Entertainment

As the adage goes, never work with animals or children. However, for the stage production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, there’s little avoiding either of these. The animals and children have a sprinkling of magic as well. It’s not the children that are cursed though, but the owls. The play, in its preview stage, was using live owls. One owl took flight into the auditorium, it then failed to return to its handler. (It’s most likely the owl didn’t deliver the mail either.) Not exactly a seamless production and some teething problems to deal with. The show’s producers offered a statement that the “owls’ welfare and enrichment needs” were of the “utmost importance to the production” and that the purpose of the preview was “designed to allow the creative team time to rehearse the changes or explore specific scenes further before the play’s official opening.” Which ultimately has meant ...

It turns out that actor Jude Law was approached by DC Comics for a possible starring role as the Man of Steel for the Superman Returns (2006) film reboot. Hindsight of that how that movie panned out probably suggests it was for the best. While Jude Law wasn’t that prescient, his problem was with wearing the costume. It takes a special kind of man to wear spandex, and Jude Law just couldn’t see himself amongst the brave and the bold in that regard as he recounted it on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. “I just didn’t really want to go there,” said Law. Faster than a speeding bullet dodged, because as Superman, Jude Law would’ve had to deal with not only wearing spandex, but also with wearing undies on the outside. It’s claimed that director Bryan Singer sent the Superman costume, complete with an armed guard, for Jude Law ...

It sort of says Pikachu, but there’s something a little more shocking in store for Pokémon fans in Hong Kong. Their beloved, and arguably favourite Pokémon character Pikachu is getting a bit of a name change. Yet it’s not being seen as a good evolution of the character in Hong Kong. The release of Pokémon Sun and Moon in December 2016 in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China will mark the first time that the Pokémon video games have been made available in traditional and simplified Chinese. Previously the Pokémon video games were translated based on local languages and regional dialects. Nintendo now wants to simply and unify all of this. With the Pokémon franchise to officially be called 精靈寶可夢 or Jingling Baokemeng in Mandarin throughout Greater China. The upset for Hong Kong gamers is that Nintendo has chosen Mandarin as the official language for all of its renamed Pokémon, ...

In an attempt at the fourth wall breaking characteristic of the Deadpool character, actor Ryan Reynolds has delivered a special Australia Day message to promote the release of the forthcoming Deadpool movie. “Seriously, I’d fit right in with your proud nation with its shady criminal past, and it’s predilection for black-out drinking and unrelenting condescension towards New Zealand,” says Deadpool. However, Deadpool has one problem, and that’s Australia giving the world X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009). Because it’s Deadpool, be warned, there is profanity in the video below: Whether the Deadpool (2016) movie actually delivers, fans will find out when the film premieres 11 February. Who knows, it could be a second career low for the antihero… While it may be intended as a reboot, there has already been the equivalent of Barakapool minus the mouth, and 20th Century Fox Films also gave the world the Fantastic Four (2015) film, a ...

An ad to promote eating lamb on Australia Day in 2016, has come under fire. Quite literally, because it contained a scene with what some have dubbed “a blow torch” (although it’s more of a flamethrower) and a vegan. Chargrilling vegetables is fine. It could even be considered gourmet if using a blow torch on them. Flamethrowers, that’s more of a grey area. Allusions to using an incendiary device on people, less fine, as far as complainants are concerned. Lee Lin Chin, whose day job as a serious journalist and television presenter for SBS in Australia, hasn’t stopped her capacity for self-parody and satire outside of work. If anything, Lee Lin Chin’s social media presence involving having a sense of humour has helped to build her profile in the public eye. Which likely made her seem a great idea for Meat and Livestock Australia’s advertising campaign for Australia Day 2016. ...

