Chandrayaan-3: India's Moon lander Vikram aims for historic lunar south pole landing
India is attempting to make history by landing Chandrayaan-3 near the Moon's little-explored south pole.
2023-08-23 09:28
Turkey media guide
An overview of the media in Turkey, including links to broadcasters and newspapers.
2023-08-22 23:51
KSI teaches Kate Garraway how to punch like a boxer in bizarre GMB exchange
KSI has been teaching the GMB hosts how to perform a boxing 'knock out' - and was left in shock by the power in Kate Garraway's right fist. Richard Madeley held the pads as Garraway gloved-up, and the YouTuber-turned-boxer explained how to throw a solid punch. "Geez Kate calm down!", KSI squealed in surprise at how hard she managed to hit. However, when asked if she was better than Tommy Fury, unfortunately he opted for the pro. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter
2023-08-22 19:26
R Praggnanandhaa: India chess prodigy takes on Magnus Carlsen in World Cup final
Earlier in the tournament, India's Praggnanandhaa had defeated the world's second and third ranked players.
2023-08-22 14:47
Chandrayaan-3: India's lunar lander Vikram searches for safe Moon landing spot
Day after Luna-25 crash, India space agency says lander trying to find area without boulders or deep trenches.
2023-08-21 13:50
Cowboys rookie LB reaches out to fans in midst of panic over severe injury
Dallas Cowboys third-round pick DeMarvion Overshown suffered what looked to be a severe injury on Saturday night against the Seahawks.DeMarvion Overshown, Dallas' third-round selection, had impressed early in training camp, even recording six tackles in his preseason debut. Overshown added ...
2023-08-20 22:49
Analysis: A BRICS no-show speaks volumes about Putin's shrinking horizons
Once upon a time, Russian President Vladimir Putin was the man to see: In the weeks preceding Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, world leaders took turns shuttling to Moscow to urge the Kremlin leader to step back from the brink and call off any plans for an attack.
2023-08-20 19:58
Miyu Pranoto: Dance prodigy, 9, blazes trail for girls
Miyu is shattering conventions as she breakdances her way to fame.
2023-08-20 07:21
Viewers declare 'Red, White, & Royal Blue' film is their 'new personality' in rave reviews
With the release of Red, White & Royal Blue, fans have positively responded to the film and declared it is their "new personality." Based on the bestselling BookTok novel by American author Casey McQuiston, the story focuses on the relationship between Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Sakhar Perez), the first son of the United States, and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), a British prince. The romantic comedy - directed by Matthew Lopez - sees the pair transform their tension as rivals from across the pond into a blossoming romance, depicting the popular "enemies to lovers" trope. Since its release on Amazon Prime Video, the film has been widely discussed as critics and viewers give their verdicts. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has received a critical consensus of 79 per cent while the audience score gave a higher rating at 94 per cent. Meanwhile, Metacritic which similarly rounded up critic's opinions gave it 62 out of 100 with "generally favourable reviews," while the audience gave it 6.8 out of 10. It was a similar story on IMDB, where the movie was received positively and got a 7.2 out of 10. The film has also been a hot topic on social media, with fans sharing their love for the adaptation. One person said: "Red, white and royal blue is my new personality." "Red White and Royal Blue was excellent. It was pure fantasy. Completely ungrounded in every way. Like any good rom-com should be," another person said. Someone else added: "Red white and royal blue movie is probably the best book-to-movie adaptation I've ever seen." "No but seriously WHAT did they put in Red, White and Royal Blue that makes us rewatch it so much???" a fourth person commented. Here are some more of the best reactions: While many also praised the film - which is now in Prime Video's top 3 most-watched romantic comedies of all time - for its LGBT+ representation. Red, White & Royal Blue is now available to watch on Amazon Prime Video. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-18 22:22
Russians are flocking to bootleg Barbie screenings amid Hollywood ban in country
Russians are going to see bootleg viewings of the Barbie movie thanks to Hollywood pulling out of Russia. Warner Bros and other big Hollywood names like Disney and Netflix pulled out of the country after Putin invaded Ukraine last year. So, since then, copies of popular films have come into the country through other Russian-speaking markets, such as Kazakhstan, to work around the sanctions. To get around the system, some cinemas sell people tickets for a little-known Russian documentary or short film and then show a different film during the preview, to skirt American copyright laws and Russian laws that require distribution certificates from the Russian Ministry of Culture. But in June, the primary Kazakh-based distributor that had been illegally delivering Hollywood-licensed films to Russian cinemas announced it was pulling out of the business for financial reasons. This is how pirated viewings have started becoming popular. Nikita Zabolotskikh, 17, has spent an estimated Rbs300,000 — or more than $3,000 — bringing Barbie to the big screen in the city of Perm by acquiring a pirated copy, hiring a Russian dubbing company and rolling out an extensive marketing campaign. He told the Financial Times that he and a friend came up with the idea after reading news reports that the Kazakh company was ending its business — just as Barbie was about to hit cinemas worldwide. “The demand was unbelievable. People were losing their mind buying tickets . . . A huge number of people want to see Barbie,” he said. They now plan to show a higher-quality, re-dubbed version of the film at Kinomax, one of Russia’s biggest cinema chains — with plans to expand to 15-20 other Russian cities afterwards. “It’s the best-quality version on the [Russian] market,” he said. “And probably will be for the next two to three months.” Meanwhile, in Russia’s central city of Tyumen the Gorkiy cinema has already shown a pirated version of the film on its rooftop. Organisers noted that the quality might not suit “lovers of 4k resolution and ideal sound”. Some Moscow politicians don't like the liberal western values shown in the film. Maria Butina, a Russian lawmaker convicted in the US for operating as an unregistered foreign agent, has called for a ban on the sale of Barbie dolls and the new Mattel movie, which she labelled as an “advertisement” for the agenda of the US Democratic party. “What do we see [in the film]? Gays. Trans people. Women who have taken over the world. Nothing about the union between men and women, nothing about love,” she said in an appearance on the Russian Duma TV channel. But that is clearly not enough to stop Barbiemania. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-18 19:27
