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U.S. signs landmark nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia
[Перевод] Как я объединил четыре Mac Studio в один компьютер с 1,5 ТБ – и запустил ИИ, который не влезает ни в одну видеокарту
Представляю вашему вниманию довольно необычный эксперимент: объединение четырех компьютеров Mac Studio в единый кластер с 1,5 ТБ общей памяти с помощью новой технологии RDMA через Thunderbolt 5.
Это нужно, чтобы запускать локально гигантские языковые модели уровня DeepSeek V3 и Kimi K2 Thinking на 1 триллион параметров. Автор делится результатами тестов производительности, сравнивает систему с решениями от Nvidia и AMD, а также подробно рассказывает о трудностях настройки и проблемах стабильности, с которыми пришлось столкнуться в процессе.
Читать далееКому на самом деле принадлежат Unix и Linux: история самого долгого судебного спора в IT
Спор вокруг Unix и его возможного следа в Linux уже пережил банкротства, смену владельцев, несколько переименований компаний и даже смерть одного из главных участников. В последние годы могло показаться, что он утих, но нет. В июне 2026 года в Апелляционном суде второго округа США прошли слушания по делу Xinuos против IBM. Компания, которая когда-то купила остатки бизнеса SCO, пытается доказать, что у нее есть основания требовать компенсации. И хотя перспективы выглядят скромно, сам факт возвращения спора показывает, насколько запутанной оказалась история прав на одну из важнейших операционных систем прошлого.
Читать далееBurnham to review prison early release scheme amid PC Andrew Harper family concerns
PM says he wants to make sure ‘everything has been looked at’ after backlash from victims’ organisations
Plans to release killers, rapists and sex offenders early from jail in September are to be reviewed, Andy Burnham has said, following a backlash from bereaved families and victims’ organisations.
The prime minister said he wanted to make sure that “everything has been looked at again” before a fresh tranche of about 6,000 offenders were freed on tags into the community.
Continue reading...Six beluga whales finally leave embattled Canadian marine park
Whales flown to US aquariums after long-running saga in which Marineland had threatened to euthanise them
Six beluga whales have at last left Marineland, the embattled Canadian marine park in Niagara Falls that previously threatened to kill its own animals, and are arriving at US aquariums this week.
While the whales’ journey into the US marks the end of their long and controversial saga of captivity in Canada, advocates say the new conditions, though superior to Marineland, could bring continued challenges.
Continue reading...$37.5bn cost of Iran war revealed as senator warns of ‘another forever war’ | First Thing
Pete Hegseth reveals costs so far as Trump administration seeks more funding. Plus, rediscovered plane wreck that changed flying for ever
Good morning.
The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has told the Senate that the US-Israel war on Iran has cost $37.5bn so far, as he faced lawmakers furious over the conflict’s soaring price tag and the deaths last week of three American service members. He defended the Trump administration’s roughly $88bn supplemental funding request, calling it “urgent, necessary”.
What is happening in Iran? The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has described how he was pulled from the rubble of a leadership compound after the US-Israeli airstrike that killed the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war, and has survived since by constantly moving around Tehran by car. Deepa Parent, meanwhile, has reports from the ground with ordinary Iranians, who say “it’s truly hell here” as airstrikes, repression and water shortages become the “new normal”.
What other developments have affected the region? Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor, has acknowledged he does not have the authority to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu, but urged US federal authorities to do so if the Israeli prime minister visits the US later this year. The White House has announced that American airline carriers will be able to resume direct flights to Lebanon more than 40 years after the US suspended the route.
What is uranium enrichment? It is the process of increasing the presence of isotope uranium-235 so the substance can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. Enrichment is not an automatic path to a nuclear weapon, but could open the door to a Saudi Arabia weapons programme, something its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has not ruled out if Iran obtains an atomic bomb.
