Victoria Fox's Blog, page 217

‘Bridezilla’ who barred conservative uncle from wedding — but still wanted $1K cash gift — mocked by ‘Ask Amy’ advice columnist

An advice columnist didn’t hold back when a hapless mother wrote in asking what to do about her brother’s refusal to give her daughter a $1,000 cash gift for her wedding — after his niece banned him from the nuptials over his conservative views.

The mother, who signed herself “Angry in Philadelphia,” wrote to popular advice columnist Amy Dickinson’s “Ask Amy” column telling how her “very politically progressive” daughter asked that her conservative-minded uncle Dave not be invited to her wedding.

“Although she and Dave have always had a good relationship (I thought), he is a conservative voter and has supported candidates we all abhor,” the mother wrote.

“I wrote Dave a very nice note, telling him that we would not be comfortable with him at the wedding and that he would not be invited.”

“Dave did not respond and did not attend,” she added.

The mother wrote that after the wedding, she sent Dave photos from it “to make him feel like he was not being totally left out,” but he never responded and hasn’t responded to anything since. She added that her other siblings were angry at her over the whole affair.

But the mother was just getting started.

“Brides who are too afraid of family members to invite them to a family wedding don’t then get the pleasure of receiving their money,” Amy Dickinson responded.wikipedia.org

“Another problem is that Dave has not sent my daughter and son-in-law a wedding gift,” she wrote, explaining that her brother has always given family members over $1,000 in cash as wedding gifts, and her daughter was upset she’d not received anything from him.

“Dave’s behavior is upsetting and embarrassing to me,” she wrote. “How can I get my brother to recognize and change his petty behavior?”

“Please don’t tell me that I’m the one who started this by not inviting my brother to the wedding. After all, he’s a grown man, while my daughter is young and just starting out.”

“Brides who are too afraid of family members to invite them to a family wedding don’t then get the pleasure of receiving their money.”

“Ask Amy”

Starting with a summation of the events, Amy didn’t hold back with her advice.

“Let’s recap: Your delicate daughter is too frightened to be near a conservative voter to allow her uncle ‘Dave’ to attend her wedding,” she wrote.

“She then asks you to do her dirty work for her, and (of course) you do!” Amy wrote, then explained that sending Dave the photos from the wedding was only rubbing his nose in his banishment.

“But it’s your second ‘problem’ which I believe will enter the Bridezilla Hall of Infamy,” Amy said.

“In short: Brides who are too afraid of family members to invite them to a family wedding don’t then get the pleasure of receiving their money.”

“You seem almost as afraid of your daughter as she is of your brother, but I hope you’ll find a way to courageously tell her that the Bank of Uncle Dave is closed, at least to your branch of the family.”

Dickinson closed by advising that Dave was the only person in the situation behaving appropriately and that the mother should do as he was doing: “steering clear, which is exactly what you have asked him to do.”

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I got fungal meningitis from a botched BBL in Mexico — now I’m fighting for my life

An Arizona woman is fighting for her life after she contracted fungal meningitis from cosmetic procedures she flew to Mexico to have done for cheap.

Alondra Lomas, 27, traveled to Clinica-K3, a private clinic in Matamoros, Mexico, to get liposuction and a Brazilian butt lift (BBL) after two C-section births that left her with sagging skin.

She underwent the procedures on March 13, paid $3,000 — just a small fraction of the $10,000 or more it likely would have cost in America — and flew home to Phoenix the next day.

Lomas spent a month in pain and was first admitted to the hospital in May, where she still remains — clinging to hope as she fights for her life.

“Honestly I’ve put into my mind, ‘Stay positive and you’ll heal. Stay sad and down and you’ll continue to feel sick.’ I’m in good spirits,” she told The Post.

Lomas believed the surgeries went well until she began to feel crippling pain on March 31.

“I felt for the first time this pain that I have never felt before in my life. I felt paralyzed,” she told the Daily Mail.

By April, she was constantly lethargic, getting headaches, experiencing back pain and freezing despite the Southwestern heat.

