Enoshima

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Enoshima

15254 DSC_0030 Hills in the outback cropped

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15255 20260812_085338 The desert was full of flowers

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15253 20260809_163509 Church in Longreach cropped

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Addisu Gobena smashes Sydney Marathon record as Jepchirchir wins fourth women’s major

  • Ethiopian former javelin thrower claims men’s race in 2hr 4min 42sec

  • Kenyan adds harbourside crown to Boston, New York and London titles

Ethiopia’s Addisu Gobena surged to a record-breaking victory in the men’s race at the Sydney Marathon, while Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir claimed the women’s crown on Sunday.

In perfect conditions, Gobena won the hotly contested men’s race in two hours four minutes and 42 seconds – more than a minute and a half quicker than the previous record on the hilly harbourside course which attracted 40,000 competitors from around the world.

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What's 88-year-old Ridley Scott Doing Now?

The Los Angeles Times first calls Ridley Scott's newest movie "a postapocalyptic thriller that trades zombies for pandemics and asks whether hope can outlast catastrophe." But besides
The Dog Stars, Scott is also working on an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" starring Hugh Jackman, and is thinking about turning one of his past films into a musical. ("I can't tell you which one because they're being difficult.") The common theme, they suggest, is a director who allows his stories to "speak through evocative, immersive images rather than unnecessary exposition."




The British director says it's because he got his start in advertising after attending the Royal College of Art in London. After 1982's neon-coated sci-fi thriller "Blade Runner," Scott notably made the iconic Apple Macintosh computer ad "1984," a memorable Orwellian-themed clip that contained suggestions of the dystopias that would continue to fascinate Scott in his filmmaking. "Advertising in England at that point became a competitive art form," he says, pointing to the notorious "Adland Five," a group of directors that included Hugh Hudson, Adrian Lyne, Alan Parker, Scott and his brother Tony. "I've got a show reel which is 50 years old which would entertain the s — out you. Hasn't aged at all. Our visual drive changed the face of how films looked."
That's apparent in Scott's latest, "The Dog Stars" (in theaters Friday), a film about survival after the end of the world. It's based on Peter Heller's 2012 novel and set in Colorado 10 years in the future after an aggressive flu has decimated much of the population. Those remaining alive use any means necessary to stay that way, resulting in instability, brutality and, more hopefully, connection...
These days, Scott develops movies with his production company, Scott Free, which he founded with his late brother Tony in 1995. Before that he says he struggled to find good scripts. And rarely has someone handed one to him. "I've only ever had three films land on my desk," he says. "One was 'Alien,' which I was fifth choice for after Robert Altman." He makes a face. "Can you imagine offering Robert Altman 'Alien'? How stupid can you get?"
Another was 2015 space adventure "The Martian," which Scott says had been sitting on a shelf for two years before it was sent to him. Scott's grounded, semi-comedic take on Andy Weir's novel resulted in seven Oscar nominations. The third screenplay to materialize was "The Dog Stars." "I read it and I was blown away," Scott says.

Deadline notes that Scott is already re-writing the third prequel to Alien, citing Scott's comments to French outlet AlloCiné.

"The one that just came out [2024's Alien: Romulus] was OK. I think it needs some help. So, I've gone back in." Scott continued, "I've already got a footprint for the next Alien.... I'm picking up where we left off in Covenant with Micheal Fassbender, who now thinks he's Ozymandius." With the sequel bringing back Fassbender's futuristic AI droid, Scott sees an opportunity to explore the repercussions of artificial intelligence in our current world. "I like the fact that AI has gone off the rails," said Scott of where the character is at the end of Covenant. "If we go AI, the moment we discover it's off the rails is too late. It could switch every digital thing off in the world like that. You'd have fucking chaos. It's that kind of stuff that's scary."

Scott tells the Los Angeles Times that the malfunctioning AI character fascinates him, and in the movie will be creating a "brave new world for himself... AIs can go off. And if they do, it's like a bomb..."

So far, Scott says he hasn't implemented AI technologies into his filmmaking. He holds up his "Treasure Island" Ridleygrams [hand-drawn storyboards] and shakes them at the camera. "I can compete with an AI without any problem making images," he says. "But it's coming, inevitably."
Scott was not involved in the forthcoming Prime Video series "Blade Runner 2099," out in November. "I can't blame my lawyers and my agents at that time, but somehow we let 'Blade Runner' go," he says. "And when you're not the author of the actual written word, you don't have a piece." (He was more involved in Noah Hawley's recent "Alien: Earth" series, which he calls "pretty damn good....")

Does that mean he thinks about his legacy as a filmmaker? He does, but not often. "When you think of your legacy, you're too near the end," Scott says. "I'm not near the end." He looks up from his drawings. "I've had a riotous time," he says. He corrects himself: "I'm having a riotous time."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Noord-Koreaanse defensieminister ontslagen en gedegradeerd

PYONGYANG (ANP/AFP) - De Noord-Koreaanse minister van Defensie, No Kwang Chol, is uit zijn positie gezet. Zijn ontslag is onderdeel van een grotere herschikking van de militaire top van het land. Dat melden Noord-Koreaanse staatsmedia zondag.

Tijdens een bijeenkomst onder leiding van dictator Kim Jong-un werden de plannen voor een reorganisatie van de militaire leiding vastgesteld. Dat meldt het Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). No Kwang Chol raakt niet alleen zijn positie als defensieminister kwijt. Binnen de leiding van de regerende partij is hij ook nog eens gedegradeerd tot eerste adjunct-directeur van het departement voor de munitie-industrie.

Kim Song Gi wordt de nieuwe minister van Defensie. Hij was directeur van het politieke bureau van het Koreaanse Volksleger.


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Noord-Koreaanse minister van Defensie ontslagen en gedegradeerd

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