Adidas Wilson's Blog, page 117
July 13, 2017
Wonder Woman Sequel Might Take Place During The Cold War
After Wonder Woman‘s smashing success at the box office this summer, a sequel was a no-brainer. But where will the Amazonian princess find adventure next? The USSR.
Wonder Woman was far from the first female-led superhero feature film, but her blazing path to the top of the box office in the era of male superhero dominance was something to behold. As has become customary with just about every comic book-based movies these days, sequel plans for Wonder Woman were being drawn up almost as soon as the first viewers were exiting theaters last month. Even without director Patty Jenkins formally locked in to return for Wonder Woman‘s follow-up, Warner Bros. and DC definitely have some plans for Diana’s next cinematic escapade.
Rather than setting a sequel in the timeline after the events of this fall’s Justice League movie, a new report hints that a sequel to Wonder Woman will again be set in a pre-Man of Steel world. According to Screen Rant, Wonder Woman’s next battle will take place during the 1980s, right at the closing moments of the Cold War era. It’s not a common timeframe for superhero films, but the government of the former Soviet Union has made for decent villains in a number of stories over the years.
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More than placing Wonder Woman in the era of espionage and nuclear threats, the report also hints that Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor may also return. Somehow. Given that Wonder Woman takes place during World War I, it would be almost impossible for Steve Trevor to still be alive in the 1980s, let alone given what happens during the climax of Wonder Woman. That said, the chemistry between Pine and Gal Gadot was unmistakable, and bringing back her love interest and closest friend for the sequel makes a great deal of sense. Chris Pine isn’t hard to look at either, so there’s that.
Of course, it could just be that Pine plays a relative of Trevor’s, as unlikely as that scenario seems given his devotion to the war effort. It’s all still rumor for now anyway, as the scripting and story treatments are early in their lives. A lot can change between now and when the actual scripts are sent out and shooting begins. There’s no current release date or window for Wonder Woman yet either, though much of the remaining DC Cinematic Universe has a lockdown on release dates through 2020. For how much of a success Wonder Woman has been thus far, you can believe Warner Bros. will try to find a way to get a follow-up out sooner than the next Presidential election.
Read More: ‘Wonder Woman’ Sequel May Happen During The Cold War | http://popcrush.com/wonder-woman-sequel-cold-war-chris-pine/?trackback=tsmclip
Joe Pesci to join Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’
The Irishman will mark the first time Pacino and Scorsese will have worked together and the first time all the Italian greats are on the big screen together. The film begins shooting next month in and around New York and will continue through December.
Pesci’s involvement comes after the actor said no multiple times (some say about 50); a deal was just sealed this week. He will portray Russell Bufalino, a Mafia boss out of Pennsylvania who has been long suspected of having a hand in the Hoffa’s disappearance. Pesci and Scorsese have done three films together.
Producers of The Irishman are expected to be Fabrica’s Gaston Pavlovich, Jane Rosenthal, Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff. Also on board: Scorsese’s longtime collaborators Ellen Lewis (casting director) and Thelma Schoonmaker (editor). The film is expected to get a small theatrical release to qualify for Oscar.
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This project has been embroiled in controversy when the author of the book I Heard You Paint Houses (which is slang for a hit, ala “painting” the walls with blood) Charles Brandt penned it based on the deathbed confession of Frank ‘The Irishman” Sheeran. The hit man claimed to tell the real story of the disappearance of former Teamsters boss Hoffa. However, the account Sheeran told to Brandt has been disputed. Still, the FBI actually thought enough of Sheeran’s confession to pull up several floor boards from a house where he said he shot and killed Hoffa to look for DNA evidence. Latter the bureau said that the samples found weren’t from Hoffa.
It’s one of the coldest cases in history, but there is no statute of limitations on murder, so it remains open.