Continue reading...Trump administration says 15 agencies will get $5bn in ‘AI for science’ effort
Administration will also overhaul how US government funds federal research by supporting individual scientists and AI over universities
The US will spend $5bn to tackle longstanding scientific problems across multiple fields using AI, the Trump administration said in a statement on Wednesday. The agencies will use the funding to identify the root causes of chronic diseases, accelerate drug discovery and develop longer-lasting building materials, among other tasks, according to the statement.
Scientists will have access to the Department of Energy’s supercomputers, AI and specialized datasets, along with other components needed to run experiments using algorithms, said Michael Kratsios, chief technology adviser to Donald Trump, in an interview with Reuters.
Continue reading...Burnham stirs up political row with review of release plans for violent criminals
PM says he wants to ensure ‘everything has been looked at’ amid outrage at policy from family of PC Andrew Harper
Andy Burnham is immersed in a deepening political row after ordering a review of plans for the early release of thousands of killers, rapists and sex offenders from prison in September.
After the family of PC Andrew Harper expressed outrage that his killers may be eligible for release, the prime minister responded by pledging to make sure that “everything has been looked at again” before a fresh tranche of about 6,000 offenders were freed on tags.
Continue reading...Six beluga whales finally leave embattled Canadian marine park
Whales flown to US aquariums after long-running saga in which Marineland had threatened to euthanise them
Six beluga whales have at last left Marineland, the embattled Canadian marine park in Niagara Falls that previously threatened to kill its own animals, and are arriving at US aquariums this week.
While the whales’ journey into the US marks the end of their long and controversial saga of captivity in Canada, advocates say the new conditions, though superior to Marineland, could bring continued challenges.
Continue reading...Mamdani calls on the federal government to arrest Netanyahu
Tropical Storm Bertha Set to Bring Flooding Along Gulf Coast
Pete Hegseth Estimates US War With Iran Has Cost $37.5B So Far
U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Deal Stokes Israeli Concerns of Mideast Arms Race
От сотен алертов к доказанным уязвимостям: как эволюционирует DevSecOps при объединении 7 сканеров в единый пайплайн
Классический подход к Application Security сегодня переживает кризис, ситуацию усугубляет бум AI-помощников (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude). Разработка ускорилась кратно, но вместе с ней масштабировалась и генерация небезопасного кода. Разработчик теперь может сгенерировать за час то, что раньше писал день, при этом уязвимости тоже начинают появляться с такой же скоростью. Если процесс безопасности остался прежним, AppSec быстро превращается в узкое место.
В этой статье мы разберем архитектуру и механику работы INFERA AI.SafeCode – платформы непрерывного анализа кода, которая отказывается от концепции «просто показать список подозрений» в пользу автоматического доказательства уязвимостей и MLSecOps-подхода.
Решение объединяет SAST, SCA, Secrets, DAST, Pentest, Code Fuzzing и API Fuzzing в единый DevSecOps / MLSecOps-контур.
Статья продуктовая, но мы ее публикуем на HABR не как рекламную, а как концептуальную. Хотим показать, как меняются подходы к безопасной разработке и насколько неэффективным становится «разрозненный» AppSec в эпоху ИИ и вайб-кодинга.
Читать далееНаписал локального ИИ-ассистента для зумов: диаризация, граф знаний и ноль облаков
Собрал ассистента встреч, который работает целиком на моём маке: локальный STT, живая диаризация голосов, мгновенные ответы на вопросы собеседника и самообновляемый граф знаний в Obsidian. Внутри — грабли: ловушка обращений при расстановке имён, 23 «голоса» из-за осколков кластеризации, num_ctx и бюджет RAM в Ollama. Код открыт, Apache 2.0.
Читать далееThe Allies Who Cannot Afford to Quit America
These are not easy days for America’s allies. From Europe to the Middle East to the Asia-Pacific, security partners of the United States are treading carefully, fearful of antagonizing President Donald Trump, who has cast Washington’s closest allies as freeloaders, slapped them with steep tariffs, and even questioned the sovereignty of some allies with outlandish claims.
Nowhere are the stakes higher than in the Asia-Pacific. The region may appear more stable compared to Europe or the Middle East, but it is anything but placid: a rising China is pressing for greater influence in a region where American primacy—and that of its allies—once went largely unchallenged.
