Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1985

Motorola is Working On a Phone Screen That Can Fix Itself

If you’re single and you have a cracked phone screen, you might be in trouble: A survey from earlier this year suggests that if your glass isn’t in respectable condition, it will be tougher for you to score a second date. Fortunately, it looks like Motorola is waiting in the wings to be the ultimate wingman. While shatter-proof glass isn’t quite reality just yet, they did just apply for a patent on a phone screen that would be able to go all Wolverine and repair itself after sustaining damage (via Engadget).

The technology is possible thanks to something called “shape memory polymers,” which have a fiber optic network embedded in them that can both sense when there is damage and deliver heat to these areas. The heat allows these polymers to return to a pre-defined shape once they reach a certain temperature, and it can regain up to 96 percent of its original strength.

As Engadget notes, though, a self-healing polymer screen could end up being somewhat of a compromise. For instance, the glass screens we have now would feel better to the touch, and there’s no saying quite yet what levels of damage the screen is capable of fixing. So, if you’re hoping for an end to getting your screen professionally repaired or replaced, you might have to wait a bit longer. Also, this is just a patent application, so there are perhaps no concrete plans in motion to get this type of screen in your pocket any time soon.

Would you prefer a self-repairing screen to the one you have now? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Featured image: Robert Nelson/Flickr

GODZILLA: MONSTER PLANET’s New Trailer Sets the World on Fire

Later this year, everyone’s favorite King of the Monsters, Godzilla, is getting his first anime feature film. TOHO Animation’s Godzilla: Monster Planet will explore the intriguing idea of an Earth that has been overrun by the title character and several other Kaiju for thousands of years. And these giant monsters aren’t exactly eager to share the world with humanity.

TOHO Animation has released a brand new trailer for GPM, which will be called Godzilla: Kaiju Wakusei in Japan. At the moment, there are no English language subtitles or dubs available. Fortunately, there is some context for the footage. The backstory is that humans were forced to abandon Earth in the wake of the giant monsters’ ongoing rampage. After spending nearly 20,000 years in hibernation, the survivors attempt to return to their planet only to find that it isn’t theirs anymore. And Godzilla is still the king.

The new trailer primarily focuses on Haruo, the main human character. In this footage, we see Haruo’s parents die during one of Godzilla’s attacks, and witness the older Haruo lead an expedition back to Earth. Haruo is still consumed by rage and the desire for revenge. Unfortunately for Haruo, even the latest advancements in missiles don’t seem to have any effect on Big G. But they might be making him angry…

Godzilla: Monster Planet will be released in Japan this November, before it makes its North American debut on Netflix.

What did you think about the latest Godzilla: Monster Planet trailer? Let us know in the comments below and then check out a tribute to the man who played the real Godzilla for a dozen films, and then a Neil deGrasse Tyson debunking of the giant beast.

Image: TOHO Animation

GODZILLA’s Atomic Breath Is Much More Destructive Than it Looks

Weezer Announce PACIFIC DAYDREAM Album With New Single “Mexican Fender”

Last year, Weezer released a self-titled album, which is unofficially referred to as The White Album, so you could forgive Rivers Cuomo and company for taking some time to breathe. It turns out, though, that they’re too busy for breathing: They just announced that their eleventh studio album, Pacific Daydream, will be coming out on October 27.

The band also shared a video for a new song called “Mexican Fender,” which is par for the course relative to the straightforward rock singles they’ve put out with their past few albums. It’s a pretty timeless sound that they’re continually able to pull off successfully, so why stop? The video is a bit kooky, featuring a seagull trying to seduce a one-piece-wearing woman on the beach:

And here’s the Pacific Daydream album art:

According to a press release, the band was originally planning to follow up The White Album with a record called The Black Album, but they felt that the songs they were working on “felt more like reveries from a beach at the end of the world,” so Cuomo said they changed the name to one inspired by this Chinese proverb:

“Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Chou. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”

Check out “Mexican Fender” above, and let us know in the comments below if you’re pumped for the second Weezer album in two years.

Images: Jeremy Cowart, Atlantic Records

Amazon’s GALAXY QUEST TV Series Beams Paul Scheer Aboard as Writer

By Grabthar’s hammer, by the Sons of Warvan, you shall be adapted for television! After a seeming failure to launch, Amazon’s Galaxy Quest TV series is spooling up their FTL engines to make the leap back into pre-production. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the TV show—based on the 1999 cult classic sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest—has hired actor, writer, and comedian Paul Scheer (The League, Veep) to take over as writer on the series from the original film’s writer, Robert Gordon. As the host of a podcast all about cult classic movies, How Did This Get Made?, Scheer seems uniquely well suited to carry on the spirit of the original film, and transform it into a longer, serialized story.

