the two uncover evidence of a Russian state-sponsored doping program dating back to the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Excellent for getting background on the tone of the current Olympics, "Icarus" shows how deep the doping scandal actually went.

'42' (2013)

Metacritic score: 62

This biography tells the story of the legendary Jackie Robinson as racial integration was coming to professional baseball. It chronicles his start with the Kansas City Monarchs, follows his transition to Brooklyn farm affiliate the Montreal Royals, and finally his trip to the National League pennant as a part of the Brooklyn Dodgers. It features an excellent performance from Chadwick Bosemon as a fiery and intense Jackie Robinson struggling against racism from all angles -- even his own team. Some strong racist language may leave you uncomfortable, but this movie is important for its candid look at racism and overcoming obstacles through unwavering determination.

'Southpaw' (2015)

Metacritic score: 57

"Southpaw" hits all the usual boxing movie plot points we've seen so many times before, but it really digs in when showing how much sacrifice goes on behind the scenes to bring you the sport to spectators. Jake Gyllenhaal tones down his acting somewhat (understandably) to fit the determined boxer role, and while "Southpaw" won't make you rethink how boxing movies are made, it's still an entertaining movie.

'Pumping Iron' (1977)

"Pumping Iron" White Mountain Films

There's nothing deep about this first look into the lives of competitive bodybuilding, but it paints a picture of a young Arnold Schwarzenegger back when nobody knew he'd be a famous action movie star. The film captures his wilder days as a young man in a sport that hadn't yet gotten a lot of attention. It's probably not for the whole family because of the language, but it's still fun if you're a Shwarzenegger fan and want to see how he got his start.

'Bring it On' (2000)

Metacritic score: 52

OK, I get it. You're wondering why this silly cheerleading movie is even on the list. It's certainly not going to win any awards, and it's definitely not going to make you think when you get to the end. With that said, it's high energy and fun to watch as a team of cheerleaders, led by Kirsten Dunst as Torrance Shipman, claw their way to try to win the national championship.

'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby' (2006)

Metacritic score: 66

One of Will Ferrell's best comedies (though it's perhaps not true to classic sports movies), "Taladega Nights" follows Ricky Bobby's (Ferrell) absurd and hilarious rise to the top of the Nascar standings, bringing Cal Naughton Jr. (John C. Reilly) along for the ride. The biggest challenge comes when Formula One champion Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) joins Nascar and starts winning races, forcing Ricky Bobby to turn up the heat. Honestly, there are so many quotable moments, but "If you're not first, you're last!" has one of the best payoffs.

source:CNet

Netflix confirms the number of episodes and when production will start. But load up on Eggos because viewers still have a long wait.

The third season of "Stranger Things" is still a year away, but details, however small, are starting to trickle out.

The next season of Netflix's hit 1980s-set science fiction-horror series will, sadly, be one episode shorter than season 2. Netflix confirmed to CNET that season 3 will consist of eight episodes, the same as the first season. Season 2 was nine episodes long. (Although some fans intentionally may choose to forget episode 7, "The Lost Sister," a controversial story in which Eleven tracks down a mysterious fellow alum of Hawkins Lab.)

The premium streaming service also confirmed that production will begin in mid-April.

The news was first reported by TVLine.

Co-showrunner Matt Duffer has already said the third season will take place in 1985, advancing a year from the end of season 2.

"Even if we wanted to hop into the action faster, we couldn't," Duffer told The Hollywood Reporter in October. "Our kids are aging. We can only write and produce the show so fast. They're going to be almost a year older by the time we start shooting season 3. It provides certain challenges. You can't start right after season 2 ended. It forces you to do a time jump. But what I like is that it makes you evolve the show. It forces the show to evolve and change, because the kids are changing."

No release date for the third season has been confirmed, but star David Harbour (police Chief Jim Hopper) has said it'll "probably" be 2019, which makes sense based on an April filming start.

2018 sci-fi, fantasy and geek movies to get excited about

source:CNet

Vizio introduces a voice skill for Amazon Alexa that works with certain SmartCast TVs.

Select Vizio 4K TVs now work with Alexa, thanks to a SmartCast skill released today. Customers with a P-, M- or E-series SmartCast display and an Amazon smart speaker can control their TV hands-free. Turn the display on and off, adjust the volume, channel and input and even tell your Alexa speaker to pause, fast forward or rewind -- all with simple voice commands.