She went to the hospital on May 5 and initially stumped doctors with her symptoms. But two days later, she was diagnosed with fungal meningitis and hospitalized at St Joseph’s Hospital in Arizona.

She has remained in the hospital ever since.

The mother of two traveled to Mexico and paid about $3,000 for liposuction and a BBL in March. _envyyalondra/Instagram

Lomas is one of nine confirmed cases part of an outbreak tied to cosmetic surgery clinics in Matamoros, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Seven of the women have already died from the infection, including Shyanne Medrano, a 31-year-old mother whom Lomas called her “surgery sister.”

“We had surgery the same day [done by the same doctor] and we started texting and being friends and it just broke my heart [to find out she had died],” Lomas said. Medrano passed away from fungal meningitis on May 16.

Their surgeon, Dr. Luis Manuel Rivera De Anda, also operated on Lauren Robinson, a 29-year-old Texan mom-of-four who died in May.

Seven of the nine people who the CDC connected to this outbreak have died from the infection, including at least two women who had their procedures done by the same doctor as Lomas. ABC News Nightline

The CDC warns that “fungal meningitis is a rare, life-threatening fungal infection that causes swelling of the areas around the brain and spinal cord” that can occur “during medical procedures if all infection control practices are not followed.”

Symptoms of fungal meningitis include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and confusion.

The US public health agency notified Mexican officials of the outbreak linked back to cosmetic surgery clinics in Matamoros on May 11. Clinica K-3, where Lomas had her surgery, and Riverside Surgical Center have been shut down and 10 other clinics are being investigated.

Some 1.2 million US residents travel to Mexico annually to undergo elective surgery at a discount, according to Medical Tourism Mexico, which advertises that patients can save up to 80% on a comparable procedure in the US.

The CDC is currently tracking about 200 people who had surgery in Matamoros and could be at risk, warning that those who had procedures under epidural anesthesia at the two clinics between Jan. 1 and May 13 get tested for meningitis immediately.

When asked what she fears most, Lomas told “Impact x Nightline” that it’s “death.”

“And I only say that because I have not seen one lady leave. I have not seen no girl go home yet,” she said.

After over a month in the hospital, Lomas saw no improvement and underwent brain surgery to create a port the size of a quarter in her head to deliver the anti-fungal medication directly to the infection.

She has since had one surgical revision but confirmed to The Post that she has been “doing better” in recent days and has reported that her Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) levels have gone down.

Lomas has undergone two brain surgeries and is scheduled for back surgery on July 5. ABC News Nightline

On July 5, she will undergo back surgery to remove a 2-centimeter abscess that’s currently blocking her spine from the medicine and pump antibiotics to the area.

Although Lomas has seen her “surgery sister” and others pass from the infection, she’s fighting to stay positive — and make it to her kids’ next birthdays.

The loving mother already missed her one-year-old daughter’s birthday and hopes to be home next month in time for her son’s eighth birthday.

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Optical illusion reveals if you are independent or have strong intuition

What do you see?

A viral optical illusion is said to reveal the viewer’s strongest personality traits including whether they’re too independent or have a strong intuition.

The visual psychological test is one of many optical illusions posted on TikTok by content creator Mia Yilin.

“What’s the first thing you see in this picture?” she asks in the video.

When stared at long enough, the photo depicts both a white man’s face with black swooshed hair and the side angle of a black and white penguin with a blue background.

Depending on how a person interprets the trippy image they may see a man or a penguin.

Yilin claims that whether the viewer sees the man or the penguin first reveals the truth behind their personality.

She explains that those who see the penguin first are likely to be independent spirits who crave freedom and autonomy.

These people thrive when they have the space to pursue their own interests and goals.

Those who see the penguin first are likely to be independent spirits who crave freedom and autonomy. mia_yilin/Tiktok

They are sometimes described as aloof or distant but this is because they prioritize their alone time.

Those who first see the man in the image apparently have a “sixth sense when it comes to people.”

They have incredible intuition and a reliable ability to sense other people’s emotions and intentions.

However, these people tend to doubt themselves and constantly seek validation from others which causes them to second-guess their own instincts.

