April 6, 2016

No Image

Entertainment April 6, 2016

Today in Movie Culture: New 'Doctor Strange' Image, a Dark Theory About 'Zootopia' and More

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

New Movie Still of the Day:

Benedict Cumberbatch looks magically splendiferous in this new image from Marvel‘s Doctor Strange:

Movie Parody of the Day:

What if Hardcore Henry was just about an average guy? Watch the fake trailer for Frost Bros’ first-person POV parody Softcore Henry:

[embedded content]

Character Showcase of the Day:

See how J.J. Abrams frames Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens to emphasize her isolation and loneliness in a video essay by Kasper Moller Jensen (via Live for Films):

[embedded content]

Mashup of the Day:

The Sam Kwok Workshop does it again with this custom figure mashing up Iron Man and Toy Story‘s Buzz Lightyear (via Geek Tyrant):

Fan Theory of the Day:

Is Disney‘s Zootopia really about the 1980s crack epidemic? The Film Theorists make the case:

[embedded content]

Classic Cartoon of the Day:

Today is the 110th anniversary of Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, which is considered the first animated film. Watch it in full below.

[embedded content]

Geeky Idea of the Week:

Dave’s Geeky Ideas suggests Ghostbusters fans should turn their home fuse boxes into Ecto Containment Units (via Nerd Approved):

Alternate Ending of the Day:

See what really happens at the end of Christopher Nolan‘s Interstellar after the credits go up in this animated parody:

[embedded content]

Moviegoing Parody of the Day:

This movie theater etiquette sketch from Reverse Cowboys exaggerates just how bad the moviegoing experience can be, but only slightly exaggerated:

[embedded content]

Classic Trailer of the Day:

This week is the 40th anniversary of The Bad News Bears. Watch the original (rather NSFW for a PG movie) trailer for the classic baseball comedy below.

[embedded content]

and

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Business April 6, 2016

Judge Dismisses Kesha's Hate-Crime Claims Against Producer Dr. Luke

On Wednesday, a New York judge threw out Kesha's hate-crime and human rights claims against producer Dr. Luke.

On Wednesday, a New York judge threw out Kesha’s hate-crime and human rights claims against producer Dr. Luke. Mary Altaffer/AP hide caption

toggle caption Mary Altaffer/AP

A New York judge has thrown out pop star Kesha’s hate-crime and human rights claims against producer Dr. Luke, who she says sexually and emotionally abused her for years.

Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Shirley Werner Kornreich cited the facts that the alleged abuses happened “outside New York and beyond the legal time limit” as reasons for why the claims can’t move forward, The Associated Press reports.

The judge also said “every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime,” according to the news service.

This is the latest development in a legal battle that began in 2014 when Kesha sued Dr. Luke and business partner Sony, alleging that Dr. Luke drugged and raped her. The singer asked that she be let out of her contract with Kemosabe, a subsidiary of Sony. Dr. Luke denied the allegations and countersued Kesha for defamation.

In regard to her contract, the court sided with Dr. Luke (real name Lukasz Gottwald) and Sony, which has said Kesha can continue to make music for the label without Dr. Luke’s involvement. But as Fortune reported, that promise may not be as straightforward as it seems:

“Sony Music Entertainment has maintained that Kesha is allowed under her contract to record music with the company without Gottwald’s involvement, though Kesha lawyer Mark Geragos has referred to that claim as an ‘illusory promise.’ The singer argued that the recording company might not fully promote any new music she records due to the nasty legal fight, though Gottwald’s lawyer, Christine Lepera, has countered that Sony Music has already spent roughly $11 million promoting the singer’s music.”

Sony said Kesha was still under contract to make four more albums for Kemosabe. As NPR reported in February, Kesha said she wanted to do that without Dr. Luke.

“Kesha wants to record new music. Specifically, she wants to record it while the lawsuit against her producer, Dr. Luke, is going on. And, she wants to record it without the involvement of Dr. Luke or his label, Kemosabe, a Sony subsidiary. Dr. Luke has written and produced dozens of hits over the past decade and has worked with Kesha since her first big song, Flo Rida’s 2009 No. 1 single ‘Right Round.’ “

That ruling against Kesha prompted an outpouring of support for the singer from her fans and fellow artists using the hashtag FreeKesha. Taylor Swift even sent her a check for $250,000.

One part of Kesha’s claims, involving contract issues, is still in play, the AP reports.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Health April 6, 2016

White House Says It Will Cut Ebola Funding To Address Zika

People in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, make their way through a fumigation fog that's meant to kill the mosquito that transmits the Zika virus.