With an all-star ensemble cast including Sigourney Weaver, Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Daryl Mitchell, Enrico Colantoni, and Justin Long, Galaxy Quest felt like a love letter to fandom, especially fans of Star Trek. It told the story of stars of a once-popular sci-fi series, who eke out a living from working Autograph Alley at comic-cons across the country, wh0 suddenly find themselves beamed aboard a real version of the ship from their show and embroiled in an intergalactic conflict that’s all too real.

First announced in 2015, Galaxy Quest has had a rocky road on its mission to become a TV show due to conflicting production schedules and unexpected tragedy. After Alan Rickman passed away in January 2016, Amazon halted plans to adapt the film to a TV series out of respect for their departed colleague. When Sam Rockwell appeared on the Nerdist Podcast last April, he broke the news to Chris Hardwick:

“They were gonna do a [Galaxy Quest] sequel on Amazon, and we were ready to sign up for it…and you know, Alan Rickman passed away and then Tim Allen wasn’t available. He has a show, and everybody’s schedule was all weird…It was gonna shoot like right now…And how do you fill that void of Alan Rickman? That’s a hard void to fill.”

With the recent cancellation of Tim Allen’s ABC sitcom Last Man Standing, it appears the star could now have availability for a new Galaxy Quest project. As for how they’ll address the absence of an icon like Rickman, only time and Paul Scheer will tell.

What do you want from a Galaxy Quest TV series? Let us know in the comments below!

Image: DreamWorks Pictures

Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@DanCasey).

Here’s what every movie space battle gets wrong

Giant Tortoise Escapes Japanese Zoo For Two Weeks, Guess How Far it Got

Although zoos simulate an animal’s natural environment, once they leave their enclosures (if they do, after rehabilitation), it’s likely the creatures will find unfamiliar terrain. That’s why most movies depict a mass escape of zoo animals as a disaster — it probably would be. Lions and elephants running around New York City would be bad news for all parties involved.

There are some animals that wouldn’t cause as much of a ruckus, though, like the giant tortoise. In fact, a female giant tortoise named Abuh recently escaped from a zoo in Japan, and was missing for two weeks before anybody spotted it. When they did, it was like a joke from a movie, because in 14 days’ time, it only managed to make it less than 500 feet from the park (via AFP), less than a football field and a half away.

The caretakers at Shibukawa Animal Park in Okayama were eager to have Abuh back, offering a 500,000 yen ($4,500) reward for the turtle’s return. Little did they know they probably could have spotted her from where they stood.

“We were so relieved that she came back safely as she is so popular among children,” said zoo staffer Yoshimi Yamane. “We will try to take new measures so that this won’t happen again.”

Described as having a “gentle” disposition, Abuh is actually a pretty slippery tortoise, since this was the second time in less than a month that she went missing. The good news is that if this manages to happen again, they probably won’t have to extend their search too far.

What other stereotypically characteristic and hilarious animal news have you come across recently? Let us know in the comments below!

Featured image: Sergei ~ 5of7/Flickr

What Does Doctor Strange’s Cameo Mean for THOR: RAGNAROK?

Ever since the last round of LEGO spoilers and the Comic-Con trailer, there hasn’t been much in the forecast about Thor: Ragnarok. That changed earlier this week when the film’s new international trailer dropped more footage from Benedict Cumberbatch‘s cameo appearance as Doctor Strange. Strange’s solo debut teased his meeting with Thor in a mid-credits scene, but today’s Nerdist News is consulting the mystic texts to show you how Strange may have an even bigger impact on Thor than we initially believed.

There are potential spoilers ahead for Thor: Ragnarok!  If you don’t want a one-way ticket to Skaar or wish to remain unspoiled, this is your last chance to turn back!

Join host and heir to the Oldstrong power, Jessica Chobot, as she unleashes the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth to make our predictions! Actually, it’s not even that hard. The new trailer shows Strange offering up a Tarot reading for Thor with some dark tidings about his future. But there are some other things that we can infer about Thor’s journey to Earth, and why his stay may be a short one.