Over the years, many stories about what happened to Hoffa has sprung forth, all to be debunked one by one by one. There are a couple of men still alive whose knowledge of the event would carry weight with the FBI and who the bureau believes really doesknow what happened on July 30, 1975 after Hoffa got into Chuckie O’Brien’s car outside the Machus Red Fox restaurant and then disappeared. But these guys (now in their 90s) still aren’t talking.
The Hoffa kids, one still in union politics in Detroit and the other a former judge in St. Louis, are still waiting for resolution to bring their father’s remains back to bury next to their mother. They nor anyone else will likely know the full story behind his disappearance, but it is possible they will find out where their father’s remains are in their lifetimes.
Pesci is repped by longtime manager Melissa Prophet and longtime producing partner Jai Stefan.
Source:
Joe Pesci Joins Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishman’; Others In Talks
July 12, 2017
‘Luke Cage’ Has Nabbed Lucy Liu To Direct Its Season 2 Premiere
Turns out there’s a reason Lucy Liu was spotted on the set of “Luke Cage” in Harlem ― she’s directing the Season 2 premiere.
“What a thrill to collaborate with Marvel and Netflix, two industry titans, who paint our world with inspiring stories and beguiling characters,” the actress said in a statement provided to BuzzFeed, which was first to report the story. The news was also shared on the official “Luke Cage” Twitter page.
Skilled with a blade and a camera. Enjoy Harlem, @LucyLiu. https://t.co/dFTz8ihGfo
— Luke Cage (@LukeCage) July 11, 2017
In addition to starring in CBS’ “Elementary,” Liu has directed four episodes since 2014.
That’s the good news. The bad news: “Luke Cage” isn’t returning to Netflix until sometime in 2018. (So the cast and crew still have some time to drop in on Harlem coffee shops.)
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The series has been filming through the summer. While details are scarce, Luke and Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) reportedly continue their romance, while the villainous Shades (Theo Rossi) has said he’ll be back, too.
Season 1′s all-male stable of directors included a few people of color alongside showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker. But right after Liu’s premiere steps in seasoned TV director Steph Green, who helms the second episode, bringing more diversity in the directors’ ranks to the Netflix hit.
While they wait for new episodes, fans will spot their favorite be-hoodied superhero in “The Defenders” alongside Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter), Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones). The highly anticipated ensemble action series ― featuring a villain played by Sigourney Weaver ― is set to debut on Netflix August 18.
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/luke-cage-lucy-liu-premiere_us_5965091ce4b005b0fdc8d33f
Black Panther is a ‘Cross Between The Godfather and James Bond’
Marvel’s Black Panther is taking inspiration from two of the most famous movie properties of all time. One of the criticisms that the Marvel Cinematic Universe had when it was starting out was that the Avengers lacked cultural diversity during Phase 1. Avengers: Age of Ultron created a far more diverse team by changing the roster quite a bit. Heroes like the Falcon and War Machine were added as Iron Man and the Hulk left the team – but even up to now, all the solo films have yet to be led any characters of color. That will all change next February.
When Captain America: Civil War was announced during the Phase 3 keynote, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige not only revealed that Chadwick Boseman would debut as Black Panther in that film but that he would also star in his own solo film. We know that the story of Black Panther will center around Boseman’s character T’Challa, who became the king of the fictional African country of Wakanda after his father was killed in Civil War. Wakanda is an isolationist country that has long protected its most valuable asset, aka. Vibranium – the same material that Captain America’s shield is made of and what Ultron was after in Age of Ultron. Exploiting Vibranium, Wakanda has create advanced weapons, vehicles, and medicines making it secretly the most technologically-advanced nation in the Marvel world.
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Like all Marvel Studios films, Black Panther takes its influences from other genres and classic films. Producer Nate Moore has revealed what films they looked at for inspiration. Here’s what he told Entertainment Weekly:
What I think we landed on was sort of a cross between James Bond and The Godfather. A big, operatic family drama centered on a world of international espionage. So hopefully we’re getting the best of both worlds.
