December 1, 2015

No Image

Entertainment December 1, 2015

Today in Movie Culture: 'Star Wars' Recapped, a 'Star Wars'-Themed Movie Theater and More

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

Movie Series Recap of the Day:

We’ve entered the month of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In anticipation of the new movie, the spoiler-spouting Fine Brothers are back to recap the entire Star Wars franchise in only six minutes:

[embedded content]

Movie Theater of the Day:

The new Alamo Drafthouse in Omaha has a lobby modeled after the Death Star from Star Wars. And it’s permanent (via Screen Crush):

[embedded content]

Movie Trivia of the Day:

Ever been in an argument with another Star Wars fan about which is bigger, Jabba’s sail barge or the Millennium Falcon? This video sizing up all the franchise’s vehicles side by side from Ewok glider to the second Death Star:

[embedded content]

Movie Theory of the Day:

Now for something actually about The Force Awakens: The Film Theorists analytically considers the possibility that Luke Skywalker is a bad guy in the new movie:

[embedded content]

Movie Takedown of the Day:

Honest Trailers aims a death ray at the animated spinoff prequel Minions, aka “Despicable Greed”:

[embedded content]

Classic Cartoon of the Day:

If you want to see better animation, there’s the classic Merrie Melodies animated short Nasty Quacks, starring Daffy Duck, which turns 70 years old today. Watch it in full below.

Actor in Spotlight:

Julianne Moore and Billy Eichner took to Times Square and she performed impromptu scenes from her movies for the latest episode of Billy on the Street:

[embedded content]

Filmmaker in Focus:

Supercut master Jorge Luengo compiled close-up shots of hands in Christopher Nolan films:

[embedded content]

Supercut of the Day:

Titled “Copy Complete,” here’s a stylish supercut collage of computer scenes in movies from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s:

[embedded content]

Classic Trailer of the Day:

This weekend is the 25th anniversary of the initial limited theatrical release of the Oscar-nominated con-man classic The Grifters. Watch the original trailer for the movie, which was produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Stephen Frears and stars John Cusack, Angelica Huston and Annette Bening, below.

[embedded content]

Send tips or follow us via Twitter:

and

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

No Image

Health December 1, 2015

False Alarm Mammograms May Still Signal Higher Breast Cancer Risk

In a study of 1.3 million women, ages 40 to 74, having a false positive on a screening mammogram was associated with a slightly increased chance that the woman would eventually develop breast cancer. The extra risk seemed to be independent of the density of her breasts.

In a study of 1.3 million women, ages 40 to 74, having a false positive on a screening mammogram was associated with a slightly increased chance that the woman would eventually develop breast cancer. The extra risk seemed to be independent of the density of her breasts. Lester Lefkowitz/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Lester Lefkowitz/Getty Images

Women who have an abnormal mammogram should stay vigilant for cancer for for the next decade, even when follow-up tests fail to detect cancer, a study released Wednesday finds.

That’s because there’s a “modest” risk that cancer will develop during the next decade, says lead author Louise M. Henderson of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill.

The absolute increase in risk amounts to about 1 additional cancer in every 100 women who have a false positive mammogram over a 10-year period, she says.

But when put another way, the numbers may appear alarming. The study divided women into two groups — those who got additional imaging and those who also got biopsies.

Women with an abnormal screening mammogram had a 39 percent higher risk of cancer if they got additional imaging that turned out to be negative, too. That’s compared with women who were truly negative and never developed breast cancer.

For women who got biopsies that turned out negative, the chance of cancer was increased by 76 percent over the next 10 years.

“We don’t want women to read this and feel worried,” Henderson says. Instead, the findings should be considered one more “useful tool” when weighing all the other factors that might be raising a particular woman’s risk, such as age, race, breast density and family history of breast cancer.

Henderson says the study wasn’t designed to figure out why a falsely positive mammogram is associated with an increased cancer risk.

It’s possible, she says, that the increased risk “could be the fact that the radiologist sees an abnormal pattern that’s not cancerous, but it’s a radio-graphic marker,” and it could be that this is a precursor to some subsequent cancer diagnosis.

The study, done at several leading universities, looked back at more than 2.2 million screening mammograms considered to be false alarms between 1994 and 2009. It was published Wednesday in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. The mammograms were done in 1.3 million women, ages 40 to 74.

Earlier studies have had conflicting results. But the size of this study makes researchers more confident that whatever is going on is a true phenomenon and not chance, says Dr. Richard Wender, chief cancer control officer of the American Cancer Society.

“If you’ve had a false positive, that is a risk factor,” he says, “so it’s very important that a woman stay up to date with regular mammography.”

As it is now, Wender says, at least one-third of women who should be getting routinely screened for breast cancer are falling behind schedule.

The cancer society created controversy in October, when it changed its guidelines to recommend that regular screening start at age 45. Other groups recommend starting earlier, at age 40, and some say it’s OK to wait until age 50.