As the Doctor Strange mid-credits scene already established, Thor and Loki are back on Earth to find Odin, who was presumably banished there by Loki during the events of Thor: The Dark World. Last year, we saw set photos of Anthony Hopkins’ Odin dressed as a vagabond, so he may not even remember that he is Odin. There’s also a possible explanation for Thor’s disheveled look. We think this sequence on Earth is taking place after Hela destroys Mjolnir, which could mean that Thor, Loki, and Odin are stranded on Earth unless they get an assist from the good Doctor.

However, things are never that easy. We’ve previously assumed that Thor would end up battling his “friend from work” on Planet Skaar because of something that Hela did to him. But what if it’s Doctor Strange who inadvertently sends Thor into captivity? Given that Thor’s got much shorter hair as an arena fighter, his scenes with Strange are almost definitely from an earlier point in the film. Perhaps Strange’s inexperience with intergalactic travel leads to a mistake. Either way, we know where Thor is going, and Strange may also be the key figure that helps link this story to the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War. We’ll find out more when Thor: Ragnarok opens on November 3.

What do you think about our Doctor Strange theory? Cast your spells in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Studios

GAMES OF THRONES’ “Eastwatch” Inspires Team-Up Mash-Ups Galore

As someone who has been watching Game of Thrones since the first season, I’d become used to the somewhat slower pacing of the show, where it sometimes took years for the various characters and storylines to converge. Much like Tommen though, all those rules have gone out the window in season seven. This year things are happening at such a breakneck pace it’s giving longtime viewers whiplash.

Case in point – season seven’s fifth episode, titled “Eastwatch,” which brought together a ton of fan favorite characters from the series, many of whom have never shared any screen time before in the show’s previous six seasons, and made them into something of a GoT super-team.

At the climax of “Eastwatch,” we have the motley crew of Jon Snow, Gendry, Ser Jorah Mormont, Tormund Giantsbane, Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr, and even the frickin’ Hound, as they decide to go beyond the Wall and take themselves a member of the Night King’s army of the dead back south as proof of their existence. Specifically, for proof to show Queen Cersei that the whole undead army thing is a real threat, so they can have an armistice long enough to defeat the Night King.

I don’t know, sounds like a fool’s errand to me…or maybe, a suicide mission? Have we met the Westerosi version of the Suicide Squad??

SPOILER #GameOfThrones

“Game of thrones’suicide squad beyond the wall” next Sunday on HBO

HALLOWEENTOWN Cast Reunites in the Real Halloweentown to Honor Debbie Reynolds

Many of us grew up with the Disney Channel original movie and Halloween classic Halloweentown. The film (and it’s three sequels) were terrific spooky fun that also taught the importance of family, accepting others, and fighting for what’s right. It’s one of those films that is so much fun to revisit year after year. Because, say it with me:

via GIPHY

It is so cool in fact, that one of the show’s stars makes it a point to revisit the spookiest town in America every year. Kimberly J. Brown, the actress who played Marnie, visits St. Helens, Oregon every year (where Halloweentown was filmed) for the Spirit of Halloweentown festival. During the festival, St. Helens is transformed back to its original Halloweentown glory, and from what other attendees have said, it really feels like you’ve stepped into the fictional town.

However, after the loss of Debbie Reynolds last year, the cast has decided that it’s time for the entire Cromwell family to make the trek to Oregon to honor Grandma Aggie. In addition to Brown, J. Paul Zimmerman (Dylan), Judith Hoag (Gwen), and Emily Roeske (Sophie) are all expected to attend this year’s Spirit of Halloweentown festival to show some love to the fans and honor Reynolds’ legacy. Brown made the announcement on her YouTube channel:

Not only will this be a really fun events for fans of the movies, but it’s going to be a great moment to pay respects to the wonderful Debbie Reynolds. Every year festival attendees speak out a spell from the film prior to the lighting of the festival’s giant Jack-O-Lantern. This year, the lighting ceremony will be dedicated to Reynolds as a monument to the actress, which seems like a perfect way for Halloweentown fans to celebrate her memory.

So if this sounds like you’re kind of Halloween fun, be sure to check out the Columbia County website to get info on tickets and what exactly you can expect from the festival. Happy Halloween!

Have you ever attended the Spirit of Halloweentown festival? Tell us all about what it’s like in the comments!

Featured Image: Disney

Will HBO’s GAME OF THRONES Leak Actually Affect The Show?