People in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, make their way through a fumigation fog that’s meant to kill the mosquito that transmits the Zika virus. Ramon Espinosa/AP hide caption

toggle caption Ramon Espinosa/AP

Top officials with the Obama administration said Wednesday that they’ll redirect $589 million toward the Zika virus response. Most of that money was to be used to deal with Ebola virus.

Almost two months ago, the Obama administration requested $1.9 billion from Congress to respond to the Zika threat.

“But Congress has yet to act,” Shaun Donovan, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said in a news conference. “In the absence of congressional action, we must scale up Zika preparedness and response activities right now.”

Over 600 people with Zika, including 64 pregnant women, have been reported in U.S. states and territories. In most cases, people contracted the virus while traveling.

But Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, says she expects to see local Zika virus transmission in the continental U.S. in coming months.

The redirected funds will go to mosquito control and surveillance; education about how to prevent transmission; supporting states and territories in their own Zika virus responses; and developing vaccines and better diagnostic tests.

Burwell and Donovan reiterated that the administration’s earlier request for supplemental funding from Congress remains in place. And, they say, the administration will also ask for funds to replenish the amount currently being moved from the Ebola response to the Zika response.

Without the full supplemental funding, Burwell says, a number of crucial activities would be impacted.

“Mosquito control and surveillance might need to be delayed or stopped. Our ability to move to a subsequent phase of vaccine development could be jeopardized. And without more funding, the development of faster and more accurate diagnostics could be impaired,” says Burwell.

One reason for the haste is that public health officials want to get mosquito control and surveillance underway before the peak summer mosquito season in the U.S., and before the rainy season in Central America and the Caribbean.

Most of the redirected funding — $510 million — is coming from the Ebola response. That’s concerning, because while the public panic over Ebola has faded, the virus continues to flare up.

“We face two real global health challenges — Ebola and Zika — and we don’t have an option to set one aside in the name of the other,” says Burwell.

Last week, a woman in Liberia died of Ebola. And though Guinea was declared Ebola-free in December, last month World Health Organization officials put more than 1,000 people under medical watch because they may have come into contact with eight people who contracted Ebola.

It’s those kind of activities that could be shortchanged by diverting funds away from Ebola and toward Zika, administration officials say.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Sports April 6, 2016

It's Time To Celebrate The UConn Women's Basketball Team

The team trounced Syracuse 82-51 to win a record fourth straight NCAA championship. Commentator Frank Deford has an appreciation of the team, along with its coach and star player Breanna Stewart.

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Last night, the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team trounced Syracuse 82 to 51 to win a record fourth straight NCAA championship. Commentator Frank Deford says the team’s spectacular accomplishments deserve to be celebrated.

FRANK DEFORD, BYLINE: I wish all those political pollsters out there had paused long enough to study how much the sporting public appreciated the UConn basketball team. My guess is that there would be a plurality of negative opinions. UConn is just too darned good for its sport. And here we go again, an unprecedented fourth consecutive championship – 11 since 1995, 75 wins in a row – those mean girls in sneakers. This is not altogether an original phenomenon. We have a tendency to cuddle up to great players much more than to great teams. Good grief, at his peak, Roger Federer resided with the angels. We exalted that Michael Phelps-consecrated water. Rose petals were strewn in Peyton Manning’s path when he retired. But hey, that’s natural. As we should, we admire those in any craft, no less so in sports, who appear out of nowhere to achieve remarkable feats.

On the other hand, teams – sports fans have allegiances to their teams so that when somebody else’s team dominates, we get annoyed. By golly, it’s just not fair. Give somebody else a chance. This current UConn juggernaut has been perhaps even more put down because not only is it led by the finest college basketball player ever, the divine Breanna Stewart, who makes everything look so easy, but because its coach, Geno Auriemma, who can be something of a caustic wiseguy, has now eclipsed the record of the sainted John Wooden, who coached UCLA to 10 championships. Never mind that Auriemma, like Wooden, is an absolutely brilliant coach. He is denigrated for merely coaching women and beating up on a lot of rinky-dink teams. Actually, in their own way, Wooden’s teams had it easier too. UCLA played in a weak conference. It almost always only had to play just four games to win the national title. It drove coaches in the rest of the country crazy that UCLA had what they considered such an easy path to the Final Four.

No, please, the point is not to diminish Wooden’s incredible record. It’s just to emphasize that every great accomplishment is a product of its time and some luck, too. Don’t dismiss Auriemma and UConn just because their excellence shines on the female side of the coin. In fact, it’s too bad more fans haven’t paid attention to Breanna Stewart and her team these past few years. Majesty is a thing of beauty to behold whatever the particular enterprise.

MONTAGNE: Commentator Frank Deford – he joins us the first Wednesday of every month.

Copyright © 2016 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.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)