Victoria Fox's Blog, page 208

‘They Cloned Tyrone’ Review: Jamie Foxx and John Boyega Are Cool Conspirators in a Stylish Netflix Caper

Everybody’s got a role to play in The Glen, the gritty locale that is the setting of Juel Taylor’s sleek directorial debut, They Cloned Tyrone.

The manager of the food mart keeps the fridge stocked with cold tallboys and the counter filled with rillos and scratch-off cards. An old man parks himself outside the dingy store and dispenses cryptic advice (“It’s in the water, young blood”) in exchange for generous pours of beer. Dancers from the strip club and sex workers form a kind of ad hoc CCTV, watching the goings-on in the neighborhood; they’ll dish the secrets for the right price. Their pimps, those alligator print-shoe-wearing tricksters, have a role — and so do the drug dealers, patrolling their territories in their vintage whips.

Related Stories They Cloned Tyrone

The Bottom Line Sleek and surreal.

Release date: Friday, July 21
Cast: John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, Jamie Foxx, Kiefer Sutherland
Director: Juel Taylor
Screenwriters: Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor
Rated R, 2 hours 2 minutes

The community happenings appear somewhat typical. There are cookouts and turf wars, sweaty Saturday nights at the club and spiritual Sunday mornings in the pews. But look closer and there are details that warp the image. An unsettling mood creeps in and questions need to be asked: What year is it? Where is this place? Who are these people and what do they mean to one another?  

Building a sense of dramatic uncanniness by eluding these matters, the director crafts a Sorry to Bother You­-esque story (with touches of Atlanta surrealism) about anti-Black violence, community and conspiracies. They Cloned Tyrone — set to air on Netflix — also calls to mind novels like George Schuyler’s dystopian satire Black No More and Zakiya Dalila Harris’ thriller The Other Black Girl. The former is propelled by the invention of a device that whitens Black people’s skin; in the latter, the protagonist wonders about the appearance of a new Black colleague, one whose obsequious manner suggests a deeper, more sinister fraudulence. Like those books, They Cloned Tyrone bakes a mystery into its science fiction fantasy.

In the film, Fontaine (John Boyega) must figure out why The Glen, a place he thought he knew, feels at once real and unreal. It takes him a minute to get there, though. Fontaine is a brooding drug dealer and a man of routine, and Boyega plays him with a distinct steeliness, rarely cracking a smile to show his row of gold grillz. A pensive aura surrounds the character as he marches through his daily life: Mornings are for stops at the food mart to pick up beer and cigarettes, to scratch off tickets and chat with Frog (Leon Lamar), the older man who functions as a neighborhood sage. Fontaine scoops up Junebug (Trayce Malachi), a kid he’s informally adopted as his mentee, and together they surveil for trespassers: The dealer hates when his rival kingpin’s underlings try to steal his customers.

A death sets off Fontaine’s investigation — the twist is that it’s his own death. After chasing one of his customers, the pimp Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), for payment, Fontaine ends up in a dispute with his competitor (P-Valley’s J. Alphonse Nicholson). Their tense exchange climaxes in a shower of bullets and a corpse. When Fontaine shows up again the next day, Slick Charles and his employee Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), who saw Fontaine’s lifeless body, are more than a little confused.

They Cloned Tyrone is not a ghost story, but an unknown entity does haunt its characters. After Fontaine’s unholy resurrection, Slick Charles and Yo-Yo reluctantly join him in a mission to make sense of what’s happening. Their adventure is absorbing without being nerve-wracking: Taylor and co-writer Tony Rettenmaier struggle to sustain tension, too often saddling their narrative’s most suspenseful moments with extraneous comedic relief and exposition. The closer Fontaine gets to uncovering the nefarious activity in The Glen, the more They Cloned Tyrone wobbles under the weight of its logic. Leaner explanatory monologues might have helped, preventing the unwieldy information dumps that detract from the story’s flow. Notably, the film’s big reveal doesn’t hit like it might have if revelations had been doled out more gradually.