HBO might as well stand for Home Botch Office this year. After suffering the most substantial hack since Sony in 2014, the network accidentally aired the next episode of Game Of Thrones on one of its international channels. Though they are blaming a third-party vendor for the mishap, still not a great look, especially for the penultimate episode of the shortened season, usually the most action-packed installments of the series. But will it actually matter? Will people forego their usual Sunday night ritual and sneak a peak at the show and bring down viewership?

Today on Nerdist News Talks Back host Jessica Chobot and Nerdist’s Dan Casey, Alicia Lutes, and Kyle Hill get to the bottom of the HBO issue before discussing Batfleck updates and Daniel Craig’s final turn as James Bond. So first thing’s first: as bad as the HBO leak looks from a marketing and operational standpoint, we don’t think the leak will substantially affect viewership. Firstly, we have an extremely recent precedent proving this won’t be a big deal. Despite an initial leak, “The Spoils of War” set a record for Game Of Thrones viewership. Why is that? Likely a few reasons. The show is the biggest in the world and its viewership over time is like compounding interest. New viewers get into the show before each season and every year mean more eyeballs overall. Also, this stage in the show’s trajectory, fans have rituals with friends and want the highest quality experience possible. Why forfeit that to watch not even the entire episode on a shitty laptop screen and then feel dirty about yourself? We’re all still tuning in this Sunday and we’d bet the vast majority of you feel the same way.

The crew also talked about the latest developments in the world of Batman. Ben Affleck’s brother Casey hinted that his big bro won’t be returning to the cape and cowel but that remains to be seen. What we do know is that we want to see a refreshed take on Batman solidified in the next film. Perhaps that will be a natural course correction post-Wonder Woman, but Justice League will certainly clue us in.

Okay what do we have left? Oh right, Daniel Craig (Danny C for you and me). So he finally revealed that he is doing one last job as James Bond for the iconic franchise. Our guess is a simple one: he wants to end on a high note a la Logan. Why go out with the fizzle of Specter when you could go out with a clicked-pen bang. Hopefully we get a Casino Royale or Skyfall caliber film from him once more.

What do you think about the HBO leak? Think Batman is going to course correct during Justice League? Stoked for Danny C’s final Bond installment? Sound off in the comments below.

Images: HBO, Warner Bros., MGM

Japanese THOR: RAGNAROK Trailer Sheds Light on Doctor Strange’s Role

“Thor, I sense a great change in your future.” might be part of the biggest understatement of the year as spoken by Doctor Strange in this new(ish) glimpse at Thor: Ragnarok.

ソーが、ハルクやロキたちと「#アベンジャーズ」を結成⁉️

『#マイティソー バトルロイヤル』＜日本版本予告＞が解禁⚡️

さらに！カンバーバッチ演じる「#ドクターストレンジ」の出演シーンも【世界初】解禁！ https://t.co/GQInsTux6U pic.twitter.com/q3in15zPe0

— 映画『アベンジャーズ』シリーズ［公式］ (@AVG_JP) August 16, 2017

The Japanese trailer for the next installment in the MCU has a decent chunk of footage we’ve already seen but the beginning that features that brand spankin’ new quote. Judging by Thor’s luxurious locks, it appears this exchange between the Asgardian and Sorcerer Supreme happens before all manner of Hela breaks loose and long before he finds himself at the Sakaar Supercuts (or whatever regional hair salon reference works for you. Fantastic Sams, The Haircuttery. etc…).

What we have to wonder though is if Doctor Strange’s warning applies to more than just Thor’s exploits in this Ragnarok. It’s become pretty obvious that the film will be the Bifröst Bridge to the intergalactic side of the MCU and the Guardians of the Galaxy (with Goldblum’s Grandmaster showing up in Vol. 2′s end credits), the footage shown at D23, and all the lovely theorizing about any remaining Infinity Stones Thanos gets his hands on. Since we know this adventure will most likely lead directly into the events of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, could Strange’s words about destiny not even really apply to Thor: Ragnarok?

Well… maybe? We’ll have to wait and see when Thor: Ragnarok hits theaters November 3, 2017.

What do you think about Doctor Strange’s role in the film? Will it be more than just a few minutes in the beginning? When does he head to space with everyone else? Let’s discuss in the comments below.

Image: Marvel | Disney

The Best things in the Thor: Ragnarok Trailer