The video has gathered 576,000 views as people stare at the image and attempt to get to know themselves a bit better.

The optical illusion is similar to a Rorschach test, or the inkblot test, which consists of a 10 series of symmetrical blots where the subject states what they see.

The answers are used to measure thought disorders to identify mental illness.

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Sean Gunn Ditched Rocket’s Green Onesie After The First Guardians Of The Galaxy

Sean has played Rocket in three “Guardians” movies, a TV special, and two “Avengers” films. At this point, he is well-practiced. He also had to take up extra work when Kraglin’s role was expanded in the “Guardians” sequels. He is one of the harder-working actors on set. After so many years, though, and so much crouching, the 50-year-old is more than ready to retire the part:

“Sometimes, it’s harder than others. When there’s walking and talking, it can be really challenging. That’s why I would say, from a physical standpoint, I’m going to have to retire as Rocket here. I’m going to be 50 pretty soon and some of the squatting and moving around is getting a little hard on my ankles and feet. I’m going to put that part of my performance to bed. It’s always a little different, but for the most part, the process has remained the same.”

Should more “Guardians” movies be made, perhaps Sean can stick with playing Kraglin. His brother, director James Gunn, has recently left Marvel to work on superhero movies at Warner Bros., effectively launching yet another superhero continuity with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and that crowd. One can rest assured that Sean will likely be offered a role somewhere in the DC Universe. He’d make a keen Batman. 

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Best roguelike games: a beginner’s guide to the die-a-lot genre

These are the best roguelike games for those who want to see what they’re made of. There’s no easy mode when it comes to titles like these, so buckle up. While some may be harder than others, there’s something for everyone in this list, so check out which one suits you best.

While most of these best roguelike games have transferable skills, appearing on our best indie games list, the genre in itself has produced so many unique titles it’s hard not to marvel at them. Roguelikes have even gone beyond their own genre and have changed the way games handle perma-death. While, at times, the best roguelike games do border on slightly masochistic, they will always reward you for your hard work in a way that no other genre does.

So this is our guide to some of the best roguelike games around. A genre full of dying a lot, making mistakes, and scraping through by the skin of your teeth. 

Best roguelike games

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Image credit: Edmund McMillen

The Binding of Isaac

Gory, grotesque, and genuinely fun

Available on: PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC

No best roguelike games list would be complete without The Binding of Isaac; it’s a quintessential roguelike game. You play as Isaac – initially at least – a poor boy whose mother has been told by God to strike him down. He goes into hiding and winds up in a dungeon-like basement filled with atrocities that seem intent on killing him. If you guide Isaac down deep enough, you actually go through your mother’s womb and even fight Satan. You read that right.

The joy of this roguelike comes from the runs where you become all-powerful. You can become a flying laser-firing cyclops, have an army of babies that attack enemies for you, or even spit teeth at enemies to take them out. This roguelike gets more brutal the better you do, with bosses and new areas becoming more difficult the longer you live. 

As things progress, you’ll unlock more powerful playable characters, less powerful ones, and even biblical babies. Eventually, you unlock The Lost, a ghost baby that can only take one hit. Yes, just one hit, and it is game over – to put this in perspective, the latter bosses are all bullet hell fights. You might be wondering why you would do this to yourself; the only way to complete the game is to complete it with every character.

Despite the controller-breaking difficulty, The Binding of Isaac is one of the most rewarding roguelikes out there. After all is said and done, you know you deserve it if you manage to make it to the end. The Binding of Isaac will crush you, and you will love it. 

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Image credit: Motion Twin

Dead Cells

Balancing a bottle of nitroglycerin on the end of a sword

Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Android

Dead Cells is a side-on action-platformer game where you get new abilities and unlock new areas as a result of progressing: aka a Metroidvania. You also go back to the beginning when you die, which makes it a roguelike. It’s one of the most successful titles on our best roguelike games list, roaring past 10 million sales.

The two terms are naturally at odds with each other, due to the former requiring permanent progression and the latter denying it. Nevertheless, Dead Cells balances both perfectly, like balancing a bottle of nitroglycerin on the end of a sword. 