Still, it’s a compelling ride overall. Much of that can be credited to the cast, whose ability to play both comedy and drama make their characters worth rooting for. Foxx is reliably funny as a pimp trying to dodge his cocaine dealer (Fontaine) and manage his most difficult employee (Yo-Yo). He mixes cutting one-liners with subtle physical comedy that buoys many ofThey Cloned Tyrone’s most humorous scenes. When Foxx is onscreen with Parris, a certain kind of magic happens. The pair treat their characters’ verbal tussles like rappers in a cypher: Their metaphors are smooth and their egos huge.

Their interplay complements the score from composers Pierre Charles and Desmond Murray as well as Philippe Pierre and Stephanie Diaz-Matos’ music supervision. The latter pair make savvy use of hits ranging from Alicia Myers’ “I Want to Thank You” to Diana Ross’ “Love Hangover” and a new mix of Erykah Badu’s “Tyrone.”

The aesthetic elements of They Cloned Tyrone cohere nicely, and Taylor composes surreal scenes with an eerie specificity — including one during a church’s Sunday revival and another in front of a minimart, where locals hang and trade conspiracy theories. The filmmaker builds a solid portrait of a community subtly shaped by the politics of Ella Baker, the civil rights activist whose belief in working-class self-determination fueled many movements. Beneath the flash of They Cloned Tyrone is an idea that Taylor, a promising director, eventually gets to but could have allowed to frame the story more sharply: When everybody knows their roles, a community is an unstoppable force.  

Full credits

Distributor: Netflix
Production companies: Macro Media
Cast: John Boyega, Teyonah Parris, David Alan Grier, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Tamberla Perry, Eric Robinson Jr., Kiefer Sutherland, Jamie Foxx 
Director: Juel Taylor
Screenwriters: Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor
Producers: Charles D. King, Stephen “Dr.” Love, Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor, Jamie Foxx, Datari Turner
Executive producers: Mark R. Wright, Kim Roth, Jack Murray, Dana Sano, Monte Lipman
Director of photography: Ken Seng
Production designer: Franco-Giacomo Carbone
Costume designer: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck
Editor: Saira Haider
Music: Desmond Murray, Pierre Charles
Casting director: Kim Coleman, CSA
Rated R, 2 hours 2 minutes

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Netflix Acquires Hit Taiwanese Horror Comedy ‘Marry My Dead Body’

Taiwan’s smash-hit horror comedy Marry My Dead Body is heading to Netflix. The streamer has acquired worldwide rights to the film and will release it on Aug. 10.

Centered around the Chinese tradition of the “ghost marriage” and incorporating elements of fantasy, supernaturalism and LGBTQ issues, Marry My Dead Body has taken Taiwan by storm since its release in February, earning $11.5 million (NTD 360 million) and claiming the territory’s top spot for Chinese-language films for the first half of 2023. It won the best screenplay award at the 25th Taipei Film Festival last Saturday and was also nominated for best actor and best visual effects. 

Directed by Cheng Wei-hao, Marry My Dead Body tells the story of Wu Ming-Han (Hsu Kuang Han), a straight policeman who is homophobic and afraid of ghosts. While collecting evidence for a case, he accidentally picks up a red envelope and is forced to marry Mao Pang-Yu (Austin Lin), who died under mysterious circumstances. The duo must work through their differences and join forces to solve the case, seeking justice for Mao and embarking on a ludicrous and tear-inducing journey together. Gingle Wang co-stars as a policewoman. 

Marry My Dead Body was produced by Calendar Studios and premiered at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival last November. 

See the film’s international trailer below. 

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ER visits spiked for children sickened by cannabis during pandemic: CDC

During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency rooms saw a spike in cannabis-related events in adolescents, according to new data released on Thursday.

Findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the number of adolescents visiting the ER was higher during the pandemic years than in 2019.

Most of the incidents reported by the CDC involved young adults aged 15 to 24 years, suggesting a potential link to self-soothing methods during the pandemic.

