> Luke Skywalker had a weird wife named Mara Jade who was a femme fatal ex-Sith assassin with a purple lightsaber. Chewbacca died at the age of 225 years old when Star Wars' Aldi brand Borg dropped a moon on him. The Death Star plans were not stolen by a ragtag bunch of rebel soldiers that included beloved martial arts leading man Donnie Yen, but rather a dadish guy in a Henley who looks like he's heading to the last farmer's market of the season on a brisk Sunday in the fall. > > Yes, the old Starr Wars Expanded Universe was a bit of an odd duck, and you can maybe see why Disney shunted it to the side in favor of a new continuity. All the same, that astounding (non) canon of books, comics, and especially games still has a stranglehold on my psyche, and it's always heartening to see its more funky outgrowths still get some love. Enter Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith Remastered by a modding team led by General Tantor on ModDB, which recently got a big 3.0 update

> Labour will make it easier to change gender and is considering allowing a single family doctor to sign off on the decision under plans to “simplify” the process. > > The party is considering how to make the legally binding certificate easier to obtain while still having guardrails to prevent mirroring controversial ­proposals in Scotland that would have ­removed doctors from the process ­altogether. > > The plans include ditching a panel of doctors and lawyers that approve ­gender recognition certificates, the document allowing transgender people to have their affirmed gender legally recognised, and only requiring one doctor to be involved in the process. > > The Times understands that one option under consideration is that the doctor could be a GP. Labour would ­also ­remove the ability of a spouse to object to the change. A source said the party wanted to make the process “less medicalised” but added that the plans would retain the involvement of a doctor and would not allow people to self-identify in order to obtain legal changes. > > They said it had not yet been decided whether the medical professional would be a GP or a gender specialist, with the issue likely to go to consultation if the party wins the next election. > > The discussions centre on concerns that if the single doctor was a specialist, a GP would still need to make the ­referral, therefore retaining the two-step process that Labour wants to drop. > > There were also questions over ­whether GPs were qualified or had the capacity to make the decision. The Royal College of GPs said its ­members were already working under “considerable pressure”. > > ... > > Professor Kamila Hawthorne, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said she would be concerned about “shifting sole responsibility for signing gender recognition certificates to GPs”. > > She said while the college supported improving care for patients with gender dysphoria “including tackling the long waits they face for treatment and ­services”, she added: “For most GPs, detailed management of gender dysphoria is outside of our area of expertise.”

Archive

> Former President Trump said he wants President Biden to be drug-tested before their first debate. > > “I’m gonna demand a drug test too, by the way,” Trump said at the Minnesota Republican Party’s Lincoln Reagan Dinner Friday. “I am, no I really am. I don’t want him coming in like the State of the Union, he was high as a kite.” > > Trump has previously stated in a radio interview that Biden was “all jacked up” at the beginning of his State of the Union address, as well as “higher than a kite.”

cross-posted from: https://real.lemmy.fan/post/3480795

> A Florida man suffering from persistent migraines was in for what was likely a nasty shock when he sought medical treatment and learned what was causing the pain. > > Festering tapeworm eggs were discovered to have taken up residence in his head after physicians conducted a CT scan to obtain a detailed image of the 52-year-old man's brain. And lots of them. > > But the parasitic infection didn't happen by accident. The man admitted to making a habit of regularly consuming undercooked bacon, which experts believe is what made him particularly vulnerable to the infestation, according to a report published in the American Journal of Case Reports.

> Fallout star Ella Purnell has joined the cast of Craig Roberts’ comedy-horror The Scurry, which is now filming in the UK. > > Purnell will play a leading role, of a park attendant who must use her unique skills and strength to survive a band of killer squirrels. > > True Brit Entertainment is co-producer and UK distributor on the film, which is shooting on location and at Dragon Studios in South Wales. > > Previously announced cast members include Rhys Ifans, Screen Star of Tomorrow Paapa Essiedu, and Antonia Thomas. The Mash Report writer Tim Telling penned the script. > ... > > The film follows two pest controllers called to a country park café to investigate a routine vermin problem, only for an avalanche of deranged squirrels to descend at nightfall, wreaking mayhem on the staff and visitors in the park.