That description fits the Black Panther trailer released back in June. It teased some 007-like, world-hopping action in the form of a chase in South Korea, while also mainly focusing in on T’Challa’s role as the leader of Wakanda. While the trailer and Moore’s comments seems to give us a good idea about what the film will be like, Feige told EW that audiences aren’t prepared for what the film will deliver:
I don’t think people are prepared for what this movie is going to be. Not just Black Panther, but the Dora Milaje, and Killmonger, and the entire design of Wakanda – both its traditional African-inspired elements, but also the Vibranium inspired techno-elements. I can’t think of a blend that has happened like that before in movies.
Once again going back to the trailer, audiences might be familiar with technology like Black Panther’s royal jet, which is not dissimilar from the S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjets. However, in just a few short glimpses it is clear that director Ryan Coogler has crafted a very unique looking and colorful country and a stark contrast to pretty much every Marvel film setting, so far.
With Marvel poised to run a 90 minute panel at San Diego Comic-Con this year, we can expect them to reveal more about Black Panther and other Marvel films. What remains to be seen is whether those sneak peeks will also be released onto the world wide web or remain Comic-Con exclusives for now. There has been a move to release footage from the convention during the panel, so odds are pretty decent we’ll see even more from this unique Marvel film in the near future.
Source:
http://screenrant.com/black-panther-movie-godfather-bond/
A free robot lawyer is fighting parking tickets and much more
Lawyers can be really expensive, and for small disputes like fighting your landlord, claiming lost luggage for an airline, or a parking ticket, it can feel like a fight isn’t worth it.
Enter DoNotPay, the world’s first robot lawyer, built by young British entrepreneur Joshua Browder. DoNotPay hit headlines in early 2016 after then successfully appealing £2 million in parking tickets. The bot then expanded to help refugees, and now it’s expanding into 1,000 different areas of law in all 50 US states and across the UK.
According to MarketLine research, the US legal market alone is worth $292 billion (£227 billion).
Now Browder’s bot can help you ask for more parental leave, dispute nuisance calls, fight a fraudulent purchase on your credit card, and a host of other issues.
“I originally started DoNotPay two years ago to fight my own parking tickets and became an accidental witness to how lawyers are exploiting human misery,” said Browder. “From discrimination in Silicon Valley to the tragedy in London with an apartment building setting on fire, it seems the only people benefitting from injustice are a handful of lawyers.
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“I hope that DoNotPay, by helping with these issues and many more, will ultimately give everyone the same legal power as the richest in society.”
The updated version of DoNotPay goes live on Wednesday.
Ask the bot a question and it generates a legal response for you
DoNotPay works as a Facebook chatbot, or through the DoNotPay site. You type in a query, like “I keep getting unwanted calls.” DoNotPay gives you a few options: it can generate a cease-and-desist letter for you to send to the relevant authorities, or if you’ve done that already, it can advise you on next steps.
Browder told Business Insider that the bot can’t take on court battles “yet”, but it can help with anything involving documents. It can fill PDFs, or generate letters, something he said is “easy to automate”. The bot is powered by IBM’s “Watson” AI technology.
That’s not to say training DoNotPay has been easy, particularly around natural language.
Browder said: “For example, knowing that when someone says ‘the signs were difficult to understand’ to the bot, it has to know to fill in the letter referring to incorrect signage regulations. This challenge was the hardest, but with Watson and a year of hard work, I am ecstatic that we made it possible.”
DoNotPay has also challenged considerably more parking tickets — it’s contested 375,000 tickets in the UK, New York, and Seattle, the equivalent of $10 million (£7.7 million).
Browder thinks DoNotPay might help prevent another tragedy like Grenfell, where at least 80 people died or went missing in a tower block fire.
“The current set of bots are designed to prevent further atrocities by making sure landlords and developers follow basic safety regulations,” he explained. “For example, to immediately fix a gas leak.”
The bot could also allow those left homeless by such accidents to claim housing more easily.