DJ Crazy Times just crashed a Jonas Brothers concert to play 'Planet Of The Bass'
DJ Crazy Times' 'Planet Of The Bass' has taken over the internet...and now it's making its way into the mainstream too. While the Jonas Brothers were performing in Boston, comedian Kyle Gordon stormed the stage to perform the hit track during an intermission mid-show. Apparently Joe Jonas, whose birthday it was that day, is a huge fan of the song, and the announcer dubbed it a 'treat' for him. However, few fans in the crowd knew what was going on as the arena transformed into a 90s Eurodance club. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter
2023-08-17 18:55
Spider-Man: Lotus: The 6 biggest talking points from controversial fan film
Spider-Man: Lotus is one of the most talked-about films of the year, but not necessarily for the right reasons. The fan film with a budget of $100,000 has proven to be hugely controversial in the months leading up to its release. The trailer generated a lot of buzz back in 2021, but it took until June 2022 for the first of the controversies to be unearthed. Back then, an anonymous twitter user shared screenshots of messages from Warden Wayne, the man cast to play Peter Parker in the movie, using racial slurs. Wayne was quick to post a lengthy apology to Twitter blaming his past behaviour on being “raised in a homeschool conservative environment in a small town in Arkansas.” Writer and director of the film Gavin J. Konop also came in for criticism after Twitter user @Berkmanboom shared screenshots of Konop using racial and homophobia slurs In a YouTube video that addressed the controversies facing the film titled “Addressing Everything”, Konop attempted to explain his past actions as well as claiming some of the screenshots were fake. “In my first couple years of high school, I’m gonna be honest I was pretty much a giant loser. I was online way too much, I was part of these group chats and communities where I very often said the most offensive things I could think of to get attention from people.” He also said that he takes “full responsibility” for his actions and admits that he knew “I was wrong, I wasn't raised knowing these things were not okay to say.” Spider-Man: Lotus (Fan-Film) www.youtube.com In the few days since it was made available to watch on YouTube it has been viewed more than 2 million times – but there are some who will have been put off by details behind the scenes clouding the film’s production. Lotus takes place in the aftermath of Gwen Stacy’s death and focuses on Peter Parker as he deals with the fallout. Many will be wondering how it stacks up - these are the biggest talking points about the film itself, aside from the controversy behind the scenes, and some of the biggest criticisms aimed at it over recent days. Overall length and long establishing shots One of the most common points made about the film is that it’s just too long. It’s close to an hour and 45 minutes in length and there is too much padding – a lot of it coming in the form of generic shots of New York. Turning Peter Parker into a completely unsympathetic character Parker deals with the death of Gwen Stacy by lashing out at others a lot of the time. That in itself wouldn’t be an issue, as many people might do the same in such a stark situation. However, some social media users have claimed that Parker in Lotus is a fundamentally unsympathetic character. Ultimately, any film would be close to unwatchable when the superhero himself is an insufferable character who continuously puts others down. This moment early on in the film which shows Mary Jane coming to check on him in a show of support, only for him to unload a character assassination her way, is one that shows exactly the point they’re making. Parker's conversation with a terminally ill child is all about himself There’s one extended sequence people have focused on in social media discourse, and that’s the moment Spider-Man “trauma dumps” on a young boy with terminal cancer. After receiving a letter explaining a super fan of his is unwell, Parker goes to see him twice. The first scene had the potential to be quite a sweet moment in the film, but instead, Peter Parker seems to reject the child’s love of Spider-Man and questions why the kid is a fan of his and not Captain America, before talking about Gwen Stacy’s death. “It’s my fault…” he says. “I can’t do anything about it, no matter how hard you try. I’m not the hero you think I am. All of this, it’s not me.” He then dismisses the young boy's feelings and tells him he doesn’t understand because he’s “just a kid”, before leaving. It feels a little strange tonally and again shows Parker's lack of self-awareness to consider the feelings of a terminally ill child before his own. He later returns and apologises, looking back at a load of his old adventures and sparking a series of flashbacks, giving him fresh determination to wear the suit, but the sequence has attracted some criticism online. Parker’s dress sense It’s a minor gripe one, for sure, but some people have pointed out that the fact Parker dresses like a trust fund kid at a yacht club dinner goes against the key principles of the character familiar to many from the comics. The CGI The opening few minutes feature some of the strongest moments of the entire film – and it’s pretty impressive to see this version of Spider-Man navigate New York. But while it’s unfair to criticise a fan film that costs relatively little to make for its CGI, it is true that some moments look great while others, less so. Even CGI in multi-million dollar films can look cheap at times, though, so it’s not surprising that fans used to the biggest productions would pick faults with some moments from Lotus. Others, however, did defend it. One viewer wrote: “No way people are complaining about the CGI in #SpiderManLotus. It’s literally a fan-made film. Hate all you want on it, but pointing out bad CGI in a fan-made film is just dumb.” A lack of action The film is very much a character piece, focusing on the personal relationships of Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Harry Osborne with lots of long, dialogue-heavy scenes, and some have pointed out that film is lacking in action sequences. The opening few minutes feature a short fight with the Shocker, and there’s a brief scuffle with the Green Goblin in a flashback sequence. However, some were left feeling that they expected more action from a Spider-Man film – even a fan-made one. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-08-16 23:25