The combat in this game is balletic. You flow around levels constantly attacking and double-jumping like a pointy spinning-top (or a Beyblade, for you geeks). You can clamber up walls, grow vines, set traps, and set everything on fire. You upgrade your character over the course of each run and then have it taken away from you when you die, or when you succeed. In the unlikely event that you make it past the final boss, the game restarts. 

This time though, you have a boss cell activated that changes the enemies in each level, removes some healing opportunities, and generally turns things up a notch. You can do this several times. The final difficulty gives you three healing chances to last an entire run. Apparently, this is still achievable… 

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Image credit: Subset Games

Into the Breach

No redo’s

Available on: PC, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android

Into the Breach is so intensely compelling and enjoyable that you often won’t even realize you’ve failed before you’ve started your next run. The turn-based strategy title shows you every move your enemy will make and asks you to react perfectly to protect the timeline from alien interference. 

In order to succeed, you need to look past your immediate options; if you can’t think at least three turns ahead, then you are doomed to failure. Failure means permadeath. In this case, that means teleporting to another timeline and abandoning all but one of your mech pilots – essentially making you start from scratch.

The brilliance of Into the Breach lies in the fact that you are always responsible for your failure, and you’re forced to live with it – there are no redos. In other games, blaming an unfair AI or attack is easy. However, in Into the Breach, you can see what will happen, so there’s only one person to blame if everything hits the fan, and that’s why it’s a perfect contender for our best roguelike games list. 

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Image credit: Powerhoof

Crawl

Full of multiplayer murder

Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch

Crawl is a Lovecraftian local multiplayer dungeon crawler that sees you descend into a pixel art dungeon – hopefully not into madness. 

There’s a good chance you’ll die in Crawl; that’s the point. The feature that makes this four-player game stand out from the other titles on our best roguelike games list is that only one player can win. Thanks to this small detail, you’ll spend most of your time as vengeful ghosts trying to kill the only living player and take their place. Queue the literal backstabbing and murder. 

Deceased players live on as vengeful spirits who can possess traps and furniture, and summon monsters in particular areas that can be used to attack the living. These monsters gain levels and evolve depending on how strong the adventurer is. The stronger the living becomes, the stronger the dead are. It keeps things in balance. The aim is to be the living adventurer first to slay a boss. Then you get to start it all over again. 

The more you play the game, the more content you unlock. You gain access to new and old gods to worship, new items, and deadlier traps. The frantic rush to be the spirit to deal the killing blow to the adventurer is lovely and repeated throughout each game. Why not share the joy of dying a lot with your closest friends?

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Image credit: Mega Crit Games

Slay the Spire

Combo cards and subtle decisions

Available on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android

Despite only releasing in January 2019, Slay the Spire has cemented its place in the roguelike genre. On paper, it’s a deck-building, card-battling, turn-based dungeon crawler, but you have to assume it was created by feeding two genres into a randomizer and just going with the results (in the best possible way). 

Your role is to make it to the top of the titular spire. To do this, you journey through different levels, battling various monsters along the way. As you progress, you get new cards to add to your deck and maybe even some fancy equipment. It seems simple, right?

Slay the Spire excels in the subtle decisions you have to make. Adding a new card to your deck should be a good thing. The trouble is, doing so lowers the chances of drawing something else. Whenever a new card is offered, you have to figure out if it is worth taking. Failure means starting again, of course, but you’ll know more about deck composition and strategy this time. It really is unique amongst our best roguelike list. 

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(Image credit: Supergiant Games)

Hades

Defy the gods

Available on: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch

Hades is a shoe-in for our best roguelike games. It ripped through the internet when it was released in 2020 for a very good reason. 

It’s a one-of-a-kind roguelike, with fast-paced action and an incredible story that’s based on the Greek mythological underworld. Hades is certainly a Herculean feat with an awe-inspiring art style and mechanics that are friendly for first-time roguelike enthusiasts. 

