Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:
Character Reprisal of the Day:
Andrew Garfield doesn’t officially play Spider-Man in the movies anymore, but he returned to the costume for a bit on Jimmy Kimmel Live (via Heroic Hollywood):
All the live-action Batmans of the big screen are united together for a league of superheroes in this Darth Blender mashup:
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Movie Takedown of the Day:
The five stages of watching the Purge movies entail asking a lot of questions:
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Cosplay of the Day:
One-legged paralympian and motivational speaker Josh Sundquist always has great Halloween costumes involving his handicap. This year’s is inspired by Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (via Fashionably Geek):
Halloween Prep of the Day:
Get inspired for Halloween with this woman’s time-lapse video showing how she transforms herself into Han Solo, James Bond and Meryl Streep with makeup (via Geek Tyrant):
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Vintage Image of the Day:
Ivan Reitman, who turns 70 years old today, directs Rick Moranis in a scene from 1984’s Ghostbusters:
Actor in the Spotlight:
Ranker shows us how Kevin James is always falling in the movies with this slapstick-filled supercut:
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Filmmaker in Focus:
Candice Drouet compiled all of Martin Scorsese’s opening shots to show how he likes to open a movie (via One Perfect Shot):
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Supercut of the Day:
The art of the match cut is given props with this supercut featuring scenes from movies including Psycho and of course 2001: A Space Odyssey:
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Classic Trailer of the Day:
Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Alejandro G. Inarritu’s Babel. Watch the original trailer for the Best Picture nominee below.
A jury awarded former Penn State assistant football coach Mike McQueary $7.3 million in damages on Thursday. McQueary was a key witness in the sexual molestation case against another former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky. Jurors found that McQueary was defamed by the university after it became public that he had reported seeing Sandusky abusing a boy in a team shower.
Former Penn State University assistant football coach Mike McQueary leaves the Centre County Courthouse Annex in Bellefonte, Pa., last week. He was awarded $7.3 million in damages for defamation. Gene J. Puskar/APhide caption
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Gene J. Puskar/AP
A decade before the Sandusky scandal broke in 2011, McQueary testified that he reported to then-head coach Joe Paterno that he saw Sandusky engaged in a “clear” sex act with a young boy.
McQueary, who was a graduate student at the time, claims because of that testimony he lost his assistant coaching job and was made a scapegoat in the case. He came under scathing criticism for failing to stop the abuse he witnessed.
McQueary said that since his testimony was made public he’s been unable to find work, his marriage broke up and he lives with his parents.
NPR’s Jeff Brady reports that the university argued in court that McQueary’s contract was not renewed in a routine shake-up after Paterno was fired. University lawyers also said that McQueary could have reported the crime to the police himself.
Chip-maker Qualcomm said Thursday it is buying NXP Semiconductors in a deal valued at approximately $38.1 billion. Gregory Bull/APhide caption
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Gregory Bull/AP
Smartphone chip maker Qualcomm Inc. has agreed to buy NXP Semiconductors for $38 billion. The agreement allows Qualcomm, which makes chips for Apple and Android, to become the top seller of semiconductors for the car business.
Qualcomm’s core business is in processors and wireless chips for smartphones. The deal allows the San Diego-based company to reduce its dependence on smartphones, a huge business that has reached a plateau.
NXP is the largest maker of semiconductors for the auto industry.
Qualcomm earns more than half of its profits from licensing its wireless patents to the makers of smartphones.
“Qualcomm doesn’t just diversify its offerings. The two companies appear to have complementary strengths, thus making important product lines, like chips for self-driving cars and connected devices, more appealing in the growing market for the Internet of Things. And after Qualcomm lost some modem chip business in the popular iPhone 7 to Intel, the acquisition could boost its iPhone share thanks to NXP sensor and payment chips AppleAAPL -0.57% uses.
“The two companies announced on Thursday that Qualcomm would offer NXP investors $110 a share in a tender offer to be funded with cash and about $11 billion of borrowing. The deal isn’t expected to close until late next year, as semiconductor combinations often face lengthy regulatory reviews. The transaction must be reviewed by regulators in nine jurisdictions, the companies said. That largely explains why shares of NXP were trading at about a 9% discount to the offer price on Thursday morning.”
Gary Bradshaw, an investor with Hodges Capital Management, says, “When I’m driving my Toyota Camry hybrid, and I start veering into the other lane, and the car starts beeping, all that’s my NXP.” Bradshaw says the deal is an obvious one for Qualcomm, especially in anticipation of self-driving cars. “Will all the trucks be driverless, in five years? I don’t know but, they will have chips.”
In a statement, Qualcomm’s CEO Steve Mollenkopf said that by combining the two companies, “we will be even better positioned to empower customers and consumers to realize all the benefits of the intelligently connected world.”