IMDb

> For many Star Wars faithful, bringing up the canned Boba Fett 1313 title instantly evokes some painful memories. The game, which was set to start the beloved bounty hunter from the original movie trilogy, was revealed over a decade ago but was canceled quite soon after its reveal, leaving fans of the franchise to wallow and think what if. Now, a new Starfield mod allows players to carry out their dreams of exploring space as the famed bounty hunter, along with his infamous pistol. > > However, the best part about Starfield continues to be its hyper-dedicated modding community. Crozzbow uploaded a mod for Starfield, adding arguably the most beloved Star Wars character, Boba Fett, with his armor based on a canceled LucasArts and Disney collaboration. > > There’s no doubt that Starfield has experienced one of the more rocky launches for Bethesda Game Studios. However fans have felt about the space game, debating its heavily debated story and RPG elements, Starfield’s public perception has been on the rise recently. The RPG got its biggest patch yet, improving performance and adding a few gameplay updates like planetary maps. > > Boba Fett 1313 was initially revealed at E3 2013 when in-person gaming events were all the rage. A trailer for the game dropped, making die-hards of the franchise absolutely lose their minds that Boba Fett was finally getting his (at the time) first stand-alone project. Sadly, the game never saw the light of day and was canceled by the involved parties soon after. However, that hasn’t stopped Crozzbow from fulfilling their dream of roaming space as Boba. > > Their mod, available here, adds Boba Fett’s 1313 armor, helmet, jetpack, side cape, long cape, and custom hat, and, of course, his famous blaster weapon can be obtained through the Crimson Fleet questline. The high-quality details of each piece of armor are genuinely incredible and clearly took a long time to polish up.

> Oscar nominee Bill Nighy (Living), Indie Spirit nominee Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place I & II), BAFTA nominee George MacKay (1917) and BAFTA nominee Matt Smith (The Crown) are set to star in acclaimed Argentinian filmmaker Pablo Trapero’s (El Clan) English-language movie debut & Sons, which is being scripted by Oscar winner Sarah Polley (Women Talking). > > Bankside Films is launching world sales on the buzzy project at this week’s Cannes market. Bankside, UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance are co-repping North American rights. > > Pic is based on the novel of the same name by David Gilbert. The official synopsis reads: > > “Andrew is a novelist best known to the world as A.N. Dyer. He wrote his first book when he was 27 and it became an instant classic, selling 45M copies and creating a cult around its elusive author. Andrew wakes up one morning convinced that he is about to die. He knows that with his time on Earth dwindling he needs to set right the major relationships of his life and so he summons his sons to be with him. > > “It’s been almost 20 years since an ‘incident’ tore apart the Dyer home. An incident that has a name – Andy. Andy’s the reason his world-famous father, Andrew, no longer speaks to his adult age sons, Richard and Jamie, nor to his ex-wife, Isabel.
However when his sons arrive, laden with their own problems, Andrew does not seek their forgiveness, as they expected, instead he tells them something so wild it couldn’t possibly be true. Or could it?” > > ... > > Argentinian filmmaker Pablo Trapero’s 2015 film El Clan set the record for the largest opening weekend box-office of all time in his home country of Argentina and went on to win the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival. His first feature, Mundo Grúa won the Critics Prize at the 1999 Venice International Film Festival. He is a regular at major festivals including Cannes, Toronto and Venice. More recently he has directed high profile series for Amazon and Apple+. > > The filmmaker said: “What appealed to me most was the universality of a “normal” family dynamic as the core of the storytelling. Our most intimate relationships are usually our most complicated. & Sons tells the story of a collection of people who are all flawed and trying to find peace with one another, although struggling to do so. The unexpected surreal twist makes things beautifully more complicated. The sensational cast, that i am thrilled to be working with, is a dream come true. They are the perfect ensemble to tackle and elevate these characters in the most powerful way, honouring the equally potent writing from Sarah.”

> The world is on the cusp of an energy transformation that could make the Industrial Revolution look minor. Mike Cannon-Brookes is banking on the Land Down Under to be a major driver of that change. > > The billionaire co-founder of software giant Atlassian plans for Australia, where he grew up, to become the hub for the two biggest renewable-energy projects ever. According to Bloomberg, the SunCable project will build a 20-gigawatt solar farm and a 4,300-kilometer undersea transmission cable, called the Australia-Asia PowerLink. > > But even he acknowledges this $21 billion undertaking by SunCable is a "completely bats*** insane project." Still, it's the first step in a 10-step outline to move clean energy to Asia from one of the sunniest places on Earth. This cable would run along the bed of the Indian Ocean and feed Singapore's great demand for electricity. > > Australia could produce 10,000 times more solar power than it consumes, as reported by Bloomberg, though it is a coal behemoth and exports more than any country besides Indonesia. > > It will take governments, companies, the wealthy and powerful, and individuals to fully divest from such dirty energy sources, which are rapidly heating the planet and leading to more severe and frequent storms, wildfires, and other weather events. > > Cannon-Brookes compared the energy transition to technology disruption, saying: "Everyone changed to a smartphone over a five-year period." > > "Averting catastrophic climate change will require a similar rapid societal shift, including changing how energy is generated and delivered," Brian Kahn wrote. "In BloombergNEF's net-zero scenario, solar will be the world's largest source of clean energy by 2030. To get there will require building the equivalent of the world's largest solar farm every few days by the end of the decade."