If you’ve loved exploring the underworld so far, then we’ve got some good news for you. During The Game Awards 2022, Hades 2 was announced, so get ready for even more mystery and melodrama.

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Wildfrost

Ice cool

Available on: PC and Nintendo Switch

Wildfrost is one of the more cute and quirky titles on our best roguelike games list. With a loveable cast of characters and a brilliant art style. Similar to Slay the Spire, this card-based game deploys a strategy to make players think three steps ahead. It’s successfully bringing back the classic roguelike struggles.

In classic roguelike style, the trick to this game is its replayability. You won’t be able to complete this title on the first run, and each time your return to base camp, you’ll be given a brand-new protagonist with differing abilities and power-ups. So even though each run will be slightly different, you’ll quickly learn what works best and which adorable bad guy you need to look out for. 

Best roguelike games: FAQs

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(Image credit: Playdigious )What’s the most popular roguelike?

Everyone will have their own preference for roguelikes, whether that be dungeon crawlers, card builders, or metroidvanias. However, according to Steam Charts, the most-played roguelike game is The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth.

What’s the difference between a roguelike and a roguelite

Roguelites aren’t just a misspelling of their more popular sibling roguelikes; they do actually differ. Roguelites tend to lack the permadeath feature present in roguelikes, making them easier to master. 

How we made our best roguelike games list

Beating any one of these titles on our best roguelike games list is no small feat. Luckily, many of us at TechRadar Gaming have experience with many titles and various genres, making it easy to collate a list that’ll appeal to a wider audience. 

I spent my early days testing my metal in roguelikes. Titles like The Binding of Isaac and Spelunky followed me throughout my formative years, and gave me an unrivalled appreciation of the save button. Even after all these years I’ll always make time for an upcoming roguelike.

What roguelike games I’m playing right now

For some twisted reason, I’ve recently decided to jump back into the permadeath mines and play the 3D platformer roguelike Only Up! While this may not have the classic attributes of other roguelikes, this parkour game has reminded me why restarting an entire game from scratch isn’t for the faint of heart; it made me cry. 

The third-person adventure title Only Up! is surprisingly heartfelt as it follows a young boy trying to make his way in the world. You can explore a vast world of secrets and mysteries as long as you’re skilled enough. Unfortunately, the game is still slightly clunky, with a few glitches sending you plummeting back to earth. This being said, if you’re looking to get rid of a monitor and want a reason to destroy it before it’s gone, give Only Up! a go. 

It’s not easy to get through the best roguelike games. After constantly dying and restarting levels you may need some new kit if you’ve broken a controller or two in a fit of rage. If that’s the case, don’t worry; check out our Prime Day gaming deals and Prime Day Xbox controller deals if you need extra hardware. 

Round up of today’s best deals

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Thousands of Fortinet firewalls are unpatched against this serious security bug, so patch now

Hundreds of thousands of FortiGate firewalls are yet to be patched against a flaw being actively used in the wild, experts have revealed. 

Cybersecurity researchers from Bishop Fox recently used the Shodan.io search engine for internet-connected devices to look for servers with HTTPS responses that suggested the software was outdated. 

The results brought back almost 490,000 Fortinet SSL-VPN internet-exposed interfaces, with roughly two-thirds (338,100 endpoints) being unpatched.

Multiple secure versions

These firewalls are said to be vulnerable to CVE-2023-27997, a heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability with a 9.8 severity score. The flaw affects FortiOS and FortiProxy devices with SSL-VPN enabled. Last night, Fortinet issued a patch, and said that the vulnerable endpoints “may have been exploited in a limited number of cases.”

If you are yet to patch your firewalls, make sure to bring them up to versions 7.2.5, 7.0.12, 6.4.13, or 6.2.15, as all of these are said to have addressed the issue. 

Besides urging users to apply the fix, Bishop Fox has also developed a proof of concept (PoC), an exploit abusing the flaw to achieve remote code execution. Through the exploit, the researchers managed to take over the affected network gear. The researchers also found a “handful of devices” running a version of the operating system that’s eight years old. 