Browder’s bot has earned him national attention and, he said, it just started as a side project. He’s now entrepreneur-in-residence at venture firm Greylock, something he says he “could never have imagined.”
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SoundCloud, the ‘YouTube for audio’, cuts 173 jobs, closes San Francisco, London offices
Some rough news today for SoundCloud, the audio streaming site whose content is largely based around uploads from its 175 million users in 190 countries. The company has announced that it is laying off 173 employees, and it is closing offices in San Francisco and London. The moves are being described as cost cutting measures “to ensure our path to long-term, independent success,” in the words of co-founder and CEO Alex Ljung, who revealed the news in a blog post. The startup, which was founded in Berlin in 2008, will continue to have offices in Berlin and New York.
The news comes after a rough period for SoundCloud. After entering into talks but never closing two potential acquisitions, first to Twitter and then to Spotify, Soundcloud arranged a $70 million credit line in March of this year to help the business continue to operate as it worked on closing a round of funding believed to be in the region of $100 million.
Today’s news could mean one of two things: either the funding never closed and/or investors who are considering it have laid down some cost-cutting conditions in order to see it go through. The fact that there is no funding round being announced today makes me guess that the round has yet to close.
SoundCloud — which was co-founded by Ljung and Eric Wahlforss — to date has raised around $193 million. Its current investors include Universal, Sony and Warner Music — who all took stakes as part of the company’s efforts to move away from a strong issue around licensing for tracks uploaded to its platform.
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Other backers include as a number of VCs and others including GGV, Index, IVP, KPCB, Twitter (who invested about two years after the acquisition deal fell through) and Union Square Ventures.
At the time of the credit line, the company told us in a statement that it was expecting 2.5-times year-on-year growth at the company:
“We are pleased to have secured a flexible $70 million credit line from Ares Capital, Kreos Capital and Davidson Technology that is ideally structured for a company with our strong credit rating and in our stage of growth,” a spokesperson for the company said in a statement. “This new funding will enable SoundCloud to strategically grow our technology and personnel resources to fuel our expected 2.5 times year-over-year growth in 2017, while building a financially sustainable platform on which our connected community of creators, listeners and curators can thrive for years to come.”
In today’s blog post by Ljung, he noted that revenue has “more than doubled” (notably leaving out the 2.5x figure). But in any case, those revenues are not massive: in the company’s last UK filings, a condition of operating in the UK, it noted that 2015 revenues were at €21.1 million, or $24 million, implying fiscal year 2016 revenues of about €50 million.
But at the same time, SoundCloud’s losses have continued to grow: 2015’s net loss was just over €51 million.
In addition to funding and financial issues, there are questions about what direction the actual business is taking.
SoundCloud has been making a lot of efforts to build out revenue-generating services, currently focused mainly around subscription tiers for premium content for users; special tiers for content creators; and advertising. However, it’s not at all clear how many users it has picked up in these areas, or how well the ad play is working as the company has never disclosed numbers.
It has also faced a lot of changes in its personnel. Most recently, the company parted ways with its chief content officer, Stephen Bryan. It’s chief revenue officer, Alison Moore, who joined last year, appears to still be with the company.
The bigger picture has been a somewhat grim one for the digital music industry: although digital has overtaken recorded, physical music as the primary way that people “purchase” and consume music today, the economics of the business have never added up. Pandora and Spotify, the two biggest streaming companies today, are both operating at a loss. Pandora recently picked up a new investor, Sirius XM, but it appeared to come at its own cost: the company also sold off its Ticketfly ticketing business, parted ways with its iconic CEO and closed its small international operations.
Source:
SoundCloud, the ‘YouTube for audio’, cuts 173 jobs, closes San Francisco, London offices
Game of Thrones: What is the R+L=J theory?
If you’ve been fighting your way through the thickets of Game Of Thrones internet fandom for the past few years, you’ll probably have come across the R+L=J theory already.
If, on the other hand, you know nothing (Jon Snow) then allow us to explain: the theory is a plausible bit of speculation about past and future events of the series, and after the season six finale, well, shit just got a whole lot more real.