As if to underscore this point, China chose July 6—the day before the NATO summit began in Ankara—to test and fire a long-range ballistic missile from a nuclear submarine, which landed in the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone. The launch of a missile capable of reaching the continental U.S. drew attention to China’s massive military buildup and its growing capacity to threaten American cities should Washington come to the aid of regional allies in a conflict with Beijing. The missile test may be a demonstration of China’s new capability, but it is also a reminder of a longstanding threat.
Washington and several U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific criticized the “irresponsible” test. Still, the episode reinforced allies’ longstanding concerns about the effectiveness and reliability of the U.S. security guarantees to deter an ever more powerful China. What are American allies and partners supposed to do about it? The answers vary across the region, but every answer points toward a stronger American role.
Unease in the Asia-Pacific
There is no equivalent of NATO in Asia. The security arrangements in the region have been based primarily on the hub and spoke system that Washington created after World War II, when it signed alliance treaties with the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand. The U.S. also signed a mutual defense treaty with Taiwan in 1954, but terminated it in 1980 after normalization with China in 1979. However, these American allies—the spokes—did not necessarily have defense obligations to each other. All of these countries, to varying degrees, rely on U.S. assurances to deter China from using its military muscle to impose its will on them and the broader region.
Nearly every Asian capital has by now grown less certain that Washington will honor those commitments if put to the test. And while Trump does not tend to rant against Asian allies as he does against NATO partners, this offers little comfort to Asian capitals. Some read it as a sign that Washington doesn’t care enough even to get worked up over them. These anxieties are magnified by other changes, even subtle ones. Many worry that the Trump Administration may pivot away from the region, given its prioritization of U.S. homeland security and the Western Hemisphere. The Pentagon’s decision to rename the Indo-Pacific Command by dropping “Indo” further signals a pivot away from the region.
The Iran war has only deepened this fear. The U.S. redeployment of missile-defense interceptors from South Korea to the Middle East stung Seoul. Allies and partners worry that promised arms shipments may not arrive on time, as the war burns through U.S. stockpiles and Washington prioritizes its own military requirements. Some have stepped up to build their own weapons and are contributing to America’s war supplies. Australia fired its first domestically built guided rockets at a test range in April, while Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan are setting up new production lines for missiles of their own.
This strategy of arming up while working hard to keep the U.S. close is not new. A series of reports by the International Crisis Group on military modernization across the region traces how some of Washington’s Asian allies and partners have been following a similar playbook for several years now. Only now, they have stronger incentives.
Japan offers the most dramatic case of structural change in its defense sector. Since 1967, Tokyo had kept defense spending under 1% of GDP. That ceiling is gone now, and Tokyo is on track to reach 2% ahead of the 2027 target set by a previous government in 2022. It has purchased American missiles that can reach the Chinese mainland, the first such weapons it has owned since 1945. Japan plans to spend up to $100 billion over five years on stockpiling ammunition, maintenance, and hardening military bases across its archipelago.
The rearmament effort predates Trump’s second term, but pressure from Washington has only added momentum. Tokyo’s purchase of Tomahawk missiles from the U.S., along with the new indigenous long-range munitions it is producing, would still rely on U.S. targeting data to be used effectively.
Japan is also stepping up its diplomacy with other regional players, as necessary in a period of American retrenchment and amid growing tensions with China over Taiwan. In recent months, Tokyo has hosted leaders from Canada, France, India, Italy, the United Kingdom, and South Korea. Sanae Takaichi, the Japanese prime minister, has traveled to Vietnam and Australia, among other countries, to promote and “upgrade” Shinzo Abe’s idea of a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” a strategy to counter China that emphasizes pragmatic economic security, strategic supply chain, energy resilience, and proactiveness.
South Korea has vowed to increase its defense spending from 2.3% of its GDP to as much as 3.6% and has earned praise from Washington as a “model ally.” Seoul’s contribution runs through its factories. It has become one of the world's largest arms exporters, with its tanks and howitzers topping up the European stocks that the war in Ukraine has emptied. Those sales fund Seoul’s own defense modernization and serve as a source of global influence, though the government shows relatively little appetite for a wider regional diplomatic role.