The CDC also revealed that the number of visits involving children under the age of 14 increased compared to 2019 data.

In groups aged 11 to 14, the CDC saw a 111% average increase in ER visits from young girls from 2019 to 2022.

Incidence for boys, on the other hand, only increased 24%.

But the most shocking data from the CDC’s recent batch of findings showed an uptick in cannabis-related hospital visits made by children 10 years old or younger, which “far exceeded” pre-pandemic rates.

In 2019, ER visits in that age group averaged at 20.9 per every 10,000.

In 2022, the average was 65.6 — a startling 214% difference.

Most cannabis-related ER visits occurred in young adults aged 15 to 24, per the CDC.Getty Images/iStockphoto

Most surprising was the sharp uptick in ER cases regarding children under the age of 11 who had accidentally ingested cannabis.NurPhoto via Getty Images

For those 10 and under, ingestion of potentially toxic amounts of cannabis was likely not intentional, but rather accidental due to packaging that looks appealing to them.

“Our middle school girls are struggling and are using more cannabis than males,” Dr. Willough Jenkins, the medical director of emergency and consultation liaison psychiatry at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, told NBC News.

Jenkins, who was not involved in the report, said it “makes sense,” given February survey results from the CDC that demonstrated the mental health struggles of teen girls.

At the time, the agency reported that a majority of teen girls felt hopeless or sad in 2021, and nearly one in three considered attempting suicide.

Cannabis-related ER visits skyrocketed during the pandemic years, the CDC reported Thursday.Getty Images

Last year, the World Health Organization reported a startling increase in overall rates of depression and anxiety during COVID-19 lockdowns.

But recent studies suggest that, despite the widespread use of marijuana to de-stress, Mary Jane could have anxiety-inducing properties in teens.

The CDC’s latest findings coincide with reports that cannabis-related Poison Control Center calls regarding adolescents were up 245%, according to a study released last year.

Just last week, the Federal Trade Commission and Food and Drug Administration teamed up to demand a crackdown on pot companies whose THC-infused products might be easily confused for a grocery aisle snack.

THC-infused edibles are often marketed as parodies of popular candies, which could be easily confused by a young child.Getty Images

The CDC suggested that the stark increase in ER incidents regarding cannabis use could also be “a result of expanding state-level policies legalizing cannabis use.”Moment Editorial/Getty Images

“Marketing edible THC products that can be easily mistaken by children for regular foods is reckless and illegal,” Samuel Levine, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement at the time.

“Companies must ensure that their products are marketed safely and responsibly, especially when it comes to protecting the well-being of children,” he added.

The CDC hypothesized that the stark increase in ER incidents regarding cannabis use could also be “a result of expanding state-level policies legalizing cannabis use.”

In New York City, the first legal dispensary opened its doors in December, but the legalization of weed has been met with harsh criticism from local doobie downers, who fear fellow drivers will operate under the influence and lament the “zombie-fication” of stoned workers.

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Kevin Costner files new divorce order to prevent estranged wife from removing items from $145 million estate

Kevin Costner filed new divorce documents against Christine Baumgartner to insure “an orderly process” as she vacates their shared beachfront estate outside of Santa Barbara, California.

In new documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Costner’s legal team filed an ex parte application to “prevent Petitioner (Baumgartner) from removing Respondent’s (Costner) separate property from his home, and to insure an orderly process for the removal of her separate property (if any).”

The “Yellowstone” actor argued in the application that “under the PMA (pre-marital agreement) there is no community property.”

Baumgartner was ordered by a judge last week to vacate the separate residence of their $145 million Carpinteria compound by July 31. 

KEVIN COSTNER’S ESTRANGED WIFE CHRISTINE SPOTTED IN COURT AS JUDGE UPHOLDS TENTATIVE RULING

Kevin Costner filed new documents in ongoing divorce with estranged wife Christine Baumgartner. (Getty Images)

“Petitioner’s counsel has stated, in writing, that Petitioner ‘plans’ to remove many items which are not Petitioner’s separate property,” documents stated. 