What we’re about to explain could very well spoil a surprise or two in the coming series, so tread carefully if you want to stay pure.
R+L=J: what is it?
Let’s start at the end: J is for Jon. The theory aims to explain who Jon’s real parents are. From the start of the show (and the books) it’s been obvious to everyone except the characters that Ned Stark is a really unlikely person to have fathered a bastard. Given that his honesty, nobility and integrity got him executed, how likely is it that he sired a boy on a random wench while out warring with Robert Baratheon under the reign of the Mad King Aerys II?
Ned promised Jon that when he returned from King’s Landing he’d tell him the truth about his mother, but sadly Ned never came back and Jon never found out.
But Bran did.
In his visions of the past, Bran saw the young Ned (and Howland Reed, father of Meera and Jojen Reed, the brother and sister who helped Bran get to the Three-Eyed Raven) slay the legendary Sir Arthur Dayne and enter the Tower Of Joy. Inside the tower he finds his sister, Lyanna, who, we know from series one, was kidnapped by Rhaegar Targaryen, Aerys’ eldest son, precipitating Robert Baratheon’s war on Aerys.
In the tower, the dying Lyanna hands over a baby to Ned, muttering words about someone wanting to kill him.
© HBO
While the show is coy about it – Rhaegar rarely gets a mention – book-readers will be under no illusion that the baby is Rhaegar’s. R+L=J, QED. OMG. WTF. LOL.
R+L=J: so what?
If Rhaegar and Lyanna are Jon’s parents, then Jon is a Targaryen. The Targaryens ruled Westeros for centuries. Not only does Jon have a strong claim to the Iron Throne, being the Mad King’s illegitimate grandson, but he’s also Daenerys’ nephew. (She was Rhaegar’s baby sister).
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Targaryens, as we all know, share an affinity with dragons. They also practice marriage between siblings, though whether that flexibility extends to aunts and nephews remains to be seen. Dany is looking for a husband in Westeros, after all, and Jon is King In The North…
And on that point, let’s not forget that Jon is not only a Targaryen but a Stark as well, which makes him the living embodiment of a united Westeros.
Seems like that would be important, no?
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American tourist killed in Greece was fatally beaten over a selfie, police say
American Bakari Henderson was killed by a group of as many as 15 men because of an argument over a selfie at a bar on a Greek island, police said.
A confrontation began after Henderson, who was vacationing with friends, asked to take a picture with a waitress, and quickly escalated into a fistfight involving other customers and two bar employees, Greek police spokesman Theodore Chronopoulos told The Washington Post. Video surveillance shows that the 22-year-old recent graduate of the University of Arizona was fatally beaten in a span of just 30 seconds, Chronopoulos said.
“They kicked and punched him to his body and his head,” he said. “His death came from hits in his head.”
Nine men have been arrested and charged with intentional homicide.
UPDATE: Family of Bakari Henderson releases statement https://t.co/3oYa1Dgkif pic.twitter.com/6HEBffQSyy
— KXAN News (@KXAN_News) July 8, 2017
The fight happened during a bar night devoted to Serbians. Chronopoulos said one of the suspects, a 33-year-old Serbian, got in an argument with the waitress over the selfie. He also hit Henderson, who then smashed a beer bottle on the other customer’s table, Chronopoulos said. Soon, about 10 to 15 men chased Henderson outside the bar and immediately caught him. They left him lying on the ground after beating him.
The police account of what happened early Friday morning at a bar in Laganas, a tourist village on the island of Zakynthos, differs from descriptions by Henderson’s friends, who said he was minding his own business when the suspects confronted him.
Daniel Brown, one of three friends who were with Henderson in Zakynthos, told ABC News that they were speaking to no one when the suspects initiated the fight. He said they immediately started CPR on Henderson after the suspects left and rushed him to a hospital.
