September 14, 2017

No Image

Entertainment September 14, 2017

Today in Movie Culture: Dave Bautista Gets a 'Blade Runner 2049' Prequel Short, Harry Potter Gets Another Fan Theory and More

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

Prequel Short of the Day:

Denis Villeneuve introduces another short prequel to Blade Runner 2049, this one introducing Dave Bautista’s replicant character:

#BladeRunner2049‘s @DaveBautista is a replicant on the run in this never-before-seen in-world prequel. Watch it now. pic.twitter.com/xGn3WfjATF

— iTunes Trailers (@iTunesTrailers) September 14, 2017

Fan Theory of the Day:

Cracked explores the theory that Harry Potter’s curse magically caused his nice adoptive family into a bunch of jerks:

[embedded content]

Poster Homage of the Day:

This week’s new Stranger Things throwback poster pays homage to Jaws or maybe Tremors or both:

You’ll never go in the Upside Down again. #StrangerThursdays begins now. pic.twitter.com/5Q6JmasZQL

— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) September 14, 2017

Movie Comparison of the Day:

If The Fate of the Furious seemed familiar, maybe it’s because, as shown by Couch Tomato, it’s basically a redo of Misson: Impossible – Ghost Protocol:

[embedded content]

Remixed Movie of the Day:

Eclectic Method turns the sounds and dialogue of Bong Joon-ho’s Okja into an approriately industrial-sounding dance mix:

[embedded content]

Vintage Image of the Day:

Sam Neill, who turns 70 today, with co-star Laura Dern and director Steven Spielberg during the making of Jurassic Park in 1992:

Steven Spielberg with Sam Neill and Laura Dern on the set of “Jurassic Park” pic.twitter.com/2hC7AQbjpK

— Movies in the Making (@moviesinmaking) July 12, 2017

Actor in the Spotlight:

The latest edition of No Small Parts for IMDb tracks the career of Elisabeth Moss through this year’s The Handmaid’s Tale:

[embedded content]

Filmmaker in Focus:

In his new video essay, Mr. Nerdista shows how Alfred Hitchcock, with his movie Rope, changed the editing forever:

[embedded content]

Cosplay of the Day:

Thor: Ragnarok isn’t even out yet, but Cate Blanchett’s Hela is already inspiring some great cosplay:

Asgard, you will fall.
Photo by Nels._#hela#cosplay#helacosplay#ThorRagnarok#asgard#thor#cosplayerpic.twitter.com/2veTbd70oX

— Sylvia Slays @LBCC (@SylviaSlays) August 31, 2017

Classic Trailer of the Day:

Today is the 10th anniversary of the release of Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe. Watch the original trailer for the Beatles musical below.

[embedded content]

and

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Sports September 14, 2017

Close Call, But Indians Pass Cubs, Set Sights On Longest MLB Winning Streak

Jay Bruce of the Cleveland Indians celebrates with teammates after hitting a game-winning double off Brandon Maurer of the Kansas City Royals during the 10th inning Thursday at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

Ron Schwane/Getty Images

hide caption

toggle caption

Ron Schwane/Getty Images

After three weeks of domination, the Cleveland Indians had begun to seem almost invulnerable. The Kansas City Royals exposed some weakness Thursday night but couldn’t finish the job, as the Indians got consecutive win No. 22 with runs in the ninth and 10th innings.

A double by Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer got outfielder Melky Cabrera across home plate for a 2-1 lead in the sixth, but Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor’s two-out double in the ninth scored pinch runner Erik Gonzalez.

Outfielder Jay Bruce, whose midseason acquisition from the New York Mets has powered much of the streak, hit a double in the 10th inning to drive in second baseman Jose Ramirez for the winning run for Cleveland.

The win gave Cleveland sole possession of the second-longest winning streak in Major League Baseball history, passing the Chicago Cubs. The record is held by the 1916 New York Giants with 26; if the Indians manage three more wins against the Royals, they could tie the record at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels.

The streak, which began with a win Aug. 24 against the Boston Red Sox and includes series sweeps of the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers (twice!) and these same Royals, has rocketed the Indians to the top of the American League and leave them three wins shy of clinching a playoff spot.

Thursday night’s game was the first time during the streak that the Indians trailed entering the ninth inning and the first game that went to extra innings, and was only the fourth one-run win of the stretch.

