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A larvae emerges from an adult fruit fly. (Moore et al., Nature, 2024) ======================================================================= A team of biologists has stumbled across a new species of wasp in an unlikely place: the back end of an adult fruit fly. The wasp is a previously undescribed species the researchers named Syntretus perlmani. And the strangest thing about it? It begins its life in the abdomen of adult Drosophila flies, a place that, as far as we know, no other wasps are willing to go. Though parasitoid wasps lay their young in the bodies of all kinds of insects, up to 200 species...

While Reagan, Sean McNamara's new movie, has received largely negative reviews from critics, it has beaten box office expectations during its first weekend, ranking No. 4 on the charts. The Ronald Reagan biopic, which depicts the life of the actor and politician, stars Dennis Quaid as the 40th president and Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan. The film is loosely based on The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism, a 2006 book written by Paul Kengor. Reagan tells the story of its subject from his childhood through his acting career—with a focus on his struggle against communists in...

On Friday, I did something I hadn’t done since before COVID-19, I went and saw a movie premiere on the day it opened in an actual movie theater. With my childhood friend Susan, whom I’ve known for more than five decades—a dyed-in-the-wool conservative just like me—we went and saw Reagan. And unlike most critics on Rotten Tomatoes who rated it at 18% and elsewhere, we loved it along with a virtually unprecedented 98% of Rotten Tomato viewers.Right up front, I can say that Reagan is not without flaws. The cinematography in much of the movie is quite dark, especially in...

Hollywood can’t always be trusted to accurately portray reality or history, to say the least. But I fully enjoyed watching the facts go by in the premier of “Reagan,” which I saw this week at the famous Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. “Reagan,” which stars Dennis Quaid as my father and opened around the country Friday, covers my father’s career from Illinois lifeguard to the American president who set out to bankrupt the Soviet Union – and did it. It took an international team of freedom fighters like Maggie Thatcher and Pope John Paul II to bring down the USSR...

The new movie Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid as the 40th U.S. president, is scoring big with audiences, earning an “A” on CinemaScore and a 98 percent audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Reagan, which opened in cinemas Friday, tells the life story of Ronald Reagan beginning with his boyhood in Illinois and continuing with his move to Hollywood and ultimately his transformation into a politician. The large cast includes Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan and Mena Suvari as Ronald Reagan’s first wife, the Oscar-winning Hollywood star Jane Wyman. Oscar-winner Jon Voight plays a former Soviet KGB agent whose telling...

The producers didn't plan for the biopic about the life of Ronald Reagan to open so close to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, but delays caused by the pandemic and an actors strike led to its release on August 30. It seems easier to portray a historical figure that no one currently living remembers. In the case of "Reagan," the challenge would appear especially challenging. Actor Dennis Quaid, who plays Reagan, is more than up to that challenge. Quaid avoids what could have easily been a temptation to portray Reagan as a caricature. Though he resembles the 40th president...

The trailer for Ridley Scott’s new epic, Gladiator II, is undeniably impressive, but then it rather had to be. Rumors that its already massive budget had ballooned to as much as $310 million — which would mean it would have to be one of 2024’s highest-grossing movies just to break even, never mind making a profit — may have suggested that the film was in trouble, but an early screening of the preview at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas reassured exhibitors and studios alike, with the few journalists who had seen the footage rushing to extol its scale and...

“Reagan” is an upcoming biopic focused on the life and work of President Ronald Reagan, according to the movie’s official website. It will star Dennis Quaid as Reagan and Chris Massoglia as Pat Boone. Although the film is not focused on religion primarily, both actors have remarked on the deep faith displayed by Reagan throughout his life, according to The Christian Post. President Ronald Reagan described himself as a Bible-believing born-again evangelical, per CBN. Ben Armstrong, who served as the executive director of National Religious Broadcasters in the 1980s, interviewed Reagan and asked him what he believed he needed for...