Travis Jenkins, another friend, told ABC News that Henderson was not the type to start or get involved in a fight.
“He was always the one who was the peacemaker,” Jenkins said.
John Gramlich, a childhood friend, agreed.
“It’s not in his character at all to be aggressive or instigate anything,” he told the Associated Press. “He’s always the guy who is calming people down, really.”
Henderson’s friends did not immediately reply to Facebook messages requesting comment.
Jan Richardson, Henderson’s aunt and a spokeswoman for the family, said they have not received any details from investigators about what happened.
“There’d been lots of rumors floating around,” she told The Post. “We don’t have any official notice of what happened other than the fact, of course, that he was killed.”
[‘He was just starting his life’: Friends, family mourn American tourist killed in Greece bar fight]
Two of the suspects, a 34-year-old bartender from Greece and a 32-year-old security guard who is a British citizen of Serbian origin, were immediately arrested. Six more — Serbian natives ages 18 to 25 — were arrested later after they were identified from surveillance videos and police raided the hotel where they were staying, authorities said. Photos and videos taken from Zakynthos show some of the suspects covering their faces as they were being escorted by police.
A ninth suspect, the 33-year-old Serbian who police say started the fight, was arrested Tuesday, Chronopoulos said.
It’s unclear whether all the suspects know each other, but Chronopoulos said the waitress possibly knows some of the men. He said Henderson’s friends did not get involved in the fight.
Eight of the suspects were scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, but the hearing was moved to Wednesday and Thursday to give their lawyers time to prepare, the Associated Press reported. A judge will decide whether they should be kept in police custody while awaiting trial.
Five of the suspects are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, when they are expected to give an apology, Chronopoulos said. Three others will appear Thursday. The ninth suspect arrested Tuesday is scheduled for a Friday hearing.
Chronopoulos said police are prohibited by law from releasing the suspects’ names.
Henderson’s friends have created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his funeral and for transportation costs to return his body to the United States. More than $45,000 had been raised as of Tuesday afternoon.
“The love for this young man overflows and this loss is unbearable for so many of us,” according to the page. “If you knew Bakari you knew he was driven in life and no goal is never set too high for him to achieve. He was just starting his life, so many dreams and aspirations yet to be achieved.”
Richardson said family members are expecting to bring the body back to the United States sometime this week.
Source:
Ryan Reynolds’s Deadpool Gives Some Love to ‘Wonder Woman’
The snarky mercenary Deadpool may have a hard time taking much of anything seriously, but he sure knows how to give credit where credit is due.
In a genuinely heartwarming gesture, Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds posted an adorable photo to Instagram congratulating Wonder Woman on her incredible box office success.
Of course he couldn’t help tossing in a body odor joke, but what do you expect from one of the comics world’s most irreverent anti-heroes? According to movie industry tracker Box Office Mojo, Wonder Woman has earned a staggering $745 million gross so far—$368 million of that domestically in the U.S.—since the film’s debut on June 2. Deadpool, a surprise mega-hit that debuted in February 2016, still barely edges out Wonder Woman in gross sales at $783 million (though don’t expect that lead to last for long). Diana of Themyscira has already surpassed Deadpool’s $363 million domestic gross returns.
Wonder Woman‘s success is especially sweet, considering many Hollywood executives still saw the female-led superhero movie as a risk after years of producing movies about male heroes and male-dominated ensembles. Reynolds’ congratulations, especially for a movie from a rival studio, clearly sends a public message of support to Wonder Woman‘s powerful cast and to director Patty Jenkins, who spent years bringing the film to fruition.
Jenkins responded to Reynolds’ Instagram Valentine with some sweet words of her own.
You are the absolute greatest, Ryan Reynolds @VancityReynolds Thank you! We love you and your movie too. ❤️❤️❤️ #deadpool #deadpool2 ❤️❤️❤️https://t.co/6Raj3VBEIR
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) July 11, 2017
Source:
https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/ryan-reynolds-instagram-wonder-woman/