“Petitioner refuses to sign a Stipulation that she will not do so unless and until there is a written agreement between the parties.”

KEVIN COSTNER’S ESTRANGED WIFE CHRISTINE MUST MOVE OUT OF CALIFORNIA HOME BY END OF MONTH, JUDGE RULES

Costner purchased the property before their marriage, and a pre-marital agreement allegedly stipulated that she would not only move out of the home within 30 days, but also no longer live in any of his properties if they divorced. 

Her team argued that the Santa Barbara housing market made it difficult for her to find a new home adequate to suit the needs of her three children, but Judge Thomas Anderle denied Baumgartner’s request to move out of the residence by Aug. 15.

Christine Baumgartner walked into the Santa Barbara courthouse on Wednesday. (Fox News Digital)

Christine Baumgartner and her lawyer, John Rydell, were spotted in court amid ongoing divorce. (Fox News Digital)

Her legal team filed an objection to the ex parte application, and requested the court to “deny Kevin’s application outright and allow the parties to work out the personal property issues themselves, as is customary in divorce cases and appropriate given the level of wealth involved in this case. Any disputes can be resolved at the time of trial.”

KEVIN COSTNER, CHRISTINE BAUMGARTNER BATTLE OVER MONTHLY FINANCES AFTER ‘YELLOWSTONE’ STAR’S COURT VICTORY

In her objection to the ex parte application, Baumgartner’s legal team wrote, “Kevin is angry about the Court’s recent ruling on the child support and fee request.”

Judge Anderle ruled that Baumgartner will receive $129,755 per month in child support. Costner will be required to pay $200,000 in attorney’s fees and $100,000 in forensic costs.

Kevin Costner’s estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, filed for divorce in May. (Amanda Edwards)

The estranged couple will each be required to pay 50% of their three children’s health care expenses, sports and extracurricular activities.

Baumgartner initially requested $248,000 per month in child support or “in the alternative, at the guideline rate of $217,300 per month, payable on the first day of each month.”

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She also requested that Costner fully cover their children’s private school tuition, 100% of their health care expenses, extracurricular activities and sports.

Kevin Costner and Christine Baumgartner were married for 18 years. (Getty Images)

Her request that the court order Costner’s payments to be made by automatic transfer was denied, per court documents.

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Baumgartner first filed for divorce from the “Field of Dreams” actor on May 1, citing “irreconcilable differences.” The date of separation was listed as April 11, 2023.

They both filed for joint custody of their three kids: Cayden, 16, Hayes, 14, and Grace, 13.

Tracy Wright is an entertainment reporter for Fox News Digital. Send story tips to Tracy.Wright@fox.com.

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Quordle today – hints and answers for Friday, July 14 (game #536)

It’s time for your daily dose of Quordle hints, plus the answers for both the main game and the Daily Sequence spin off. 

Quordle is the only one of the many Wordle clones that I’m still playing now, around 18 months after the daily-word-game craze hit the internet, and with good reason: it’s good fun, but also difficult.

What’s more, its makers (now the online dictionary Merriam-Webster) are also keeping it fresh in the form of a new variant called the Daily Sequence, which sees you complete four puzzles consecutively, rather than concurrently. 

But Quordle is tough, so if you already find yourself searching for Wordle hints, you’ll probably need some for this game too. 

I’m a Quordle and Wordle fanatic who’s been playing since December 2021, so I can definitely help you solve Quordle today and improve your game for tomorrow. Read on for my Quordle hints to game #536 and the answers to the main game and Daily Sequence. 

SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers.

Your Quordle expert[image error]Your Quordle expertMarc McLarenUK Editor in Chief

Marc is TechRadar’s UK Editor in Chief and has been playing Wordle and Quordle for more than a year. He’s authored dozens of articles on the game for TechRadar and its sister site Tom’s Guide, including a detailed analysis of the most common letters in every position. His Wordle streak recently reached the 500 mark and he’ll be inconsolable if he loses it. Yes, he takes it all too seriously. 

