President Donald Trump’s proposed 2018 budget calls for big cuts to the EPA and Department of Energy, but NASA’s budget would only be cut by one percent. It looks like Trump has had designs on NASA that include potential moneymaking activities as wel…
Weeks ahead of the forthcoming Hulu adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, a classic dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood, the author and the series’ star, Elisabeth Moss, discussed the story with Time.
The show, like the novel, follows a woman named Offred, who’s been enlisted as a “Handmaid,” or sex surrogate, for a couple with fertility issues. This setup is the norm in Gilead, a religious fundamentalist society that formed as a response to mass infertility.
And while the premise may seem extreme to some readers ― in fact, early reviewers of the novel dismissed it as implausible ― Atwood asserts that the world of The Handmaid’s Tale is nothing new.
“I made nothing up,” Atwood said in the Time interview, citing the Salem witch trials of the 17th century as an example of women’s oppression.
“The control of women and babies has been a part of every repressive regime in history,” Atwood continued. “Not much has changed.”
While the show was planned and shot before the 2016 presidential election, Atwood has taken its release as an opportunity to discuss today’s political issues, releasing a letter from PEN/America about the dangers of tyranny and speaking out on Twitter.
And she doesn’t seem to plan on going anywhere soon: In a recent audiobook update, Atwood hinted at the possibility of a sequel.
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In the kitchen, nothing screams “I have money” like an AGA. The expensive British-made cast-iron stoves (or cookers, depending on where you’re from) have barely changed in terms of looks much over the last century, but they have got smarter. Thanks t…
Uber has made a lot of questionable decisions behind closed doors, and today, yet another one emerged. According to The Information, between 2014 and 2016, Uber used secret software called “Hell” in order to track drivers from its biggest rival, Lyft.
Labyrinth was one of those movies that I thought was creepy when I was young, but I watched it anyway. Puppets are weird. Now you can relive those creepy, weird moments from Jim Henson’s 1986 tour de force in board game form. The goal of the game is simple: save the Sarah’s baby brother from Jareth, the Goblin King.
Up to four players can team up as Sarah, Hoggle, Ludo, or Sir Didymus, and work together to save the tot. If you want, a fifth player can portray Jareth, and play against the team.
The game requires 13 turns – one for each hour you have to rescue the baby – though it only takes about an hour of real time to complete. It plays out on a 2′ x 2′ board, and includes over 30 game tokens, 32 labyrinth cards, six different polyhedral dice, four character sheets, four ability cards, and four weakness cards.
This game looks pretty cool and sells for $49.99(USD) over at ThinkGeek.
Cadillac’s Super Cruise may be a practically invisible change on the 2018 CT6, but the semi-autonomous driving system is actually one of the biggest announcements at the New York International Auto Show. It’s intended to take control of the luxury sedan on the roads where drivers get most bored, highways and freeways, and though it may only be Level 2 … Continue reading
HP is back today with a new round of Pavilion laptops, but where it chose to reveal these notebooks may come as something of a surprise. Instead of announcing them at some technology trade show, HP instead chose to bring them to Coachella, the annual music and arts festival that goes down in the Colorado Desert. The desert may seem … Continue reading
Former Trump foreign policy adviser Carter Page on Thursday could not say definitively whether he spoke to Russian officials during Donald Trump’s presidential campaign last year about the possibility of easing U.S. sanctions against Russia.
“Absolutely not,” Page said initially, when asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
But Page, who has repeatedly changed his tune on the extent of his ties to Russia, then claimed that he could not recall.
“I don’t remember. We’ll see what comes out in this [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] transcript. I don’t recall every single word that I ever said. But I would never make any offer or intimate anything,” he said. “Something may have come up in a conversation. I have no recollection, and there’s nothing specifically that I would have done that would have given people that impression.”
When Stephanopoulos pressed him on why he could not give a definitive answer, Page again said that he could not remember.
“Someone may have brought it up. I have no recollection,” Page said.
Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that the FBI obtained a FISA court order last summer to investigate Page, as part of its probe investigating Russian influence in last year’s presidential election and ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials.
Page previously denied being part of the investigation, but when asked about the report on Wednesday, he would neither confirm nor deny it.
“I have nothing to say about any ongoing investigations,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I have no comment,” he added later, when asked if FBI officials had interviewed him.
Page was fired from Trump’s campaign last September, following reports that he discussed the issue of lifting sanctions with Russian officials. He also traveled to the country and gave several public speeches criticizing U.S. policy toward Russia.
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“Star Wars” fans, this is the series you’re looking for.
It should’ve happened a long time ago, in a galaxy not so far, far away, but finally your favorite female “Star Wars” heroes are getting their own series, “Star Wars: Forces of Destiny.”
The new animated shorts will “focus on untold stories of everyday heroism that shape the destinies of Rey, Jyn Erso, Sabine Wren, Princess Leia, Ahsoka Tano and others.”
Oh, the most exciting part? Actors from the films are coming back to voice their roles.
Daisy Ridley will voice Rey, Felicity Jones will voice Jyn Erso, and even Lupita Nyong’o is coming back as Maz Kanata, serving as the show’s narrator. After the death of Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia will reportedly be voiced by Shelley Young.
Thankfully, unlike Unkar Plutt from “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Disney isn’t trying to be cheap with anyone. The series is getting books, apparel, action figures, and even a TV special. This is a welcome sign after the debacle surrounding the noticeable lack of Rey toys around the release of “The Force Awakens.”
(What the heck was up with that? Rey is a baller. And BB-8 is a baller, too, for other reasons … because BB-8 looks like a ball.)
Also exciting, the series will remain “true to the ‘Star Wars’ canon, showing how choices both big and small ultimately shape the destinies of beloved characters.”
That means we may even learn some secrets about the characters’ pasts. It’s unlikely the series is going to reveal anything major ― like the big mystery about Rey’s parents. But, Holy Nerf Herder! What if it does reveal the big mystery about Rey’s parents?
“’Star Wars: Forces of Destiny’ is for anyone who has been inspired by Leia’s heroism, Rey’s courage, or Ahsoka’s tenacity,” Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, in a statement. “We’re thrilled that so many of the original actors are reprising their roles in these shorts, which capture the small moments and everyday decisions that shape who these characters are.”
Based on that information, it looks like we’re just getting minor reveals about these characters, but we’ll take what we can get.
The two-to-three-minute shorts will be available on Disney’s YouTube channel in July. A two-part TV special featuring eight more episodes will air on the Disney Channel this fall.
Until then, may the “Forces” be with you.
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