Vizio also plans to make its skill available to folks with SmartCast Full HD and HD TVs "in the coming weeks."

Vizio's SmartCast TVs give you access to apps from the display; the related SmartCast mobile app gives you access from your phone.

In addition to Alexa, Vizio SmartCast displays also work with Google Assistant, the AI that powers its Home, Home Mini and Home Max speakers.

Watch this:Vizio M-Series is the best midrange TV value

source:CNet

Altered Carbon is a show that is obsessed with nipples. There are nipples, and butts, and general displays of nudity, absolutely everywhere, from the pilot on. According to showrunner, writer, and executive producer Laeta Kalogridis, that’s done for intentional effect.

Talking to Gamespot a couple days ago, she said, “Our worst instincts as human beings have to do with our carelessness with natural resources, and when the body itself becomes just one more of those resources, how will we treat it? Will we treat it with such indifference and with such epersonalization that it becomes more like a very fancy car than a repository of the self?”

This, she explained, is the reason for the show’s nudity: it illustrates the frivolousness of the future’s bodies. “And that, I think, is one reason that the nudity itself is not gratuitous; it’s meant to reinforce to you, as a viewer, that the advent of this technology fundamentally and substantially changes people’s relationships with their idea of their own body,” Kalogridis said.

This is an interesting answer, and I’ve been mulling it over for a while. Because, as many viewers have pointed out, the nudity in Altered Carbon can be distracting. The show is, at times, conspicuously sexual, so much so that it feels like the show’s interest in sexuality actually pulls away from the plot and mood. Moreover, the sexuality tends to be concentrated in specific areas. Not everyone is oversexed. Just prostitutes, and the rich.

So I’m wondering: does the sexuality in Altered Carbon have the effect Kalogridis wants it to? I’m not sure. The problem is that two value systems need to be dealt with here: the value system of the people in the world of Altered Carbon, and the values of the viewers looking in on it. In Altered Carbon that sexuality points toward the instrumentalization of the human body—sexuality as pure salesmanship, pure pleasure, purely meaningless. But for us? Well, it can signal something different, especially in visual media, where sexual depictions are more charged than they are in written fiction. Gratuitous nudity can signal base titillation, sexism, and even more insidious forms of dehumanization.

Of course, the show seems to know this, too. If you’ve watched the whole series, you know its ideas about sexuality get muddier as it goes on. But I’m not convinced it really pulls off that balancing act, especially in the early episodes. The pilot is... well, it’s a lot.

What do y’all think?

source:Gizmodo

Amazon Studios has finally found a replacement for Roy Price after the executive stepped down in mid-October over sexual harassment claims. Jennifer Salke will be filling in the top spot at the online studio after serving for six years as NBC’s Entertainment President.

“We are thrilled to announce that Jennifer Salke will be joining us as the Head of Amazon Studios,” Amazon said in a statement provided to TechCrunch. “Jen brings with her a long and impressive track record in the entertainment industry — and we are excited to have her join Amazon.”

Salke steps in at a particularly tumultuous time for the Studio. While Amazon’s had its share of critical darlings including Transparent and the new series, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the service essentially cleaned house after Price’s exit, putting the kibosh on One Mississippi, I Love Dick and Jean-Claude Van Johnson, a comedy vehicle for 90s action star Jean-Claude Van Damme that had only recently launched.

At the time, the service was reportedly making a shift toward more mainstream fare under marching orders from Jeff Bezos, rather than the award fodder the company had previously focused on. Hiring a top executive from a NBC certainly appears to confirm that direction. Though Salke also fostered some critical darlings during her time, including, notably, The Good Place and perennial tear-jerker, This Is Us.

Salke’s new role finds her reporting to Amazon SVP Jeff Blackburn. “What stood out about Jen was the deep relationships she has nurtured with creators and talent over her career, spanning NBCU, Twentieth Century Fox, and Aaron Spelling Productions,” Blackburn says in the statement. “She’s built an impeccable reputation as a big leader who emphasizes creativity, collaboration, and teamwork.”

As the head of the studio, Salke will be tasked with overseeing both scripted series and film projects for Amazon.