Quordle today (game #536) – hint #1 – VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?

• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.

* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too). 

Quordle today (game #536) – hint #2 – total vowelsWhat is the total number of vowels in Quordle today?

• The total number of vowels across today’s Quordle answers is 8.

Quordle today (game #536) – hint #3 – repeated lettersDo any of today’s Quordle answers contain repeated letters?

• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 1.

Quordle today (game #536) – hint #4 – total lettersHow many different letters are used in Quordle today?

• The total number of different letters used in Quordle today is 12.

Quordle today (game #536) – hint #5 – uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?

• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today’s Quordle answers.

Quordle today (game #536) – hint #6 – starting letters (1)Do any of today’s Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?

• The number of today’s Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.

If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you’re not ready yet then here’s one more clue to make things a lot easier:

Quordle today (game #536) – hint #7 – starting letters (2)What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?

• L

• C

• W

• S

Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.

Today’s best Get Better At Wordle deals

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Quordle today (game #536) – the answers

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(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today’s Quordle, game #536, are…

LIBELCABLEWREAKSCOPE

How did you do today? Send me an email and let me know.

Daily Sequence today (game #536) – the answers

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(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)

The answers to today’s Quordle Daily Sequence, game #536, are…

MAJORSYRUPADAGEELEGYQuordle answers: The past 20Quordle #535, Thursday 13 July: BASTE, QUERY, SNAIL, PEARLQuordle #534, Wednesday 12 July: VOICE, MANGA, FROTH, BLOATQuordle #533, Tuesday 11 July: MODEL, AISLE, LIMBO, TULLEQuordle #532, Monday 10 July: FILET, DULLY, IRATE, NOSEYQuordle #531, Sunday 9 July: AXION, OFFER, DREAD, SADLYQuordle #530, Saturday 8 July: BAGEL, SPITE, MAYBE, RADIOQuordle #529, Friday 7 July: CLOUT, SMEAR, GAILY, ANGRYQuordle #528, Thursday 6 July: HUNCH, LEFTY, ABBEY, RECURQuordle #527, Wednesday 5 July: HILLY, ALERT, SHEET, VODKAQuordle #526, Tuesday 4 July: GUMMY, SQUAT, SUSHI, GAUDYQuordle #525, Monday 3 July: DRUID, ENACT, APART, HEFTYQuordle #524, Sunday 2 July: AMISS, SHOWY, LURCH, SAUCYQuordle #523, Saturday 1 July: KNEAD, DALLY, AMAZE, IDEALQuordle #522, Friday 30 June: WOMAN, BAGEL, SUPER, ARISEQuordle #521, Thursday 29 June: ISSUE, MOUNT, OVOID, SANERQuordle #520, Wednesday 28 June: CEDAR, RUMBA, WIDOW, TITHEQuordle #519, Tuesday 27 June: STRAW, APPLY, MAGMA, CLUEDQuordle #518, Monday 26 June: SCARE, RIGHT, IRATE, ORBITQuordle #517, Sunday 25 June: GAUNT, SLANG, ROUSE, UNITEQuordle #516, Saturday 24 June: BILGE, LEAPT, GLOAT, PLEATQuordle FAQs: Everything you need to knowWhat is Quordle?

Where Wordle challenges you to guess a new five-letter word each day, Quordle presents you with four puzzles to solve. And rather than complete them in turn, you do so simultaneously. You get nine guesses, rather than the six for Wordle, but the rules are otherwise very similar. 

It’s played online via the Quordle website and you can also get to it via the Merriam-Webster site, after the dictionary purchased Quordle last year. 

As with Wordle, the answers are the same for every player each day, meaning that you’re competing against the rest of the world. And also as with Wordle, the puzzle resets at midnight so you have a fresh challenge each day.

The website also includes a practice mode – which I definitely recommend using before attempting the game proper! – and there are daily stats including a streak count. You also get Quordle Achievements – specific badges for winning a game in a certain number of turns, playing lots of times, or guessing particularly hard words.

