August 17, 2016

No Image

Entertainment August 17, 2016

Today in Movie Culture: An Animated 'Firefly' Series, Jason Momoa as The Crow and More

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

Studio Tribute of the Day:

With Kubo and the Two Strings out this weekend, here’s a celebratory look at Laika Animation’s great filmography so far via Fandango:

[embedded content]

Casting Interpretation of the Day:

With Jason Mamoa maybe starring in the reboot of The Crow, BossLogic shows us what that could look like (via ComicBook.com):

Fake Cartoon of the Day:

There are no plans for a Firefly/Serenity animated series, but there should be now that Stephen Byrne has created an intro for the nonexistent The Animated Adventures of Firefly (via One Perfect Shot):

[embedded content]

Short Film of the Day:

Today is the 30th anniversary of the debut of Pixar’s iconic short film Luxo Jr. You can rent it elsewhere, and you should, but here’s the pencil test for the classic:

[embedded content]

Vintage Image of the Day:

Robert De Niro, who turns 73 today, is fed by Jerry Lewis with director Martin Scorsese eating to the side on the set of The King of Comedy in 1981:

Reworked Movie of the Day:

You love The Shawshank Redemption as a prison drama, but here’s what it would look like as an upbeat romance via CineFix:

[embedded content]

Cosplay of the Day:

It’s not easy to get a costume that looks like the T-800 from The Terminator, so sometimes you just have to do it with body paint (via Geek Tyrant):

[embedded content]

Movie Trivia of the Day:

You may have already forgotten all about Thor: The Dark World, but you should still check out this crop of trivia about the Marvel sequel:

[embedded content]

Video Essay of the Day:

Kaptain Kristian shows us why the effects of Jurassic Park hold up toda better than most modern movies in a new video essay (via /Film):

[embedded content]

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is only the fourth anniversary of the release of ParaNorman, but with a new Laika movie out in theaters this weekend, let’s revisit its original trailer:

[embedded content]

and

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Sports August 17, 2016

Rio Police Remove U.S. Swimmers From Flight To Ask About Reported Robbery

U.S. swimmers Jack Conger, left, and Gunnar Bentz.

U.S. swimmers Jack Conger, left, and Gunnar Bentz. John Amis/AP, Tom Pennington/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption John Amis/AP, Tom Pennington/Getty Images

Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger, American swimmers who were with Ryan Lochte last weekend when their group reportedly suffered a robbery, were pulled off their flight home from Rio’s Summer Olympics Wednesday by police seeking answers about the reported robbery.

Bentz and Conger have now been released, U.S. officials say — but the two athletes are going to keep talking with police in Rio. They were detained hours after officers attempted to seize the passports of both Lochte and another swimmer: Jimmy Feigen, whose whereabouts remain a matter of speculation, but who U.S. officials now say is also cooperating with police in Rio.

Police stopped Bentz and Conger at Rio’s Tom Jobim International Airport, taking them off their flight back home in order to question them.

Early Thursday, U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky released the following statement:

“Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were detained Wednesday night shortly before their flight was scheduled to depart from Rio. They were released by local authorities with the understanding that they would continue their discussions about the incident on Thursday. James Feigen is also communicating with local authorities and intends to make further statements regarding the incident on Thursday as well. We will continue to provide updated information as it is appropriate.”

The newspaper O Globo reports that Bentz, 20, and Conger, 21, were taken to the Galeão civil police station – which, like the airport, is on Governador Island.

It’s the latest development in a strange case that has left many puzzled — and has led to accusations in Brazil that the American swimmers fabricated their account.

News of the two Americans’ questioning comes more than 12 hours after police visited the Athletes Village Wednesday morning, in an attempt to speak with Lochte and another swimmer, James Feigen, about the account that they had given police under oath. But Lochte had already left for the U.S., and his attorney told NPR earlier today that he had not received any official requests to speak wih the decorated Olympic swimmer.

A central question right now regards the whereabouts of Feigen, 26; earlier today, we saw reports that he, like Lochte, had returned back home in the U.S. But tonight, we’re seeing reports that Feigen may have checked in for the same flight as Bentz and Conger but was not detained by police.

On Sunday, the swimmers described being robbed after a late-night party, with Lochte saying armed men took his wallet. But the story has raised questions here in Brazil, particularly after surveillance video emerged that purportedly shows the athletes returning to the Athletes Village on the morning in question, still in possession of their cellphones, watches, and other items that are often targeted by thieves.

The video, which was first published by The Daily Mail, also seems to show the athletes in a relaxed mood, with Lochte swinging his credential at one of his friends.

Bentz and Conger were part of the team that won a gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle relay; they raced in the earlier heats that put the team into the final. Both of them are in college: Bentz attends the University of Georgia and Conger the University of Texas.

Feigen swam in the 4x100m freestyle relay; he lives in Charlotte, N.C., according to his official Olympics biography.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Business August 17, 2016

Ford Looks To A Fleet Of Driverless Cars

The race for who will come to the market with an auto-piloted car is heating up again. Ford has announced that it will have a fleet of autonomous cars on the road by 2021. The driverless vehicles will be available for ride sharing.

It’s an ambitious goal. The company said it will more than double its team devoted to developing autonomous driving, and invest even more money in its Silicon Valley campus. Ford’s CEO Mark Fields has said that the company will triple its investment in the technology which includes currently available help with parking and avoiding traffic jams.

The program that Ford announced is not quite a self-driving car in every garage. The announcement is for vehicles that have Society of Automotive Engineers Level-Four driving automation. SAE Level Four is when the car is self-controlled in all but a few environments such as severe weather. These Level-Four cars would likely be in closed systems or fixed routes. Karl Brauer with Kelly Blue Book says, “The time frame for privately owned, fully autonomous vehicles, capable of operating anywhere and anytime, remains at least seven to 10 years away.”