CNN — In November 1983, the US, Soviet Union and the rest of the world were teetering closer than ever on the edge of nuclear war. A NATO military exercise had spooked the Soviets, who thought the exercise was merely a cover for a real nuclear strike on the USSR, prompting them to ready their own nuclear forces. Who knew, then, that an ABC movie-of-the-week would play a significant role in potentially preventing nuclear war? “The Day After,” a two-hour epic following a few weeks in the lives of small-town Midwesterners before and after a nuclear strike, was one of...

In recent years, the entertainment industry, particularly Hollywood, has discussed at length the role of the intimacy coordinator. However, the title of the role itself isn’t quite as clear-cut as that of a director, an actor, or a camera operator, so the question remains: just what does an intimacy coordinator do on a film or TV show’s production? Firstly, the intimacy coordinator will work closely with film directors, writers, and producers during pre-production to understand which scenes might require supervision. By understanding a scene’s requirements, particularly sexual content or physical intimacy, the IC can prepare to help actors set personal...

For those who may be interested Some won't be - but there's plenty on FR to choose from

On March 6, 1981, Marianne Bachmeier smuggled a Beretta 70 handgun into the Lubeck District court, in Germany. Klaus Grabowski was to be sentenced for kidnapping, raping, and killing Bachmeier's seven-year-old daughter. She calmly pulled out the Beretta and shot Grabowski in the back seven times, once for each year of life of her deceased daughter. Grabowski died on the spot. She is Mother of the Century, to me. Click to see the video.

“That's what's boiling the oceans, creating these atmospheric rivers, and the rain bombs, and sucking the moisture out of the land, and creating the droughts, and melting the ice and raising the sea level, and causing these waves of climate refugees!” – Al Gore There is a chronic lack of civil discourse in Western society in that people have become far less civil and rarely engage in discourse. Driven by the proliferation of bias-confirming social media, people are herded into corners of the internet where views they agree with are amplified and dissent is swiftly marginalized, shouted down, or canceled...

Polish director Besaleel’s film will feature an AI-rendered Russian president and footage shot by Ukrainian film-makers during the Russian invasion. The “world premiere” of a new biopic of Russian president Vladimir Putin featuring an AI-rendered central character, has been announced for 26 September. In a statement released via PR Leap, Polish studio AIO said the film, titled Putin, will be released in 35 countries, and describes itself as “up close and personal with the Kremlin leader’s story”. -snip- Originally titled The Vor in Law (a term used for elite organised crime figures), the film also incorporates footage shot by Ukrainian...

Watch the movie carefully. The president isn't who all the leftist reviewers claim it is. (Hint: it isn't Trump.) I thought the ending was very well done.

"Rust" armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed will be sentenced in a Santa Fe, New Mexico, court Monday for the killing of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after being found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month. Prosecutors are seeking the maximum penalty of 18 months in state prison. Following Gutierrez-Reed's conviction, the judge ordered the 26-year-old to be held in police custody pending her sentencing. She was found not guilty of tampering with evidence. In recorded jail phone conversations with her mother, boyfriend and her attorney’s paralegal, Gutierrez-Reed called jurors “idiots” and “a--holes” while complaining about the length of time it took them to deliberate,...

Rolling Thunder is a 1977 drama starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones who return home after being held captive as POWs in Vietnam. Unfortunately, their troubles are not over. Upon release, Rolling Thunder received praise for its action sequences, atmosphere, direction, music and cast performances, but was criticized for its pace and violent climax. This is a review of the new 4K Blu Ray version of the film.

1 hour 19 minutes free movie

One of the truly great joys of this job - besides all of YOU, of course - has been the immense privilege of getting to personally know some of the people who have been at the forefront of the fight against the climate cult from the very beginning. Names that at one time, thanks to a near blackout of dissenting views, were just authors of articles or quoted in obscure documentaries that managed to slip through the climate change curtain. More of these folks are now becoming familiar. They should become even more well-known every single day because their struggle...