Monthly Archives: January 2016
Walking Dead’s Danai Gurira Cast as Tupac’s Mom
The Walking Dead star Danai Gurira will play Tupac Shakur's mother in the upcoming biopic All Eyez on Me. Gurira, who plays Michonne on The Walking Dead, will join the film already in production in Atlanta.
Afeni Shakur—Tupac's mom—is an executive producer on the film and a "complex woman," as Deadline reported. A political activist and Black Panther member, Afeni Shakur had a big influence on her son's development as a politically aware rapper and poet.
Remembering David Bowie’s Movie Roles
The world lost a truly irreplaceable artist with the passing of David Bowie. As a musician, Bowie was able to remain relevant and vital for over four decades by reinventing his sound and switching up his fashion to create a spectacularly myriad catalogue of songs and styles. Years upon years of vastly different work - yet all still quintessentially Bowie.
Bowie, born David Robert Jones, was also no stranger to the silver screen as he began to appear in movies, and TV, as soon as christened himself with his new stage name in 1967.
And with most everyone now diving deep into their Bowie music collection, re-listening to his timeless classics, we thought we'd scroll back through his movie history and pick out his most memorable appearances. Because, being the artist that he was, Bowie attracted the attention of many similarly-minded creative types - like David Lynch, Christopher Nolan, Julian Schnabel, Martin Scosese, and more.
Jamie Foxx Is Little John in Robin Hood: Origins
Jamie Foxx is your next Little John in Robin Hood: Origins, the latest film adaptation of the British legend.
Deadline reports the casting, along with a few details on this version of the character. Foxx will play opposite Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service) as the title character. In this version the pair begin as enemies, having fought on opposite sides during the Crusades.
The "gritty" retelling finds them becoming friends, of course, as they join together to face the injustice predictably swelling in Sherwood Forest.
Security Updates for Windows 8 to Cease After January 12
Windows 8 users will need to upgrade to a more recent version of the operating system, as Microsoft will no longer support Win 8 after tomorrow, January 12.
Normally, Microsoft would support a version of Windows for 10 years following its initial launch, but as ZDNet explains, Windows 8 is in a unique position due to the existence of Windows 8.1. 8.1 is being treated as a Service Pack instead of a new OS, and MS only provides two years' worth of security updates to those that choose to operate without it.
Fortunately, people can upgrade to either Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 for free, and upgrading to the former extends support to January 2023. Alternatively, after the last round of updates coming tomorrow, they can continue to use the OS at their own risk.
The 100: New Season 3 Trailer Shows Peace, Promises War
"Our people believe this is real peace. Try not to screw that up."
Wanna bet the peace gets screwed up?
Check out this brand new Season 3 trailer - from E! News - for The CW's The 100, which premieres January 21st at 9/8c.
The Sky Crew is in the midst of a shaky truce with The Grounders, Clarke is being hunted by just about everything that walks or crawls, Jasper's in torment - it's a Future Earth party like only The 100 can provide!
Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN and a member of the Television Critics Association (TCA). Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and Facebook at Facebook.com/Showrenity.
Researchers Create Battery That Deactivates Before Getting Too Hot
Batteries are used in a lot of the technology and toys we use everyday, and the more they're used, the hotter they can get. But what if these batteries could turn themselves off before they got too hot and exploded?
Well, a group of researchers at Stanford University have created such a battery, which they claim is the first lithium-ion battery to have this ability.
In the above video, you can see that a simple LED and hot-air gun were used in testing and showed that everything worked as intended.
The group attached a battery to a special polyethylene film that reacts to heat, then filled it with spiky nickel particles that conduct electricity when they come into contact with one another. At a normal temperature, electricity is generated as it's supposed to, but when a higher temperature is reached, or when the team heated it up to above 160° F (70° C), the film expands, causing the nickel particles to separate and interrupting the flow of electricity.
The Witcher 3 Among WGA Best Story Nominees
The Writers Guilds of America has announced its nominees "for outstanding achievement in writing for videogames during 2015."
Their list of games up for best story of 2015 include Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Pillars of Eternity, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.
If you're curious about certain omissions, it's worth noting that nominated games actually include releases from December 1 of 2014 to November 30 of last year. So, if your favorite end-of-year entry from 2015 didn't make it you'll just have to wait until next year.
In addition, credited writers (a full list of which can be found for each nominee on the WGA website) only include those who were WGA members when their script was submitted.
Doctor Who Series 2 Funko Toys Revealed
Funko has revealed its second wave of Doctor Who Pop! vinyl figures. This round features the Ninth Doctor and his dutiful companions, "Captain" Jack Harness and Rose Taylor.
Also releasing in this series are the Doctor's wife, River Song, and a scary alien-humanoid of The Silence. We'll also see Sarah Jame Smith, a companion of the Third and Fourth Doctors. The Doctor's K-9 companion is available as a GameStop exclusive.
The rest of the figures will first be available at Hot Topic, then, the world. Funko Pop!'s Doctor Who figures will show up in stores in February.
Funko Pop! vinyl toys retail for $10.
Alienation Delayed
The release date for Housemarque's upcoming game Alienation has been pushed back to March 23.
The new date comes from Twitter, where the developer responded to a fan who asked when the game was officially coming out.
@BiggCMan it's been moved to March 23rd, is the UK store still displaying the older date?
— Housemarque (@Housemarque) January 9, 2016
It was originally believed that Alienation would release on March 2, as the PlayStation store in several regions including the UK displayed the early March date.
Supergirl Tackles Alan Moore Adaptation, Adds Smallville Alum
Supergirl is going to be adapting the Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic "For the Man Who Has Everything" in an upcoming episode.
Executive producer Andrew Kreisberg announced the news at a Supergirl presentation for the Television Critics Association. Calling the story "one of my favorite comic books," Kreisberg revealed that the series is doing an adaptation of Superman arc but with Supergirl.
The episode will be called "For the Girl Who Has Everything," and will begin with Kara waking up back on Krypton with no idea of how she got there. "For the Girl Who Has Everything" will be episode 13.
Kreisberg said he's been pitching doing this adaptation since he started on Supergirl, but the reason it's coming at a time in the season is it's a time "where Kara is feeling very lost and feeling very alone and very detaching from the people in her life." "When she is granted this it's a wonderful life moment ... there's actually a reason for her to want it to be true, because it's much more palatable and easy for her to be there," he said.