“I’m incredibly excited about the future at Amazon Studios. In the studio’s relatively short existence they have innovated, disrupted, and created characters that are already an indelible part of pop-culture,” Salke says, “NBC has been an amazing home – creatively, professionally and personally – and I leave there knowing that the work we did had groundbreaking impact.”

source:TechCrunch

The body-swapping show shines when it trades one-note grimness for weird science fiction craziness.

"Altered Carbon" is about human consciousness downloaded into different bodies. Which is fitting, because the new Netflix show feels like "Blade Runner", "Ghost in the Shell" and "The Matrix" downloaded into one body and jostling for space.

Joel Kinnaman is no Ryan Gosling. Netflix

In terms of idea-packed cyberpunk world-building, "Altered Carbon," on Netflix now, is a total blast. Set several hundred years in the future, it features humans swapping bodies; sharp-tongued artificial intelligences; virtual reality; clones; and high-tech drugs, guns and body modification -- the full sci-fi shebang.

As with "Blade Runner", our way into this richly imagined future is through an old-school noir mystery. The story opens with a gumshoe plot straight out of the pages of Raymond Chandler, involving a disillusioned antihero with a past; a duplicitous millionaire and his sultry wife; a locked room-style murder; and a cast of supporting suspects with their own complex criminal agendas.

...

Joel Kinnaman plays our sci-fi shamus, Takeshi Kovacs. He's downloaded into a new body -- known as a "sleeve" for the way minds can be slipped in and out of them -- and hired by the murder victim himself. Like "Westworld" and other twisty-turny flashback-driven shows, untangling the various crimes and conspiracies requires a bulletin board covered in Post-its, but don't worry if you lose track of the finer details. Sometimes even Raymond Chandler didn't know who killed the chauffeur.

Between the show's creator, Laeta Kalogridis, and the original novel's author, Richard Morgan, "Altered Carbon" cleverly mines the body-swapping premise with trippy scenarios like "cross-sleeving" -- a mind being downloaded into a body of a different gender -- or "double-sleeving", when people split their mind into two bodies. Identity is thought-provokingly divorced from physical attributes like race and sex, while the elite are the people who have lived the longest and can afford the most clones. And the careless attitude to disposable human bodies gives a real weight and pathos to "real death", when a person's stored mind is destroyed once and for all.

The availability of different bodies raises thought-provoking questions about identity. Netflix

Netflix's pot of money means the visuals look amazing. The neon-drenched cityscapes look a lot like those in "Blade Runner", but "Altered Carbon" finds its own identity with atmospheric VR sequences, novel future-flavoured fight scenes, and heavenly towers floating in distinctly uncyberpunk blue skies.

This sounds like a lot of fun, although fun is one thing missing from long stretches of the show. The jokes are generally of the grunted sarcasm variety, and in a world where human flesh is disposable, the noir genre's trademark sadism gets turned up to 11. Men and women -- mostly women -- get cut to bloody pieces left, right and centre, usually while naked. I'm all for a bit of the old ultraviolence, and the zero-gravity and clone-based fights are great. But as with "Blade Runner 2049" viewers could find that their mileage varies regarding when, exactly, an examination of violence against women becomes instead just more depictions of violence against women.

And, as is often the problem with Netflix shows stretched over 10 hours or more, the pace can sometimes plod.

Acting-wise, everybody from Kinnaman on down puts on their best noirish frowny faces, which does make the tone a bit one-note. Kinnaman's looming blockhead only has one facial expression. OK, so does Ryan Gosling in "Blade Runner 2049," but let's just say Joel Kinnaman is no Ryan Gosling.

Chris Conner's gothic-inspired AI is one of the standout performances. Netflix

The most entertaining support comes from Chris Conner as a gothic-inspired AI, and Matt Frewer as a grinning synth, but most of the cast sticks to sultry growling. I'd also love to see the actors have more fun with the body-swapping element by playing different personalities: Cliff Chamberlain and Matt Biedel deserve credit for delivering real highlights as secondary characters dropped into unfamiliar bodies, giving us fun scenes like one in which a chirpy Latina grandmother inhabits the body of a hulking thug.

It's when the story embraces its heightened sci-fi premise that the show really shines. "Altered Carbon" is worth a watch for moments like these when it's not wearing its influences on its sleeves.

2018's hottest new sci-fi and geeky TV shows

source:CNet