Studies have shown that the chance of getting an abnormal screening mammogram that is falsely positive is about 50 percent over the course of 10 years. That often leads to further testing, including more mammograms, possible ultrasound exams, MRIs and even biopsies.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

No Image

Business December 1, 2015

Mark Zuckerberg And Priscilla Chan Have Baby, Promise To Give Away Fortune

Max Chan Zuckerberg's parents are marking her birth by promising to give most of their Facebook shares to good causes over their lifetimes. The family is pictured in this photo provided by Mark Zuckerberg.

Max Chan Zuckerberg’s parents are marking her birth by promising to give most of their Facebook shares to good causes over their lifetimes. The family is pictured in this photo provided by Mark Zuckerberg. Uncredited/AP hide caption

toggle caption Uncredited/AP

Mark Zuckerberg is a dad! And he’s marking the birth of his first child (and #GivingTuesday) with a promise to give away 99 percent of his shares in Facebook to make a brighter future.

In an open letter to Max, their newborn daughter, Zuckerberg, 31, and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan, 30, pledged to give 99 percent of their shares in Facebook — worth about $45 billion today — over the course of their lifetime.

The letter has a sweeping vision, traversing social and political issues that are controversial. Zuckerberg writes:

“Children who face traumatic experiences early in life often develop less healthy minds and bodies…

“If you have to wonder whether you’ll have food or rent, or worry about abuse or crime, then it’s difficult to reach your full potential.

“If you fear you’ll go to prison rather than college because of the color of your skin, or that your family will be deported because of your legal status, or that you may be a victim of violence because of your religion, sexual orientation or gender identity, then it’s difficult to reach your full potential.”

He then emphasizes how investments in technology in particular can solve these problems. He writes: “People often think of the internet as just for entertainment or communication. But for the majority of people in the world, the internet can be a lifeline.”

According to analyst estimates, for every 10 people who gain Internet access, one new job is created and one person is lifted out of poverty.

Call it a bit of a techno-utopian view of the world. It’s the mantra he’s been repeating since the creation of Internet.org, another major philanthropic effort he’s made as CEO of Facebook.

According to an SEC filing, he and his wife are establishing a new entity, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, LLC, to manage the money. Zuckerberg says he will control the voting and disposition of any shares held by such entity.

Zuckerberg does not plan to leave Facebook. He writes he will remain CEO for “many, many years to come.” He plans to sell or gift no more than $1 billion of Facebook stock each year for the next three years and will retain his majority voting position for the foreseeable future.

The young billionaire is not the first to make such a sweeping philanthropic gesture. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, along with his wife Melinda, launched one of the largest private foundations in the world, with an endowment in 2014 of $44 billion. In 2006, Warren Buffett promised to gradually give away all of his Berkshire Hathaway stock.

All three have signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the uber-wealthy to dedicate most of their wealth to philanthropy (just to be clear, the chief of Uber is not a signatory).

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

No Image

Sports December 1, 2015

Golden State Warriors Lead NBA With Record 19-0 Start

3:33

Download

Defending NBA champions the Golden State Warriors keep hammering away at the rest of the league. The team’s 19-0 start is an NBA record. And some are wondering not if the Warriors are going to repeat as champs, but when are they going to actually lose a game. NPR’s Kelly McEvers talks to David Aldridge of TNT and NBA.com.

Transcript

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

For a second there, the Utah Jazz had a chance. It was last night, about a minute to go in the game. They were tied with the Golden State Warriors, who so far this season have not lost a single game. The sellout crowd in Utah had hope, but then the Warriors’ Steph Curry did what Steph Curry pretty much always does.

(SOUNDBITE OF BASKETBALL GAME)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Curry. Three – good. And he unties it.

MCEVERS: The reigning MVP’s three-pointer helped Golden State win a record 19th game in a row at the start of the season, and here to answer the question of when the defending NBA champions will actually lose a game is David Aldridge. He covers the NBA for TNT and nba.com.

Welcome to the show.

DAVID ALDRIDGE: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

MCEVERS: OK so the Warriors managed to win by only three points last night. I mean, I guess that’s a sign that this streak is all unraveling, right?

(LAUGHTER)

ALDRIDGE: Yeah, I’m sure some people think that. But no, in the NBA, sometimes you have tough games. That’s – well, what Golden State has done is so far has been so incredible. Other than last night and a couple of other games, they’ve blown everybody out.

MCEVERS: I mean, last year Golden State had this historically great season on the way to winning the title. This year seems to be even better. I mean, how are they doing this?

ALDRIDGE: They have by far the best player in basketball right now in Steph Curry. And I say that knowing that LeBron James is incredibly talented and gifted and is a great player, but what Curry’s doing is remarkable. He’s leading the league in scoring, but he doesn’t take a ton of shots. You want your best players or your star players to not only score but to do so efficiently. It doesn’t help a team to have its star player score 25 points but have to take 24 shots to do it. He’s passing the ball at a high level, he’s playing very good defense and he has a very good team around him. So the combination of those two things and the continuity that comes from a team that’s won a championship I think is a large part of what’s pushed Golden State so far.