> Now, let us all be honest. There has only been one surf film, ever, worth the time of an auteur and that is Bruce Brown’s seminal masterpiece The Endless Summer. Others, including Point Break, North Shore, Blue Crush are cute. Others still, including Chasing Mavericks and In God’s Hands, are so offensive as to count as crimes against humanity. > > None, though, has received a knee-buckling six minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival. None except Nicolas Cage’s new offering The Surfer, that is. > > Variety shared, “Cage appeared to be having a ball, beaming from ear to ear and waving across the room as cheers erupted around the Palais for the film, a wild, mind-bending adventure that sees the fan favorite hit the sort of deranged peaks not witnessed on screen since ‘Mandy.’ At one point he took the mic to ask how to say “eat the rat” in French — a line from the film (and likely to become a meme) — roaring “mangez le rat!” to the delight of the crowd.” > > The picture, directed by Lorcan Finnegan, is said to be an homage to vintage Australian New Wave films and is receiving rave reviews. > > The Hollywood Reporter declares, “There’s no point in hiring Nicolas Cage if you’re not going to let him rip with a wackadoodle, OTT performance, and he duly delivers in the sly psychological thriller The Surfer.”

> To this day, nothing makes old-school Star Wars fans angrier than midi-chlorians, which George Lucas added to The Phantom Menace to retroactively (and very disappointingly) explain how The Force works. They made for a terrible addition to our favorite fictional galaxy far, far away, but what most fans don’t realize is that the midi-chlorians (sort of) exist in real life. Back in 2006, scientist and Star Wars nerd Nate Lo discovered a new species of bacteria living inside mitochondria, and he named this new discovery Midichloria mitochondrii in honor of George Lucas and his prequel films. > > ... > > Mixing existing scientific knowledge with his own theories, the Star Wars creator once said that “Midi-chlorians are a loose depiction of mitochondria. They probably had something, which will come out someday, to do with the beginnings of life and how one cell decided to become two cells with a little help from this other little creature who came in, without whom life couldn’t exist.” > > ... > > With that science lesson out of the way (thank the Maker!), we can get back to the strange way that midi-chlorians kind of became real. In 2006, the researcher Nate Lo discovered that there was a heretofore unknown bacteria living inside mitochondria. > > Given the existing connection between mitochondria and The Force, the researcher who discovered this new bacteria decided to name it Midichloria mitochondrii in honor of what George Lucas had created. > > If you were curious, this wasn’t something that he unilaterally decided to do. Instead, Lo reached out to Lucas and asked for special permission to name this new discovery after the midi-chlorians. The Star Wars creator granted permission and effectively made his fictional creation that much closer to a reality.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/12193828

> Chuck Norris will battle the undead in the action-comedy Zombie Plane, THR reports this morning. The “nostalgia-soaked” film will also star Vanilla Ice and Sophie Monk. > > THR details, “Zombie Plane centers on a secret government organization that recruits celebrities to be undercover agents, who together must save humanity from a zombie attack.”

IMDb

> Is Britain leading the way in protecting young people and children from the potential traumas of working on a film set, or has it all gone far too far? Two of the most prominent European stars attending the Cannes film festival, both with high-profile premieres, have very different views. > > Franz Rogowski, the acclaimed German actor who plays a key role in Bird, British director Andrea Arnold’s contender for the top Palme d’Or prize, said this weekend that the proliferation of chaperones and intimacy coordinators that had been required on the shoot on location in Kent qualified as well-intended “madness”. > > Speaking after the premiere of the hard-hitting drama on Friday night, the 38-year-old actor said the high number of handlers employed to ensure the wellbeing of all the underage and child actors in the film had felt excessive to him. > > “It feels a bit off-balance,” said Rogowski, who went on to point out that children already have many other damaging freedoms online where they are more exposed to danger and not protected. > > But Judith Godrèche, the French actor and director who has shaken up the Croisette in the opening days of the festival with her personal crusade against abuse in the French film industry, said she believed that Britain, and in particular the BBC, was at the forefront of improvements in the way young people and children employed in film-making are looked after. She has made her own recent accusations that she was abused while working as an underage actor, allegations that are denied. > >Speaking at a public event staged above the famous red carpet of the Palais du Festival, Godrèche said: “It has been interesting to compare the reactions to #MeToo in the United States and in the UK. The BBC, I believe, have very serious and rigid rules protecting minors on set.” The French government and members of the National Assembly need to take note, she added: “They cannot continue to turn a blind eye to this.