Oh, and it’s difficult. Really difficult.

What are the Quordle rules?

The rules of Quordle are almost identical to those of Wordle.

1. Letters that are in the answer and in the right place turn green.

2. Letters that are in the answer but in the wrong place turn yellow. 

3. Letters that are not in the answer turn gray…

4. …BUT the word you guess appears in all quadrants of the puzzle at the same time, so an A could turn green in one square, yellow in another and gray in the final two. 

5. Answers are never plural.

6. Letters can appear more than once. So if your guess includes two of one letter, they may both turn yellow, both turn green, or one could be yellow and the other green.

7. Each guess must be a valid word in Quordle’s dictionary. You can’t guess ABCDE, for instance.

8. You do not have to include correct letters in subsequent guesses and there is no equivalent of Wordle’s Hard mode.

9. You have nine guesses to find the Quordle answers.

10. You must complete the daily Quordle before midnight in your timezone.

What is a good Quordle strategy?

Quordle needs to be approached in a different way to Wordle. With four puzzles to solve in nine guesses, you can’t blindly throw letters at it and expect to win – you’ll stand a far better chance if you think strategically.

That’s the case in Wordle too, of course, but it’s even more important in Quordle.

There are two key things to remember. 

1. Use several starting words

Firstly, you won’t want just a single starting word, but almost certainly two or three starting words. 

The first of these should probably be one of the best Wordle starting words, because the same things that make them work well will apply here too. But after that, you should select another word or possibly two that use up lots more of the most common consonants and that include any remaining vowels.

For instance, I currently use STARE > DOILY > PUNCH. Between them, these three words use 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet including all five vowels, Y, and nine of the most common consonants (S, T, R, D, L, P, N, C and H). There are plenty of other options – you might want to get an M, B, F or G in there instead of the H, maybe – but something like that should do the trick.

If all goes well, that will give you a good lead on what one or sometimes two of the answers might be. If not, well good luck!

2. Narrow things down

Secondly, if you’re faced with a word where the answer might easily be one of several options – for instance -ATCH, where it could be MATCH, BATCH, LATCH, CATCH, WATCH, HATCH or PATCH – you’ll definitely want to guess a word that would narrow down those options. 

In Wordle, you can instead try several of those in succession and hope one is right, assuming you have enough guesses left. It’s risky, but will sometimes work. Plus, it’s the only option in Hard mode. But in Quordle, this will almost certainly result in a failure – you simply don’t have enough guesses.

In the scenario above, CLAMP would be a great guess, as it could point the way to four of the seven words in one go.

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Onyx’s new Boox Palma is the smallest e-reader we’ve ever seen

E-reader brand Onyx is back with an unusual mobile device – an e-reader the size of an average smartphone.

It’s called the Boox Palma and has a screen measuring just 6.13 inches (about 156 mm) across, making it a bit bigger than the Samsung Galaxy S23. Onyx has dabbled with compact tablets before, like the Boox Poke5. However, the company chose a lengthier screen this time over a stout one. The display sports an E-Ink Carta 1200 display, a popular choice found on other e-readers. And for good reason as the Carta 1200 allows for crisp, high-definition visuals. This can be seen in the display’s resolution of 824 x 1648 pixels. To ensure optimal performance, Onyx is also throwing in its proprietary Boox Super Refresh Technology for smooth scrolling. 

Features and specs

The Palma blurs the line between mobile devices and e-readers due to its smartphone-esque design. The power and volume buttons are on the right side, while on the left, you have a microSD card slot alongside a spare button that you can use for a hotkey function. There’s even a camera on the back, but don’t expect it to be on the same level as an iPhone 14. The lens is only 16MP.  Plus, all the photographs are in greyscale. It lacks the Boox Tab Ultra C’s color support.

Regarding software, Onyx makes some interesting choices. Like other devices in its class, the Palma lets you read content from subscribed RSS feeds or use the calendar app to have it double as a clock. It also offers access to various social media platforms so you can post, send messages, and even make voice calls as you would on a regular phone. Of course, everything looks rather drab without color.