Sylvester Stallone has decided it’s time call it a day on his movie character John Rambo. At 69 years of age, Sylvester Stallone notes that while Rambo may not be expendable, his chances of appearing in the previously discussed fifth Rambo film have expired. In an interview with Variety, the veteran actor offered the following thoughts on reprising his role as Rambo one last time for the tentatively titled Rambo: Last Blood. “The heart’s willing, but the body says, ‘Stay home!’ It’s like fighters that go back for one last round and get clobbered. Leave it to someone else.” Rambo (2008) wrapped up the film series as far as Stallone is concerned: “There’s nothing left. When they asked me to do another ‘Rambo,’ I said, ‘If I can’t do better than I did last time, and I can’t, then why?’” Time to put the headband out to pasture. And as ...

As testament to just how important saved video game data can be to someone, a Japanese man using the Twitter handle Wanikun, has kept his Super Famicom turned on for the past 20 years. The Super Famicom console, or Super Nintendo or SNES as it’s known outside of Japan, has had its power kept on for 20 years by the man to preserve his saved data for the Umihara Kawase video game. ちなみに、20年以上SFCの電源を入れっぱなしにしてある初代 #海腹川背 は、稼働時間は 18万時間を突破しているものと思われます。 電源落とすとリプレイデータは消失します。たぶん pic.twitter.com/6ZJfLi997x — Wanikun (@UMIHARAKawase) September 30, 2015 To retain the saved game data, the game cartridge uses static RAM powered by internal batteries for when the cartridge is removed from the machine. Provided the batteries remain charged, the saved data remains intact. However, when the batteries in the game cartridge started to fail, the only way Wanikun could keep his precious Umihara Kawase saved data, was to leave the cartridge in the Super ...

With the death of Motörhead frontman and bassist Lemmy on Monday 28 December 2015, it has been officially announced that the band will not continue on without him. Ian Fraser Kilmister, or Lemmy as he was known, died in Los Angeles at age 70, after a battle with an aggressive cancer. Passing away four days after his 70th birthday, Lemmy had been diagnosed with terminal cancer on the Saturday. Manager Todd Singerman revealed Lemmy had only been given two to six months to live. Confirmed via Motörhead’s official Facebook page the sad news: There is no easy way to say this…our mighty, noble friend Lemmy passed away today after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer. He had learnt of the disease on December 26th, and was at home, sitting in front of his favorite video game from The Rainbow which had recently made its way down the street, ...

On a planet near, nearby… With Star Wars: The Force Awakens breaking box office records, including cracking the $1 billion in box office receipts faster than any other movie, it’s more than likely Disney is pleased with its $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm. Naturally through all this, eyes and ears have turned to the creator, or father, of Star Wars, George Lucas. And from the man himself have come an interesting array of analogies and a veritable galaxy metaphors. Talks of divorce and breakups, kids and marriage, fandom, and even white slavers. Not all of them are intergalactic though. Speaking to the Washington Post, Lucas said of parting ways with the Star Wars franchise: “I call it like a divorce. “There is no such thing as working over someone’s shoulder,” he says. “You’re either the dictator or you’re not. And to do that would never work, so I said ‘I’m ...

For oh-so-many years, and almost equally many movies, the pronunciation of Lord Voldemort has all been wrong. The “t” is soft or silent, and rather French actually. It’s not a hard “t” at all. It’s pronounced “Voldemor”. Making it sound more like “He Who Canno Be Named” instead. Or Christopher Lambert by Francophiles with their crediting him as Christophe Lambert, and pronouncing the actor’s surname more like “Lom-ber”. Scary. And it comes direct from the Harry Potter series author, J.K. Rowling herself. Replaying via Twitter to Michael Lucero’s piece of trivia: “One piece of Harry Potter I always forget to mention: the ‘t’ is silent in Voldemort, according to JK Rowling.” … but I’m pretty sure I’m the only person who pronounces it that way. https://t.co/HxhJ5XY5HP — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 9, 2015 There it is. Obscure. Pointless. And probably a Horcrux. Kind of like pronouncing Ralph Fiennes’ first name ...