> Soi Cheang’s punchy, peppy thriller will be lapped up like manna from heaven by fans of Hong Kong action cinema. Set in the genre’s salad days, the 1980s, in Hong Kong’s gang-ridden enclave of Kowloon Walled City, it takes delicious advantage of that decade’s clothes, haircuts and pimpy shades. > > Having topped the Hong Kong box office over its Labour Day holiday release and opening strongly in China, and with deals already locked in for the UK & Ireland, Germany and the US, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In should appeal to anyone who is up for a rollicking, fast-paced, stylish actioner that is always atmospheric while never taking itself too seriously. Soi has carried the torch recently for the crime-meets-action genre in films ranging from Accident (2009), Motorway (2012), the ultra-dark Limbo (2021) and the flimsily whimsical Mad Fate (2023).

Trailer

> In Hollywood, the first weekend of May is traditionally seen as the official kick-off of the summer movie season: an auspicious blockbuster date that has, of late, become rather a boring one. > > Since 2007, when Spider-Man 3 (three full cycles ago in that deathless franchise) topped the box office – and barring two years where the global pandemic threw the mainstream release schedule into disarray – that weekend has been the exclusive domain of Marvel superhero adaptations, through to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 claiming the No 1 spot last May. That stranglehold was set to continue this year, with the legacy-milking superhero mash-up comedy Deadpool & Wolverine scheduled for a 3 May release. It doubtless would have creamed the competition, too, had last year’s Hollywood strikes not delayed it to July. > > And so, with the coveted early-May date open to a cape-free blockbuster for the first time since the Bush administration, Universal spotted an opportunity for its action romcom The Fall Guy, about a Hollywood stunt man tangled in an insider conspiracy. > > They had reason to be confident. Ryan Gosling was riding a wave of public goodwill after his film-stealing turn in last year’s top grosser Barbie; pairing him with Emily Blunt, fresh from her appearance in Barbie’s summer sibling Oppenheimer, was a neat marketing angle the stars gamely launched as a presenting duo at the Oscars in March. Two days later, the film premiered to jubilant audience reactions at the hip SXSW festival. It seemed director David Leitch, who drove the comparably goofy action flick Bullet Train to a $240m gross in 2022, had another hit on his hands. > > Or not, as it turned out. The Fall Guy opened modestly in the US, taking a little over $27m in its first weekend. At the time of writing, it’s made nearly $108m worldwide – not a bomb, but not a palpable hit either. Reviews have been solid; audience scores are good. All indications are that it’s a crowdpleaser, at least for the medium-sized crowds that are showing up. But why aren’t they bigger?

> Amanda Nell Eu’s snarling debut is not the first film to harness body horror tropes as an allegory for the adolescent angst and the shame of female puberty. But this Malaysian production, which shares central ideas with Pixar’s Turning Red, as well as genre films such as Carrie and Ginger Snaps, folds in a distinctive element of south-east Asian folklore and superstition, in addition to universal themes of preteen girl bullying.

Trailer

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/12071954

> > A forgotten film canister discovered in a South Yorkshire loft has been found to contain an original 35mm copy of Ken Loach's 1969 film Kes. > > > > It is thought to be one of only two original copies still in existence, the other held by British Film Institute. > > > > Rob Younger, who will screen the movie at his Barnsley Parkway Cinema next month, said the film was in "amazingly good condition for its age". > > > > ... > > > > Based on Barnsley author Barry Hines' novel A Kestrel for a Knave, the film won two Bafta awards and was nominated for a further three. > > > > Mr Younger said: "To find something that's over 50 years old and the print hasn't run in most of that time, it's fantastic. > > > > "And the fact it's a Barnsley-based film, it's Kes, everyone in Barnsley loves Kes." > > > > Contained on seven separate reels of film the recently discovered version is thought to have been put into storage after being was shown on the big screen in 1970. > > > > The reels had sat undiscovered for decades before being passed to Ronnie Steele from a local fan group - the Kes Group. > > > > Mr Steele said he then approached Mr Younger to ask about showing it in the town. > > > > "[The film] made me feel proud, that not only did I belong to Barnsley, but I knew the author of the book, Mr Barry Hines. He taught me in secondary school," Mr Steele said. > > > > "[It is] a snapshot of Barnsley as it really was at that time. People were really proud that the characters were ordinary, working-class people, but at the same time, they were clever, smart, witty."