Seoul is also considering its options for confronting North Korea’s nuclear advancement. Discussions of nuclearization, once nearly taboo, have entered mainstream discourse, although its prospects remain theoretical, in the medium term, leaving South Korea reliant on the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
Australia, having made its largest-ever defense investment on nuclear-propelled submarines through the AUKUS (Australia–U.K.–U.S.) partnership established in 2021, continues to bet on getting closer to the U.S. rather than becoming more independent of it. Canberra recognizes that Washington is recalibrating its commitments to its allies, but it sees no substitute for American military support. To become a more capable partner, Australia has pledged to raise its defense spending from 2% of GDP at the moment to 3% by the mid-2030s; expand production lines for its own guided weapons; and allow the U.S. to build a war-ready weapons store on its east coast, out of range of Chinese missiles, and to invest in naval facilities capable of servicing nuclear submarines of allied forces.
Despite declining trust in President Trump, Canberra holds on to the alliance. It harbors no illusions about the limits of the capabilities it is developing compared with the ones that its adversaries have: its 2026 National Defense Strategy states plainly that the American security umbrella remains “fundamental.”
The Philippines has a smaller defense budget, as a share of its economy, than almost any other American ally in Asia. The country lacks the industrial base to build significant productive capacity. So Manila draws on its strategic position, its geographical proximity to Taiwan and the Chinese mainland—a fact even Trump recognized in his particular manner, describing the Philippines as "the most prime piece of real estate from a military standpoint."
Manila has expanded access for U.S. troops from five to nine bases and allowed the U.S. military to place Typhon missile launchers on Luzon, an island at the northern end of the country, which offers them the range to reach the Chinese coast. It is also cultivating ties with Japan and Australia.
No plan but America
Even though every Asian ally is handling American unpredictability in its own way, guided by its own security contexts and domestic politics, their strategies have certain things in common. They are all reaching out to build stronger connections among other “spokes,” and beyond, with outside partners like Europe. The clearest evidence of this is that Australia, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand have now become regular participants of the NATO summits, despite not being members.
Yet this active hedging won’t replace the alliance with America. It is meant to complement it. Asian allies focus on demonstrating their value as partners to Washington in hopes of ensuring that the U.S. presence in the region stays intact. This persistent reliance on a variable they cannot control is being described as the “no-plan-B” dilemma.
For America’s Asian allies, continued U.S. presence in the region remains the most effective deterrent against what they see as the threat of Chinese hegemony. They see the investments they are making in higher defense budgets, weapons factories, and the careful management of Trump’s moods as the price of keeping this tool within reach.
Strategic autonomy may be a popular idea, but for now, most of the America’s Asian allies see it as a distant prospect, whereas the threats they need to deter are clear and present. And so the question of whether to keep making these investments may not be much of a dilemma after all.
ROI вместо интуиции: как мы перестали спорить о приоритетах и начали считать деньги
За карьеру мне часто приходилось слышать противоположные идеи от руководителей. Один утверждал: «Не трать время на актуализацию бэклога. Если задача действительно важна, то бизнес сам придет и подсветит приоритеты.» Второй в первый же день сказал: «Первым делом наведи порядок в бэклоге.»
Я понял: спорить о подходах можно бесконечно. Вопрос в другом:
По каким критериям мы вообще принимаем решения?
Похожую ситуацию я видел еще раньше, когда отвечал за региональную сеть телеком-оператора. Один технический руководитель говорил: «Кабель висит десять лет. Значит, еще десять провисит.» Другой возражал: «Кабелю десять лет. Его пора менять.» У обоих не было цифр, были только убеждения и эмоции.