The loss for Kansas City was at least an improvement over the three-game sweep in August, in which the Indians outscored them 20-0. But moral victories don’t count for much with a team barely hanging onto hopes of a wild card berth.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Health September 14, 2017

Get Ready! Medicare Will Mail New Cards to 60 Million People

The new Medicare cards (right) will not use Social Security numbers for identification. Instead, they will have random sequences of letters and numbers.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services /AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services /AP

It’s an administrative task for the ages.

Medicare is getting ready to issue all 60 million of its beneficiaries new cards with new ID numbers as way to combat identity theft and fraud.

The rollout begins next April, but the agency is already beginning its outreach campaign.

“We want to make this process as easy as possible for everybody involved,” said Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, on a conference call Thursday.

The agency has set up a website, is sending out handbooks to all enrollees, and has call centers ready to answer questions from beneficiaries and doctors.

Until now, Medicare used people’s Social Security numbers. But Congress in 2015 passed a law requiring the agency to change that as a way to protect seniors from identity theft. The new identifiers will be a randomly generated sequence of 11 numbers and letters.

“Changing numbers for nearly 60 million people on Medicare may be a hassle, but it’s a good idea given the bigger hassles that come with identity theft,” says Tricia Neumann, director of the Program on Medicare Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation.

AARP has long advocated for the change because of concerns that seniors’ identities would be stolen. The group actually advises seniors not to carry their original Medicare card but only a copy with the last four digits of their Social Security number blotted out.

Congress allocated $242 million for the switchover, spread across four fiscal years.

During the transition to the new cards, “Medicare beneficiaries don’t need to do anything, other than look out for scams,” said Andrew Skolnick of AARP’s Federal Health and Family Team.

Verma says the new cards will begin to be mailed next April, and the transition will continue into 2019.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

No Image

Business September 14, 2017

Chinese Construction Company Inks Deal To Build Trump Golf Course In Dubai

A Chinese state-owned construction company has been awarded a contract to work on the Trump golf course in Dubai. The contract was confirmed despite assurances from President Trump that he would not engage in foreign deals while he is in the White House.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

President Trump has said that he would not engage in foreign business deals while he’s in the White House. Well, a Chinese state-owned construction company has been awarded a $32 million contract to work on a Trump golf course development in Dubai. NPR’s Jackie Northam reports.

JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: President Trump has two golf courses in Dubai bearing his name. The first, an 18-hole course, was opened in February by his sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr. The second, designed by golfing great Tiger Woods, is due to open in late 2018. Both are set inside massive luxury housing developments.

ALAN SHIPNUCK: The scale of these developments is incredible.

NORTHAM: Alan Shipnuck is a senior writer at Sports Illustrated.

SHIPNUCK: I mean, you’re talking about a whole city built around this golf course, you know, 10,000 homes at each one.

NORTHAM: A construction company owned by the Chinese government will build the roads in the residential area. Critics are crying foul, saying Trump is reneging on his pledge not to do any foreign deals while he’s president. But the thing is Trump doesn’t own the development. Shipnuck says like most of his other 18 golf courses around the world, Trump only licenses out his name, his brand, for a fee to a developer. And that’s who awarded the contract to the Chinese construction company.

SHIPNUCK: The developer is handling all the infrastructure and all the homes. Trump puts his name on the golf course and then his people manage it going forward.

NORTHAM: Trump’s partner in the Dubai golf course development is Damac Properties. Its owner is Hussain Sajwani, a billionaire from the United Arab Emirates. His nickname is the Donald of Dubai. Besides the Chinese deal, Damac is also awarding contracts to companies from several Gulf and European countries.

LARRY NOBLE: President Trump’s name is on this golf course in a development where there is a lot of foreign involvement.

NORTHAM: Larry Noble is general counsel with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. He says there are concerns Trump’s deals could impact decisions over foreign policy, security and trade.

NOBLE: So it’s an inherent conflict of interest. It’s an inherent problem for the president to have that much of a financial stake in what foreign-owned companies are doing, companies that are owned by foreign governments are doing regardless of the fine details of it. You know, the bottom line here is if that development does well, he does well.

NORTHAM: Noble says the only way for Trump to prevent this conflict of interest is to fully divest from his business interests. So far the president has shown no signs of doing that. A request for comment from The Trump Organization was not returned. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Washington.

Copyright © 2017 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 Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)