> British shoppers may end up unknowingly buying products linked to the destruction of thousands of hectares of forests under post-Brexit environmental rules, i can reveal. > > The UK Government is bringing in regulations it says will ensure supermarkets no longer stock products that have been produced on land linked to “illegal deforestation”. > > But the measures, which have still not come into force more than two years after they were first announced, have been branded “weak” by conservation experts, with products including coffee, rubber and maize not included under the rules. > > Goods linked to deforestation in countries where it is permitted will also be exempt. > > An i analysis found that, even after the regulations take effect, British consumers will still be able to buy products responsible for the destruction of forests covering an area roughly 50 times the size of Hyde Park. > > Daniela Montalto, Greenpeace UK senior forest campaigner, described the UK measures as “weak”, adding: “Despite grand promises of leadership, the UK government’s plans to end deforestation remain well behind the rest of Europe’s and will have virtually no impact on protecting forests.” > > Last year the European Union passed its own regulations, which includes a ban on certain goods linked to any kind of deforestation, even if it is considered legal in the country of origin. Coffee and rubber – which is commonly used products including car tyres, shoes and refrigerators – are included in the EU rules. > > ... > > According to data provided by Defra in collaboration by the University of York and others, UK consumers were responsible for the destruction of around 30,700 hectares of forest in 2021 – an area almost three times the size of Manchester. > > i analysis found that the goods covered by the UK’s upcoming regulations are responsible for around 47 per cent of this deforestation. Timber is responsible for a further 29 per cent and is regulated under separate rules. > > This means other goods which will not be covered by the measures, such as coffee, maize and rubber, are still responsible for almost a quarter of the UK’s deforestation footprint .

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> A forgotten film canister discovered in a South Yorkshire loft has been found to contain an original 35mm copy of Ken Loach's 1969 film Kes. > > It is thought to be one of only two original copies still in existence, the other held by British Film Institute. > > Rob Younger, who will screen the movie at his Barnsley Parkway Cinema next month, said the film was in "amazingly good condition for its age". > > ... > > Based on Barnsley author Barry Hines' novel A Kestrel for a Knave, the film won two Bafta awards and was nominated for a further three. > > Mr Younger said: "To find something that's over 50 years old and the print hasn't run in most of that time, it's fantastic. > > "And the fact it's a Barnsley-based film, it's Kes, everyone in Barnsley loves Kes." > > Contained on seven separate reels of film the recently discovered version is thought to have been put into storage after being was shown on the big screen in 1970. > > The reels had sat undiscovered for decades before being passed to Ronnie Steele from a local fan group - the Kes Group. > > Mr Steele said he then approached Mr Younger to ask about showing it in the town. > > "[The film] made me feel proud, that not only did I belong to Barnsley, but I knew the author of the book, Mr Barry Hines. He taught me in secondary school," Mr Steele said. > > "[It is] a snapshot of Barnsley as it really was at that time. People were really proud that the characters were ordinary, working-class people, but at the same time, they were clever, smart, witty."

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/12033247

> > The world of professional wrestling has its newest superstar - a young lad from Wigan with a very familiar name! > > > > And if fans were watching 'Dynamite Kid' Tommy Billington's debut on All Elite Wrestling - the major rival for WWF/WWE - thinking they were seeing double, it was for very reason. > > > > Because Golborne-born Tommy has inherited the nickname from his famous uncle, the original 'Dynamite Kid' Tom Billington - who was one half of the famous ‘British Bulldogs’, alongside cousin Davey Boy Smith. > > > > And 23-year-old Tommy quickly showed he has got to where he is on merit, with a sparkling performance in a fast-paced entertaining match against established star Dax Harwood. > > > > Indeed, Harwood was so impressed with his opponent that, even after securing a narrow victory with a slingshot powerbomb, he left Billington alone in the ring so the live audience could show their appreciation. > > > > Among the impressed fans watching on television was none other than Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart – ‘the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be’ – who is related to the Billington and Smith families through marriage. > > > > And Tommy later posted a picture of him watching the bout with Bret, to gain some valuable feedback!