Читать далееGlasgow School of Art cannot afford to restore fire-hit Mackintosh building
YouTube star MrBeast marries Thea Booysen
PC Harper's widow criticises early prisoner release plan as Burnham to review scheme
UK's largest onshore windfarm plans to double capacity with taller turbines
Liverpool issue bans as £1.2m seized from ticket touts
Cocaine worth $370m seized in Liberia's biggest-ever drugs bust
Все, что нужно знать про построение точечных оценок
Что происходит под капотом, когда вы вызываете scipy.stats.norm.fit()? В статье рассматриваются два классических подхода точечного оценивания параметров — метод моментов и метод максимального правдоподобия — с математическими выводами, экспериментами на Python и визуализацией.
World Cup 2030 (very early) power rankings: who will challenge Spain at top?
The next men’s World Cup is still four years away, but we take a look at the teams with the firmest foundations who should be primed to contend
The 2026 World Cup provided many an esteemed veteran with what could be their international swansongs, with golden greats Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, Neymar, James Rodríguez and Guillermo Ochoa all making teary exits as their tournament ended. As we turn ahead to the 2030 World Cup, any player 32 or older will be sweating their selection status and changing their daily routines to stay sharp against inevitable aging.
For these power rankings, we’re overvaluing sure things. Teams with plenty of leading players comfortably in their 20s can build for this impending four-year cycle with greater confidence than a team replacing an ageless talisman. Consider these the 10 teams with the firmest foundations and viable reasons to hope to reach a quarter-final in four years’ time.
Continue reading...Сделал 5 автоматических инструментов для SEO за месяц и дважды чуть не опозорился на старте
Это моя первая статья на Хабре, поэтому сначала немного предыстории. Работаю в интернет‑маркетинге с 2011 года. Застал смену десятков алгоритмов поисковиков, эволюцию подходов в SEO, был опыт работы с перформанс‑каналами (хотя база всё же сеошная). Из чисто технического — базовое знание Python. Само собой, HTML+CSS. Одним словом, не разработчик. Но вот я и подхожу к сути — почему вообще тема возникла.
Развивался как SEO, SEO‑тимлид, хед SEO‑отдела и хед SEO + контент‑отдела. В целом эволюционировал до руководителя роста, но где‑то полтора года назад споткнулся об очевидную вещь — в Рунете нет единой базы знаний по интернет‑маркетингу. Подобных ресурсов вообще немало, но они в массе своей на английском, есть на испанском, видел и на азиатских языках. На русском — ноль.
В сентябре прошлого года закончился контракт с работодателем, и по началу я планировал отдохнуть пару недель, и приняться за поиск работы. Но в какой‑то момент решил поступить чуть иначе, и купил курс CMO. Названий не будет, потому что рекламировать что‑либо не собираюсь (я бы, может, и собрался, но правила вряд ли позволят). И уже после первых модулей задумался повторно — а почему такого ресурса (энциклопедии) не существует? У меня было много заметок по основным терминам и явлениям интернет‑маркетинга, подкреплённых лично моим опытом и ситуациями, в которых мы с командой были. В общем, в один прекрасный день я создал энциклопедию и начал её настройку, потом заполнение, и, разумеется, развитие. Но это тоже преамбула, а теперь — к сути. Я подумал: в работе мы, маркетологи, пользуемся огромным количеством разных сервисов. И приложений, и веб‑версий. Почему бы мне самому не начать делать продукты для маркетологов? Уж я точно знаю индустрию изнутри, и чего конкретно нам не хватает в быту — тоже. К осени уже довелось, помимо стандартных направлений диджитал‑маркетинга, поработать и с только набиравшим тогда силу GEO. Откровенно говоря, это часть SEO под AI, но есть резон выносить его в отдельную сущность.
Читать далееWATCH: Tornado damage from Kentucky to New Jersey
WATCH: David Muir shares elementary school students' surprise to teacher on wedding day
Electric aviation is taking off
Kyiv brawl: Ukraine’s top general fired
Почему попытка не думать о работе заставляет думать о ней ещё больше
Ноутбук закрыт уже несколько часов. Рабочий день закончился, но задача продолжает крутиться в голове. Кажется, стоит ещё немного подумать, и решение найдётся. На практике часто происходит обратное: попытка перестать думать о работе только сильнее удерживает внимание на ней. Почему так происходит и как объясняет это краткосрочная стратегическая терапия? Разбираем механизм и простой эксперимент, который можно проверить на себе.