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(Image credit: Onyx/Palma)

Under the hood is an eight-core CPU from Qualcomm. The official product listing doesn’t reveal exactly what it is. There’s only a single model for the Palma featuring 6GB of RAM with 128GB of storage. And powering everything is a 3,950 mAh battery. 9To5Google estimates in their report the Palma should last about a week before needing a recharge. 

Availability

Despite all the similarities to a smartphone, it’s not one. Onyx made sure to clarify this by stating in the FAQ section that Palma does not support SIM cards nor has an eSIM chip inside. 

Regardless of its capabilities as a mobile device, we can see this gadget becoming quite popular among people looking for a slim e-reader that they easily slip into their pocket or purse. You don’t have to lug around anything bulky just to read an ebook.

Proof of the gadget’s popularity is already evident. At the time of this writing, the Early Adopter Edition of the e-reader is completely sold out on the Boox website with no word on when it’ll come back. 9To5Google states pre-orders launched at $250, but the final price could jump to $280. We asked the company when the Palma will come back. This story will be updated at a later time.

Until then, check out TechRadar’s list of the best e-readers for 2023.  

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Lord & Miller Still Want To Make A Hall And Oates Biopic Starring Dave Franco, Reveal Possible Plot [Exclusive]

When I pressed them and asked if they have had any real conversations about developing the concept into a feature, Lord laughed and said, “Define ‘real,'” before getting (slightly) more serious about the topic. “We hung out with Davey [Franco] once and we’re like, ‘What if the movie is written and directed by your characters, and you are desperately trying to get the rights for the Hall and Oates songs but can’t get them?'”

Miller agreed and added that “in reality, I think the holdup would be getting the actual rights from Hall and Oates, from understanding how much we love them and cherish their music.” Lord closed the topic by referring to snagging the music rights as “a not insurmountable hurdle.”

To quote Jim Carrey’s “Dumb and Dumber” character Lloyd Christmas: “So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance!”

Dear Daryl Hall and John Oates, in the event that you have a Google alert set up for your name, allow me to take this opportunity to humbly request that you grant these guys the rights to your songs. It’s been more than 15 years since “Walk Hard” skewered the biopic formula so much that it should have died forever. But as Hollywood continued to cash in on the formula with hits like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” we can only hope that a comedic duo like Lord and Miller come along and follow in the footsteps of “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” and put their own spin on your timeless music. And hey, think of how many extra records you’d sell!

While we all wait to see if this project becomes a reality, you can revisit the hilarity of the original sneak peek, which appears at the end of this late night clip:

“We ended up filming for three or four hours. We just couldn’t stop riffing on Hall & Oates.”

-Dave Franco breaks down the surprise #Afterparty cameo from @channingtatum where they play Hall & Oates! #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/FB0oIjr1NQ

— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) January 27, 2022

“The Afterparty” season 2 debuts on Apple TV+ on July 12, 2023.

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Mac’s Bowling Mantra In It’s Always Sunny Season 16 Is A Season 6 Callback

While sizing up the pins and making his way to bowl on his turn, Mac chants the mantra “stride, stride, stride, execute,” taking three steps forward as he says “stride,” and then he launches the ball. If that sounds familiar, that’s because it’s the same little chant he used in the classic season 6 episode “Mac and Charlie: White Trash” when he and Charlie got stuck in the bottom of an abandoned pool and he attempted to run up the wall with a sweet flip. Mac’s faith in his own athletic skills and martial arts abilities has been a running punchline in the series since the earliest seasons, but his failed attempt to run up the pool wall is one of the funniest bits. The failure even leads to Mac wanting a pair of cutoff jean shorts like Charlie so that he would have a fuller range of motion to run, which is its own great moment. 