Fields says he’s not closing the door on potential partnerships. Ford and Baidu Inc., the Chinese Internet behemoth, announced that both companies jointly invested $150 million in Velodyne, a Silicon Valley company that specializes in sensors. Already Silicon Valley and the auto industry have been in a dating frenzy looking for long-term partners to help develop the technology behind a self-driving car. Volkswagen spent $300 million to get a piece of ride-hailing company Uber’s European rival Gett. General Motors spent $1 billion to purchase Cruise Automation, as well as investing in ride-hire service Lyft. Meanwhile, Toyota invested in Uber.

Randy Visintainer, the head of Ford’s autonomous vehicle program, says the company is ready to meet the challenge of putting a driverless car on the road. “Our mission is to make transportation affordable, efficient and safe,” Visintainer said in an interview with NPR. “The Model T delivered in its time and autonomous vehicles have the potential to do that in the 21st Century.” Visintainer shrugged at the idea that Ford is in a space race of sorts to put an autonomous vehicle on the road. He says that the team had “enough confidence in our development of the technology, the understanding of how to make the vehicles in volume that we would make this claim.”

Ford’s engineers may be confident, but are riders? The announced plan would have cars without not only drivers but obvious vehicle controls. Visintainer says he understands the public’s uneasiness about autonomy. He says the company is looking for ways to convince the public that self-driving cars can be safe. “It’s going to be an education and a journey, being transparent and open about the progress we’re making, and how we’re doing is a key part of that.”

Analysts say discussing the technology is a move to placate the concerns of Wall Street. General Motors, Google and some of Ford’s other competitors have spent the year making announcements and investments in advanced technology. Michelle Krebs with autotrader.com says GM has been grabbing all the headlines recently “and Ford can’t be happy about that, especially as some Wall Street analysts have wondered if Ford is falling behind in future mobility.” Ford’s Mark Fields has said Ford has been setting the pace.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Health August 17, 2016

Aetna CEO To Justice Department: Block Our Deal And We'll Drop Out Of Obamacare

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, told the Justice Department in July that the insurer would walk away from many health exchanges if the government opposed the company's proposed deal for Humana. On Tuesday, Aetna followed through.

Mark Bertolini, CEO of Aetna, told the Justice Department in July that the insurer would walk away from many health exchanges if the government opposed the company’s proposed deal for Humana. On Tuesday, Aetna followed through. Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

It’s not often in the midst of an antitrust fight that the public gets a look at the gamesmanship that’s happening behind the scenes.

But thanks to the Huffington Post’s Jonathan Cohn and Jeff Young, we got a glimpse at how health insurer Aetna is making its case to acquire rival Humana — and new insight into Aetna’s decision announced Tuesday to pull out of Obamcare exchanges in 11 states.

The reporters obtained a copy of a letter from Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini to the Justice Department on July 5. The letter was written while the government was still deciding whether to oppose the insurance companies’ merger on the grounds that it (and another proposed deal between Anthem and Cigna) would hurt consumers and reduce competition.

The Bertolini letter was in answer to a Department of Justice request for information about how a decision on the Humana deal would affect Aetna’s participation in the health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act.

The letter is pretty direct: If the government moved to block the merger, then Aetna would begin to pull out of the health insurance exchanges.

Here’s the key paragraph (emphasis added):

“Our analysis to date makes clear that if the deal were challenged and/or blocked we would need to take immediate actions to mitigate public exchange and ACA small group losses. Specifically, if the DOJ sues to enjoin the transaction, we will immediately take action to reduce our 2017 exchange footprint. We currently plan, as part of our strategy following the acquisition, to expand from 15 states in 2016 to 20 states in 2017. However, if we are in the midst of litigation over the Humana transaction, given the risks described above, we will not be able to expand to the five additional states. In addition, we would also withdraw from at least five additional states where generating a market return would take too long for us to justify, given the costs associated with a potential breakup of the transaction. In other words, instead of expanding to 20 states next year, we would reduce our presence to no more than 10 states. We also would not be in a position to provide assistance to failing cooperative exchanges as we did in Iowa recently.”

The Huffington Post reporters calls the letter “a clear threat.”

A little more than two weeks later, on July 21, the Justice Department said it would sue to block the Aetna-Humana deal and the other proposed megamerger between Anthem and Cigna.

On Tuesday, Aetna said it would dramatically scale back its participation on the insurance exchanges in 2017. The company move would take it out of 546 counties in 11 states, leaving it active in 242 counties in four states: Delaware, Iowa, Nebraska and Virginia.

Aetna said the pullback was a business decision stemming from a loss in the second quarter on individual plans and uncertainty about the policy outlook for the exchanges.

In the company’s statement, Bertolini said, “As a strong supporter of public exchanges as a means to meet the needs of the uninsured, we regret having to make this decision.”

The statement made no mention of the company’s pending offer for Humana nor its recent correspondence with the government about how Aetna would likely respond if the feds moved to block the deal. Aetna didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on how to reconcile Tuesday’s announcement with the July 5 letter made public by Huffington Post on Wednesday.

The change in tack for Aetna is also noteworthy because Bertolini was talking up the business potential of the exchanges as recently as April, when he said during a call with analysts and investors that the exchanges were “a good investment,” despite the losses incurred.

At the time, Bertolini said that Aetna was “committed to working constructively with the administration and lawmakers to find solutions that can improve this program, stabilize the risk pool, and expand product flexibility, all with the goal of creating a sustainable program that makes health care more affordable and accessible for all consumers.”

Now, the company appears to be taking its ball and going home.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)