Читать далееТри секции TECH EVENT 2026, где особенно ждут доклады
В секциях по интеграциям, DevOps и тестированию пока меньше заявок, чем в других направлениях INFOSTART TECH EVENT 2026. Это повышает шансы сильной темы пройти отбор, попасть в голосование и войти в программу конференции.
Приём заявок на INFOSTART TECH EVENT 2026 продолжается. Сейчас особенно ждём доклады в три секции:
Читать далееThe 13 Best Fans for Getting Through Sweaty Days (2026)
'Would Beckham do it?' - Fury stands by Thailand fight
Листовые материалы в корпусостроении — часть 2
В первой статье цикла я обозначил основные технологии обработки и способы сборки корпусов из листовых материалов, ну и начал оьзор наиболее часто встречающихся, а следовательно - употребимых материалов. Данная статья является продолжением для тех кому не хватило, ну или просто кто “хочу все знать”. По глубоко личным обстоятельствам статья пролежала в черновиках 6 лет, случайно на нее наткнулся и решил таки выпустить в свет, благо почти все готовое было, не помню уже почему тогда не доделал. Материалы, описанные в статье, ничем не хуже и не лучше тех что в первой, порядок описаний обусловлен капризами разума автора.
Читать далееOil surges past $95 as U.S. downplays Iran diplomacy and 2nd key trade route is disrupted
Her son was killed by ICE at a traffic stop. She says she's still waiting for justice
Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was fatally shot by an ICE agent two months into President Trump's second term. His mother says her family has yet to receive justice.
(Image credit: Brenda Bazán for NPR)
Trump to attend dignified transfer of fallen soldiers. And, Hegseth testifies on Iran
Trump will attend the dignified transfer of U.S. service members killed in the Middle East. And, Pete Hegseth is requesting billions from Congress to help with the rising cost of the war in Iran.
(Image credit: Saul Loeb)
«Дом секретов». Лондонский особняк Трент-парк, где тайно прослушивали немецких генералов, стал музеем
«Беспокойства много у всех». Что происходит с повестками в военкомат и приближают ли они новую мобилизацию в России
Как я научил терминал спутникового мониторинга жарить попкорн
Мы привыкли, что GPS/ГЛОНАСС-терминал – это, в первую очередь, прибор для записи трека машины. Да, это база. Но давайте посмотрим на него как на контроллер: есть входы, выходы, сценарии взаимодействия с периферией. Поэтому всегда интересно пофантазировать, что еще можно подключить к нему, кроме транспортного средства?
Каждый инженер – тоже художник, его творчество – техническое, и практически всегда скрыто от глаз. Меня всегда привлекало нестандартное использование разных устройств в совершенно неподходящем ключе, это позволяет разбавить рутину, поэкспериментировать и посмотреть на продукт под другим углом.
Особенно хорошо, что терминалы имеют технологию Easy Logic, это очень сильно развязывает руки как в работе, так и создании того, что на первый взгляд несовместимо, например, попкорн-машина. При чем тут попкорн? Давайте разберем этот кейс и увидим, насколько разным бывает мониторинг.
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BBCPhil/Storgårds / Park & Jupiter Ensemble reviews – stylish Strauss and lyrical Sibelius … and a lutenist’s singalong
Royal Albert Hall, London
Sueye Park’s poetic, enthralling Proms debut in Sibelius’s violin concerto was followed by an effervescent late-night concert from Thomas Dunford’s Jupiter Ensemble with Laurence Kilsby
A late-night Prom can sometimes serve as a musical Rennie, a soothing digestif after 90 minutes of heavyweight orchestral fare. Fortunately, none was needed here. In the early evening programme John Storgårds kept the BBC Philharmonic sufficiently light on its feet, while Sueye Park made the most poetic of Proms debuts in Sibelius’s violin concerto, a cornerstone work she owned from start to finish.