Bradshaw says the deal gives Qualcomm a foothold as the “Internet of things” — products such as refrigerators and toasters getting connected to the Web — becomes a reality. “There’s a lot of differentiation between the two companies. They’ll mesh together,” says Bradshaw. The company said it expected to clear regulatory hurdles because of the complementary nature of the two businesses. The Wall Street Journal reports the move is not without risk.
“Buying NXP will turn the company into a factory operator for the first time. NXP, which became a bigger manufacturer through the purchase last year of Freescale Semiconductor, owns seven factories in five countries that turn silicon wafers into chips. Besides those plants, known as fabs, NXP operates seven facilities that package and test chips before they are sold.”
Qualcomm pioneered what the semiconductor industry calls the “fabless” business model. The company’s popular wireless chips, used in the smartphones of Apple Inc. and others, are mostly manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and firms that build products to order for chip designers.
Bradshaw says Qualcomm has been sitting on a lot of cash in foreign banks and buying NXP, a Netherlands-based company, allows Qualcomm to spend some of its excess cash. Qualcomm’s stock reached an all-time high during trading on announcement of the deal.
Supplemental dental insurance may not be cost effective for seniors. Manfred Rutz/Getty Imageshide caption
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Manfred Rutz/Getty Images
Aging can take a toll on teeth, and for many older people paying for dental services is a serious concern because they can’t rely on their Medicare coverage.
Low-income seniors in particular are struggling. More than a third with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (about $23,000 annually) had untreated tooth decay between 2011 and 2014, according to an analysis of federal data by the American Dental Association.
“What ends up happening is that almost everybody, when they get to be 65, is sort of on their own and they have to pay for dental care out of pocket,” says Dr. Michael Helgeson, chief executive officer of Apple Tree Dental. Apple Tree is a Minneapolis-based nonprofit organization that operates eight clinics in Minnesota and California that target underserved seniors. It also has mobile units that provide on-site dental care at nursing homes and other facilities.
Traditional Medicare generally doesn’t cover dental care unless it’s related to services received in a hospital. Medicare Advantage managed care plans generally provide some dental care, but the coverage can vary, and often is minimal, dental care advocates say. The plans often are “a loss leader,” said Dr. Judith Jones, a professor of dentistry at Boston University. “It’s meant to attract people. It gets people in, but the coverage is really limited.”
In a way, older people are victims of dentistry’s success. Regular visits to the dentist, along with daily tooth brushing and water fluoridation, have all contributed to improvements in oral health. In the first half of the 20th century, by the time people reached their 30s or 40s many had already lost all their teeth, Helgeson said. Today, more than 60 percent of people in nursing homes still have at least one tooth.
But teeth need tending. Without regular dental care, tooth problems can cause pain and limit how much and what type of food people are able to eat. Similarly, gum disease can loosen teeth and allow bacteria to enter the body. A growing body of research has linked treating periodontal disease with lower medical costs for diabetes and heart disease, among other conditions.
People’s lives are affected in other ways by their oral health. “You use your mouth to eat and kiss and smile and interact socially,” said Jones. “It’s a source of great embarrassment and suffering for many adults without access to care.”
With limited income and no insurance, seniors may skip visiting the dentist regularly, even though many report that their mouths are dry and painful and they have difficulty biting and chewing, not to mention avoiding smiling and social interaction if they have missing or damaged teeth.
Medicaid, the state and federal insurer for lower income people, covers dental care for children in every state, but coverage for adults is much spottier. Most states cover emergency dental care for people covered by Medicaid, but eight states offer no adult dental benefits at all, according to a study by Oral Health America, an advocacy group.
Even trying to purchase private dental insurance, which typically covers a few thousand dollars’ worth of dental care, may not provide good value, said Marko Vujicic, vice president of the American Dental Association’s Health Policy Institute. “When you add up the premiums and copays, for the vast majority of adults it’s not worthwhile to have dental insurance,” he said.
Seniors with limited means have few options for help affording dental care. Federally qualified health centers may provide geriatric dental services on a sliding-fee scale based on income, and clinics like Apple Tree help a limited number of seniors who live in their service area. But they’re a Band-Aid, said Jones.
She and other advocates want Medicare to add a dental benefit to Medicare Part B. Their proposal would provide a basic bundle of diagnostic and preventive services through a premium increase, and seniors would only be responsible for copayments if they need pricey restorative work like crowns and bridges.
But a dental benefit has faced stiff competition from other priorities, including adding a prescription drug benefit in 2006 and preventive coverage under the health law in 2010.
Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent news service that is part of the nonpartisan Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.Michelle Andrews is on Twitter:@mandrews110.