MCEVERS: I mean, we are barely a month into what is a very long season, and already people are making comparisons to the Chicago Bulls, you know, the team that was led by Michael Jordan and won a record 72 games in 1996. Can this team be that good?

ALDRIDGE: I’m somewhat reluctant because of what you mentioned. You know, they’ve played 19 games. That’s about a quarter of the NBA season. They’ve got 60 games left to play. Anything can happen tomorrow, for example (laughter).

MCEVERS: Yeah.

ALDRIDGE: If one of their key players were to be injured, that would change the entire dynamic of the season. So I would say this – I would say certainly Golden State right now is the best team in the league by far and there is no reason to expect them not to remain the best team in the league. They’re very well-coached. They have a very good team concept. And if they continue to blow people out every night and allow their star players to get rest, they’re going to be very well-prepared for the playoffs. So will they get to 72 wins? I don’t know. I tend to think they won’t. But, you know, ask me at the All-Star break in February. If they’re 41 and 2 or something like that then I would say they probably have a good shot.

MCEVERS: That’s David Aldridge, who covers pro basketball for TNT and nba.com.

Thank you so much.

ALDRIDGE: My pleasure.

MCEVERS: And we will talk to you at the All-Star break.

ALDRIDGE: (Laughter). I look forward to it.

Copyright © 2015 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

No Image

Entertainment December 1, 2015

Songs We Love: Rusangano Family, 'Heathrow'

Rusangano Family.
4:11

Rusangano Family. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption Courtesy of the artist

"Heathrow" art.

Courtesy of the artist

“When I see Police I’m Amadou Diallo/ Haunted by the bodies Sahara swallowed/ Did I flee Lampedusa to die over you? ” asks the Togolese MC, MuRli on “Heathrow,’ by the Limerick, Ireland-based trio, Rusangano Family. The song is a mix of immigrant emotions from a first-person perspective that’s as personal as it political. It’s about small stories and big narratives more than facts and figures; the xenophobia, racism and gaze of Empire may be secondary but they’re ever-present as MuRli worries about things both existential and tangible. He’s an African in Ireland “looking out of place like Columbus did” and wishing to talk to “a local girl I met in a Pizza Hut,” but “I’m on 20 euros a week and my pocket is weak so no cash in my strategy.” There’s no distinction between his right to survival and his desire for a crush—all aspects of his life are marked by struggle and threatened with violence.

Where the London airport of the song-title fits into this scenario is never delineated, but it’s made clear when Zimbabwean MC God Knows raps, “Took off in Lagos/ And only Europe can save us.” Heathrow is about hope deferred, and “Heathrow” is about assimilation (“Depressed under pressure of making decisions/ To change my feathers and flock with the others”), being seen and not heard (“Silence in customs/ Just prayers in the bathrooms/ Black cleaners in staff rooms”), homesickness (“I’m living on fish and chips but deep inside I’m craving fetri“) and “asylum seekers, sugar daddies in slippers, spooning Nubian grim reapers.”

Everything here is piercing and impressionistic, down to producer mynameisjOhn’s hi-hat happy soundtrack that’s full of siren synths and imposing guitar twangs. The music sounds like the suffocating rush of determination and apprehension at a militarized checkpoint. mynameisjOhn is the group’s lone member of Irish heritage, and his contributions here are as pivotal as those of the MC’s. (Last year, mynameisjOhn also produced the bulk of MuRli’s debut EP, Surface Tension, and released, Rusangano / Family, a full length with God Knows, which featured appearances by MuRli, before the three formed into Rusangano Family.) God Knows and MuRli’s observations are full of the resilience of shattered dreams; mynameisjOhn’s backdrop sounds like the boots doing the shattering. It’s a timely combination that tries to makes sense of heady issue by focusing on the human aspects of migration. We may not know why MuRli fled to and from Lampedusa, an Italian island off the coast of Tunisia that’s become a European landing base for refugees leaving North Africa; but listening to “Heathrow” we know that—like many immigrants before and after— he still seeks a home that continues to be elusive.

Rusangano Family’s album, Let The Dead Bury The Dead is due for release in early 2016. ?

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

No Image

Entertainment December 1, 2015

New 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' Clip Is Like Something Out of a Dream

This week we’ll be getting a brand new trailer for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (December 2nd at 11:35 PM EST, to be precise), and to announce it we got a new clip from the Zack Snyder directed movie. This isn’t one of those 4 second teasers that has ten thousand indecipherable clips crammed into it, either.

No, this clip is a single, tantalizing moment. It’s only 49 seconds long, and we’re quite sure it’ll be even longer in the actual movie, but it’s intense even at that length.

If anything, this clip is a little too good to be true. It looks like it could be from a dream sequence. Either that or Batman has done something to seriously, seriously piss off Superman. If you thought the man from Krypton looked angry at the end of Man of Steel, he looks positively murderous here.

[embedded content]

Follow @PeterSHall Follow @MoviesDotCom

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.