“I wouldn’t touch those with a 10-foot pole,” commented Caleb Gross, director of capability development at Bishop Fox.

Gross added that their exploit “smashes the heap, connects back to an attacker-controlled server, downloads a BusyBox binary, and opens an interactive shell.”

The vulnerability was first discovered in early June and reported to Fortinet, which released the patch on June 8, and a detailed breakdown of the exploit process a week later, on June 13, The Register reports.

Via: The Register

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Amazon Prime Day Ring Doorbell deals 2023: everything we know

There’s no better time to smarten up your front door than Amazon Prime Day, and the mega sales event is often teeming with plenty of Ring Doorbell Deals to choose from.

Every year Prime Day deals offer great discounts on a whole host of products, and Ring Video Doorbells tend to get some of that lower-price love, particularly as Amazon tends to give some of the biggest discounts to its own products.

Last year we saw some pretty unmissable savings, and we’re expecting more of the same this year.

If you’re new to Amazon’s seasonal sale madness, it’s important to know that you need to be an Amazon Prime member to benefit from the deals. If you don’t want to be signed up all year long, you can always sign up for a 30-day Amazon Prime free trial – just remember to cancel the membership after you’ve secured the goods!

We’ve still got a little while before the sale starts, which gives you plenty of time to decide which device is best for you. Once the sales kick off, we’ll be sharing all of the best deals on some of the best Ring Doorbells we’ve reviewed at TechRadar, as well as bundles on offer and some of the alternatives.

Amazon Prime Day Ring Doorbell deals: What’s on right now

There aren’t many Amazon Ring Doorbell deals skulking about just yet, but we’re likely to see more crop up as we get closer to the big day. For now, we’ve spotted a Prime Day Early Access deal in the UK on the Ring Intercom that’s worth a look. 

Amazon Prime Day Ring Doorbell deals: FAQsWhen will the Amazon Prime Day Ring Doorbell deals be available?

This year’s Prime Day sales proper will kick off at 00:01 am on July 11, according to Amazon’s recent press release, and will continue through to July 12 at 11:59 pm. However, there are also often early deals, especially on Amazon’s own products, so keep an eye on this page if you want to get a jump start on your savings.

Do I need to be an Amazon Prime member to get these deals?

Yes; Prime Day is an exclusive event for Amazon Prime members, and while some non-Prime deals will happen over the course of the week, that’s unlikely to be the case for Amazon devices like the Ring Doorbell.

Amazon Prime Day Ring Doorbell deals: what to expect

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the definitive sales event of the year, Amazon Prime Day is fast becoming a close second; not in the least because Amazon pretty steeply discounts many of its own top-of-the-range devices, including Ring Doorbells and Amazon Echo devices.

Some of the best deals we saw last year were bundles including a Ring Doorbell Wired and the Echo Dot (Gen 3) for up to 55% off, and with the new Ring Battery Doorbell Plus having launched this year, there’s every chance we could see some fantastic discounts and bundles on older devices again.

Last year’s Prime Day Rind Doorbell deals in the USLast year’s Prime Day Rind Doorbell deals in the UK

Today’s best Ring Video Doorbell 3, Anker Eufy 2K Video Doorbell and Arlo Video Doorbell deals

Amazon Prime Day Ring Doorbell deals: FAQsAmazon Prime Day Ring Doorbell deals: FAQsAmazon Prime Day Ring Doorbell deals: FAQs

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Casting The Bear’s Star-Studded Season 2 Episode Was A ‘Leap Of Faith’ From The Showrunners

It’s no surprise that any number of actors were hungry for a spot on “The Bear” after the roaring success of its first season, which is eligible for this year’s Emmy cycle for the first time but has already earned a Critics Choice Award, Film Independent Spirit Award, and American Film Institute Award, among others. While Bacharach doesn’t specify what the “right reasons” are, I can imagine some folks might gravitate toward coveted guest spots in hopes of earning accolades or getting a standout moment on screen.

