September 9, 2015

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Entertainment September 9, 2015

Today in Movie Culture: Dissecting BB-8, Immortan Donald Trump and More

Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Movie Merch Breakdown of the Day:

If you’re wondering how your new Star Wars: The Force Awakens BB-8 toy works but don’t want to throw all that money away to dissect it yoursel, here’s a video showing of people who did it for you (via Geekologie):

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Star Wars Art of the Day:

Many people do Lego recreations of movie scenes, but few are as artful as those by Finnish photographer Vesa Lehtimäki. Below is one he did for The Empire Strikes Back. See others for Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and more at Screen Crush.

Supercut of the Day:

This video is 60 seconds of movie characters yelling “go go go,” and yes appropriately Gone in Sixty Seconds is represented:

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Cosplay of the Day:

When cosplay gets political: here’s a mashup of presidential hopeful Donald Trump and Mad Max: Fury Road villain Immortan Joe (via My Mad Existence):

DIY Film Fandom of the Day:

You don’t need a lot of money for cosplay. If you want to dress as Deadpool, Cinefix has your homemade solution:

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Retro Video Game of the Day:

Here’s a look at the 1985 Infocom game of The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which is now available to play online thanks to the BBC (via Open Culture):

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Vintage Image of the Day:

Gladys Hulette is Alice pieced together with the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse in Edwin S. Porter‘s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Thomas Edison. The now-rare film made its debut 105 years ago today.

Filmmaker in Focus:

Get to know Stanley Kubrick through this supercut of his films set to Beethoven’s 7th (via The Playlist):

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Movie Comparison of the Day:

We don’t talk enough about Christopher Nolan‘s Insomnia, so here’s a recent video essay by Kevin B. Lee for Fandor comparing it shot-for-shot against the Norwegian original by Erik Skjoldbjærg:

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Classic Trailer of the Day:

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Welcome to the Dollhouse at the Toronto International Film Festival. Watch the original Red Band trailer for the indie classic, which is getting a big sequel for release next year:

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Sports September 9, 2015

2 Female Italian Players Advance At The U.S. Open

Italian player Flavia Pennetta after beating Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, in a quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open on Wednesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Italian player Flavia Pennetta after beating Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, in a quarterfinal match at the U.S. Open on Wednesday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. David Goldman/AP hide caption

itoggle caption David Goldman/AP

Yes, Serena Williams’ quest for the tennis Grand Slam is exciting. No one has won all four major tournaments in the same calendar year since Steffi Graf did it in 1988. And now that Williams is in the semifinals at the U.S. Open, she’s only two wins away from the rare feat.

But for those who hunger for some ABS news (Anything But Serena) from New York …

There are two Italian players in the women’s semis — reportedly the first time in the Open era that two women from Italy made it that far in the same major tournament.

(That era began in 1968, when pros were allowed to compete in the majors.)

Wednesday at Flushing Meadows, Flavia Pennetta came back from a set down and beat fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova, a two-time Wimbledon singles champion. The final score was 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Pennetta did a better job of dealing with the energy-sapping heat, since Kvitova has been battling mono since the summer. And Pennetta also overcame the difficult afternoon shadows on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court, which she called “a disaster.”

With the win, she reached her second U.S. Open semifinal in the last three years.

A day earlier, countrywoman Roberta Vinci also took three sets to beat Kristina Mladenovic and qualify for her first major tournament singles semifinal. That’s the good news. The bad? She’ll be playing Serena Williams.

The presence of two Italians in the semis is more than coincidence, according to Pennetta.

“We [Italian players] did a lot of good things in the last 10 years,” she said after beating Kvitova. “I start in 2009 with a top 10 [ranking], and then Francesca [Schiavone] won Roland Garros [the French Open in 2010] and Sara [Errani, World No. 16 and Italy’s top player] come. Everyone was pushing the other one and I think it was really important for us to have someone before us, to try to catch [up] all the time.”

Pennetta will play No. 2 seed Simona Halep of Romania in the one semifinal Thursday. As far as the other matchup, Pennetta has some advice for Vinci against the Williams Grand Slam express. “You just have to go on court and try … EVERYTHING,” Penetta says, dramatically pausing before the last word. “She [Vinci] has to believe she can make it. Because if you go on the court and you are not that sure or you’re thinking, it’s done, I’m OK like this … it’s gonna be bad.”

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Health September 9, 2015

House Begins Series Of Hearings On Defunding Planned Parenthood

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The House Judiciary Committee held the first hearing Wednesday to investigate whether Planned Parenthood is breaking any laws, but it quickly focused instead on whether abortion should be legal.

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AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

House Republicans want to defund Planned Parenthood, and that effort began today with the first in a series of hearings. This was all prompted by sting videos that sought to implicate the women’s health group in various crimes related to the collection of fetal tissue for research. NPR’s Jennifer Ludden reports that much of today’s discussion focused on the morality of abortion itself.

JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: Chairman Bob Goodlatte has billed the hearing as an investigation, but its very title made the majority position clear.

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BOB GOODLATTE: We welcome everyone to this morning’s hearing on Planned Parenthood Exposed – Examining the Horrific Abortion Practices at the Nation’s Largest Abortion Provider.

LUDDEN: Arizona Republican Trent Franks talked about his disgust while watching this summer’s sting videos.

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TRENT FRANKS: Corporate officers and employees of Planned Parenthood casually discussing their rampant practice of harvesting and selling the little body parts from many of the hundreds of thousands of innocent babies they are guilty of killing in their abortion clinics across this nation.

LUDDEN: Planned Parenthood denies any wrongdoing, and the videos show no evidence of it. But Planned Parenthood wasn’t actually invited to testify. There were two women who survived botched abortions, including Gianna Jessen.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

GIANNA JESSEN: My medical records state, born alive during saline abortion – 6 a.m. – ha, victory.

LUDDEN: For nearly four hours, Democrats and Republicans mostly talked past each other. They argued over the term fetus versus baby, whether a dilation and evacuation procedure is humane, the definition of infanticide. A witness from the National Right to Life committee suggested new restrictions are needed to address that. Exasperated, Democrat Steve Cohen of Tennessee said his Republican colleagues weren’t really there to talk about the videos at all.

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STEVE COHEN: They want to outlaw abortion, and they won’t be happy until abortion is outlawed in the United States of America.

LUDDEN: And that was about the only point both sides agreed on. Federal law already bans spending taxpayer money on abortion. Yale law professor Priscilla Smith said the $500 million Planned Parenthood gets mostly through Medicaid pays for cancer screenings, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and contraception. Cutting that, she told Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner, would mean more unintended pregnancies.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRISCILLA SMITH: It’s really a no-brainer. It makes no sense not to fund those services if you want to reduce the number of abortions.

JIM SENSENBRENNER: Well, I don’t think there’s statistics that indicated that that’s the case.

SMITH: There absolutely are.

SENSENBRENNER: And we’re way out of time, so I’ll yield back.

LUDDEN: In a statement, Planned Parenthood noted a long history of sting videos by abortion opponents dating back to 2000. They also prompted congressional hearings, but their accusations turned out to be false. Republican leaders have suggested they don’t have the votes to defund the group, but House members say they plan more hearings soon. Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington.

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