If the opening wash of strings was barely audible over the whirr of the Royal Albert Hall air-con, it wasn’t long before the South Korean violinist grabbed our attention, her lean, silvery tone penetrating and intensely lyrical. In fact, Storgårds seemed to worry unnecessarily, keeping the orchestral volume on a low simmer for much of the work’s span. Park, an enthralling musical raconteur, imbued the first movement with a forthright romantic sweep before conjuring the kind of laser-focused, ethereal fireworks that set the finale dancing.
Continue reading...Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender review – engaging TV-to-movie adventure
A feature-length continuation of the much-loved animated series provides enough for fans as well as the uninitiated
Avatar just can’t catch a break at the movies. Not the blue-cat-people franchise that makes at least a billion dollars each time, mind you – though that mega-successful series is part of what vexes big-screen versions of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a Nickelodeon animated series that predates the release of the similar-named, different-premised James Cameron film. Following the anime-inspired, fan-beloved show’s three-season run on cable, the material was adapted into a live-action feature, The Last Airbender, by no less than M Night Shyamalan, released six months after Cameron’s megahit. The Last Airbender was a decent-sized hit, but loathed by fans and critics alike – even today’s crop of Shyamalan boosters can’t find much positive to say about it – and failed to kickstart the hoped-for live-action film series. (Netflix has since made an unrelated live-action adaptation as a TV show.)
More recently, Paramount announced that an animated sequel film, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, following the characters years after the events of the series, would arrive in movie theaters – only to delay the release and eventually backtrack its theatrical status, turning it into a direct-to-streaming movie. The film was then leaked online, well ahead of its debut. Now it’s getting a token two-city theatrical release, simultaneously with its debut on Paramount+, to make sure it qualifies for this year’s Oscars. Given the franchise’s cinematic luck so far, the film-makers may not need to clear shelf space quite yet.
Continue reading...I joined the long lines for Trader Joe’s viral tote bags. What I found surprised me
Shoppers are waking up before sunrise to score the $3 mini grocery bags, which have become a global status symbol
A Friday morning on a public holiday usually means sleeping in. Instead, I was standing outside my local Trader Joe’s before 7am, staring at a line of shoppers that seemed to stretch for miles.
The grocery store in Santa Clarita, just north of Los Angeles, wouldn’t open for another hour. But hundreds of people were already waiting for the same thing: Trader Joe’s new striped pastel mini canvas totes, a $2.99 reusable bag that has inspired a frenzy more typically associated with sneaker releases or concert presale tickets.
Continue reading...The rise of the ‘hot literati’: how reading became sexy
Celebrities are hosting literary clubs and designers are launching products emblazoned with the classics – but does reading’s trendy turn have a darker side?
From celebrity book clubs to the revival of the edgy literary party, being a book lover is in. Dior has launched new versions of their Book Tote emblazoned with the covers of classics such as Ulysses and Dracula. Earlier this year, Coach collaborated with Penguin to produce miniature literary bag charms – fully readable micro-versions of books, from I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to Sense and Sensibility. Miu Miu hosts a Literary Club; Chanel its Rendez-vous littéraire.
Being bookish is now sexy, we’re told. i-D magazine recently ran a piece on the Whitney Review – a literary journal based in New York – proclaiming its team part of the “hot literati reshaping criticism”. The founder describes the Review as “sexy, surprising, stubborn”, and its contributors “curious and beautiful” (corroborated by an accompanying shoot in which the Whitney team look more like a bunch of models than anything else). But the piece raised eyebrows in the comments section of i-D’s Instagram page: “the definition of vacuous and vapid”, writes one user; “No room for ugly literati, only HOT”, says another. Should we be sceptical about reading’s voguish turn?
Continue reading...‘The magnificent, the magical, the marvellous!’ It’s TV’s happiest endings
Gold dances, the Good Friday agreement and standup superstardom … get ready to blub because here are the most heartwarming denouements in TV history
Warning: this article contains spoilers
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