According to Bacharach, that wasn’t the case with any of the actors who ended up in “Fishes.” “They were there to serve the piece, they were excited to be there and ready to work,” she tells IndieWire, adding, “It was not about ‘I need my moment. I need to shine. I need the scene to be about me.’ I think it’s just about people with heart coming to tell the story.” 

That heart shone through in an episode full of funny highs and painful lows for Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), his brother Mikey (Jon Bernthal), his sister Natalie (Abby Elliott), and the rest of the family. Curtis’s matriarch, Donna, lingers around the edges of each scene like a bomb waiting to go off, though her kids never seem sure whether she’ll explode outward or collapse in on herself. Paulson also gets a great moment as a cousin named Michelle, who seems to have achieved some sense of peace that escapes the rest of the family.

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Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom Was Banned In India – For Obvious Reasons

It is impossible to watch “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” today and not be stunned by its fear-mongering depiction of Indian people, though if you’re aware of the two films that inspired it, you at least know how Spielberg got here.

The screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz (“Raiders of the Lost Ark” wanted no part of this movie) hurtles the adventuring archaeologist into an Indian village robbed of its children. They’ve been kidnapped and forced into hard labor by a Thuggee cult that’s seized power in a nearby palace. The Thuggee project elegance and hospitality, but we soon learn that they’re carrying out gruesome ritualized sacrifices in the bowels of the sprawling estate. They’re literally rip-your-beating-heart-out-of-your-chest bad guys.

Spielberg is clearly riffing on Howard Hawks’ 1939 classic “Gunga Din,” wherein three British soldiers are taught a lesson in bravery from their water-carrying Indian companion. In that film, the Thuggee are oppressive villains who must be eradicated by the civilizing force of the British army — and when Cary Grant, the greatest movie star of all time, is on the side of the British, your rooting interest is guaranteed.

But Spielberg is also drawing from Terence Fisher’s “The Stranglers of Bombay,” a Hammer-produced horror-adventure that depicts the Thuggee in all their (alleged) vicious glory. There is torture, dismemberment, and an epilogue featuring a quote from the very real Major General William Sleeman, who justifies the Britsh empire’s colonial conquest by saying “If we have nothing else for India, we have done this one good thing.”

“Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” might possess the exuberance of “Gunga Din,” but it’s imbued with the nastiness of “The Stranglers of Bombay.” And this, unsurprisingly, did not play well in India.

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Star Trek: Picard Took A Historical Approach To Updating The Next Generation’s Tech

Speaking to IndieWire, production designer David Blass talked about looking at the real world for inspiration in how technology advances through time. As a conceptual exercise, the design team looked at elevators and how their look changed over the past 20 years. Sure, phones, TVs, computers and the like have changed tremendously since the ’90s, but how much have elevators really changed? “How much change really goes on in our architecture during that span of time?” said Blass.

“One of the things I said to my team was, ‘Star Trek is not a fantasy show,'” he explained. “It’s not a sci-fi show. It’s a historical drama that takes place in space. But it’s got 60 years of history that we have to be true to.”

To make sure the updated technology would still fit with the visual style established in the original “The Next Generation,” Blass and showrunner Terry Matalas brought back craftspeople who worked on that show and other “Star Trek” projects from the ’90s to ensure continuity. This meant reaching out to Dan Curry, who designed the original Klingon weapon bat’leth, in order to give Worf a new weapon on “Star Trek: Picard.”

LCARS computer interfaces in “Picard” have actual animations on high-definition monitors, whereas before they were printed illustrations on light-up displays. But because of changes in filming techniques, the team at “Picard” pulled some tricks to update the visuals. Take the same LCARS illustrations, which in the ’90s appeared with a green hue on TV despite originally being blue. In “Picard,” computer and video playback specialist Todd A. Marks managed to add a bit of green to the playback version of the LCARS animation to capture that old school look. 

But just because you can make it look shinier or more polished doesn’t necessarily mean you should. Likewise, when recreating the Enterprise-D bridge set for the penultimate episode of season 3, the team used the same tools and even the same type of wood to recreate the set as faithfully as possible. “The painters got exactly the right number of grains in the wood,” Blass said. Make it so, indeed.

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