The characters of “It’s Always Sunny” are very set in their ways and will never really change, and the tiny character moments that stay consistent, like Mac’s chant, help make them feel more like real people. They aren’t using these lines like catchphrases, but instead insert them organically, like people actually tend to re-use the same vocabulary and phrases. “Stride, stride, stride, execute!” isn’t a successful mantra by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a funny one. 

New episodes of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” premiere Wednesdays on FXX and stream the next day on Hulu.

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Reese Witherspoon Says She “Didn’t Have Control Over” Sex Scene in ‘Fear’ With Mark Wahlberg

Reese Witherspoon is opening up about feeling like she “didn’t have control over” a sex scene in 1996’s Fear.

During an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, published online Wednesday, the actress, who has been outspoken about creating opportunities for women to feel safe and empowered in Hollywood, recalled an experience she had earlier in her career.

While filming the James Foley-directed psychosexual thriller, Witherspoon, who was 19 at the time, had to film a sex scene on a rollercoaster with Mark Wahlberg’s character, who was her love interest in the film. Although she remembers requesting a stunt double to take her place for below-the-waist shots, she noted that she “didn’t have control over it.”

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“It wasn’t explicit in the script that that’s what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said, No,’” she explained. “It wasn’t a particularly great experience.”

The film follows teen Nicole (Witherspoon) who falls in love with 23-year-old David (Wahlberg). But their relationship takes a turn when David reveals a darker side to him and becomes possessive of Nicole.

Witherspoon said she didn’t let the traumatic experience stop her from pursuing her goals. She instead said it helped shape her into the woman she is today – someone who is fighting for women to be respected and have their voices heard when it comes to creating projects.

“I’m certainly not traumatized or anything by it, but it was formative,” the actress added. “It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking. I think it’s another one of those stories that made me want to be an agent for change and someone who maybe can be in a better leadership position to tell stories from a female perspective instead of from the male gaze.”

And she has done just that with her production company, Hello Sunshine. The media company has already been behind several projects focused on female leads, including Big Little Lies, Gone Girl, Wild and Daisy Jones & the Six.

Later during the interview, Witherspoon also shared her thoughts on the revival of rom-coms and how she is totally on board with doing more feel-good projects.

Most recently, she starred opposite Ashton Kutcher in Your Place or Mine, and she is also set to star in and co-produce You’re Cordially Invited with Will Ferrell.

“I think the human capacity to handle as much heartbreak and tragedy that’s happened in the world is really diminished,” Witherspoon said. “We’re just not meant to feel this overwhelmed by sadness and devastation.”

She continued, “I think of opportunities to make movies and television shows that are joyful, optimistic, funny – just funny. I think about what I want to see on a Friday night, and while I can appreciate a true-crime show or a podcast, I really need some levity. I think the world is looking for a little brightness.”

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‘Tron: Ares’ Enlists ‘Yellowjackets’ Star Sarah Desjardins

Sarah Desjardins is uploading to the grid. The Yellowjackets actor is the latest addition to Tron: Ares, the upcoming third installment of the classic Disney film series.

Desjardins joins a cast that includes Jared Leto, Greta Lee, Evan Peters and Jodie Turner-Smith. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil filmmaker Joachim Ronning is directing Ares, which follows 1982’s Tron and 2010’s Tron: Legacy.

While the first Tron film centered on a video game designer (Jeff Bridges) entering his own creation, and the followup focused on his son (Garrett Hedlund) following in his footsteps, sources previously told The Hollywood Reporter that the new film will spend more time in the real world. The script from Jesse Wigutow and Jack Thorne is said to center on a sentient program that crosses over into the human world that is not ready for contact.

Ares marks the latest high profile project for Desjardins, who on Showtime’s Yellowjackets plays Callie Sadecki, the daughter of Shauna (Melanie Lynsky). The series just landed Emmy noms for drama series, as well as an acting nom for Desjardins’s onscreen mother.

She is also known for roles in the Netflix breakout The Night Agent, in which she plays Maddie Redfield, daughter of the vice president. Her other work has included Riverdale, Under the Banner of Heaven and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Desjardins is repped by Mosaic, Play Management and Vision PR.

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