Free Republic

Several weeks ago we revealed that Saddleback Church has joined other large megachurches in the VR space, recently hosting its first Virtual Reality church service through the Metaverse. We’ve covered Saddleback Church on several occasions after Andy and Stacie Wood, the new ‘pastors’ of the 25,000-membe multisite, dressed up as Toy Story characters for a sermon series, after they ordained several pastrixes and were expelled from the SBC for it, after they hosted a “Blacks Only worship service” where no white members were allowed in, so the “black gold” could have a “safe space” to “heal,” and after they had...

World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Klaus Schwab has told his unelected globalist organization’s so-called “Young Global Leaders” that they will continue to live on even after they die. According to Schwab, WEF members can continue to expect to enjoy more than just a “career of 50 years.” Through the use of technology and “injections,” Schwab says WEF Young Global Leaders “will continue to live.” Schwab promises young globalists that, even after they die, their brains “will be replicated through artificial intelligence and algorithms.” He made the comments in a leaked video which was recorded during a private indoctrination session for...

‘IT’S CHILLING’ Days before his alleged attack on the writer, Hadi Matar wrote a late-night email to his New Jersey gym. Three days before Hadi Matar allegedly rushed the stage at a literary event to brutally attack British-Indian author Salman Rushdie, the 24-year-old wrote a late-night email to his New Jersey gym to cancel his membership. “Hey this is Hadi,” Matar wrote in an Aug. 9 email to the State of Fitness Boxing Club at 1:31 a.m. “I was going tk [sic] ask if you guys can disable autopay for me right now. As I won’t be able to make...

It's been 13 years since James Cameron's Avatar beat his previous blockbuster, Titanic, to become the highest grossing film ever released. But now at long last he has returned to the jungle moon of Pandora - and roughly 13 years have passed there, too. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), his mind now permanently installed in a blue alien Na'vi body, is the chief of his clan, and he and his wife Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) have four children. They spend their time lolling around in skimpy loincloths, thinking about how happy they are, but inevitably their Edenic and slightly risqué tranquility ends...

James Cameron revealed on Monday that he would have to skip his film Avatar: The Way Of Water's Hollywood premiere after getting a positive Covid-19 test result. The 68-year-old filmmaker revealed to Deadline that he had tested positive sometime after returning home from Japan following an Avatar 2 screening in Seoul, South Korea. 'I am in LA, just back from Tokyo, and I managed to pick up Covid on the plane, so I’m isolated and can’t go to my own premiere tonight,' Cameron said while speaking with Deadline. The Titanic director joked about all the people he would no longer...

They made him more lifelike than his reality! Definitely nailed his weasely underhandedness. There's a little cursing so those sensitive to that are warned.

Avatar: The Way of Water Final Trailer Shows Off Pandora's Oceans and Teases a New Conflict James Cameron is teasing new landscapes on Pandora and a new conflict in the final trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water. On Tuesday, 20th Century Studios released the final trailer for Avatar: The Way of Water, which hits theaters over a decade after the director's 2009 film Avatar. The long-awaited sequel meets the original film's main characters Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) as parents for a new adventure. The sequel's "cinematic experience reaches new heights" as 68-year-old writer-director Cameron "transports...

Disney is no longer releasing Mulan on Aug. 21 and is unsetting the movie for the time being. Oy, just when AMC was looking to turn the lights back on with a big movie in pockets of the country. [snip] Disney is also not revealing their playbook, i.e. whether Mulan will debut abroad first before domestic, even though logic would dictate that. Earlier this week, exhibitors and distributors were betting Mulan would stay put; the notion being that the Niki Caro-directed feature adaptation of the 1998 toon would be on Disney+ by at least Christmas. “Over the last few months,...

Arnold Schwarzenegger is backing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order requiring all state residents to wear masks when outdoors or in public places. The Terminator actor and former California governor claimed that the science is “unanimous” and that anyone politicizing the issue is an “absolute moron.” “This is 100% the right move,” Schwarzenegger tweeted in reply to Gov. Newsom’s (D) order on Thursday “This will help us beat this terrible virus. The science is unanimous — if we all wear masks, we slow down the spread and can reopen safely. It’s not a political issue. Anyone making it a political issue...

Freepers, old and new, have posted and lurked here for years. But most of us also visit other sites and post commentary on myriad Disqus threads. Are you willing to disclose your Disqus user name? I'm Merry Misanthrope.

After “Avatar’s” impressive 10-year reign as box office champion, “Avengers: Endgame” has officially dethroned James Cameron’s sci-fi epic to become the biggest movie of all time. On Saturday, Disney and Marvel’s blockbuster crossed $2.7892 billion at the global box office. Once weekend ticket sales are tallied, the tentpole will exceed the $500,000 needed to surpass “Avatar’s” $2.7897 billion benchmark. “Avengers: Endgame” has amassed $853 million at the domestic box office, making it the second-highest grossing movie in North America behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($936 million). Internationally, it collected a mighty $1.9 billion, boasting especially strong performances in China...

Like more or less everyone I know, I have no desire to see a single entertainment company take over the future, dominating what had been a movie industry of multiple entities, each one fighting for their slice of your attention span. Disney, the movie studio so powerful that it ate another movie studio, looks, to many, like it could be that company. The full impact of its absorption of 20th Century Fox has yet to be felt, but now that the smoke has cleared, the mega-corporation that was formed stands before us like an unprecedented colossus, looming over all other...

I haven’t been paying much attention to this lately but today I saw something that made me wonder if Avengers: Endgame had finally dethroned Avatar as the top-grossing film of all time. The answer is no. Endgame is very close to catching up with Avatar but it looks like that won’t happen now that theaters are dropping the film in favor of newer releases. There’s just not quite enough gas left in the tank. From CNBC: As “Endgame” exits its sixth week at the box office, its sales momentum has slowed so much that now analysts are questioning if...

Games reach an incredibly diverse set of people across national, linguistic, and social barriers, and that goes for religion, too. Last week, we noted that Ninja was taking meals off-screen out of respect for Ramadan, and it should be little surprise to see religious groups taking up residence inside virtual spaces. One Christian pastor now holds church in VRChat, and that even includes baptisms – no matter how ridiculous a person’s avatar. Pastor D.J. Soto is the subject of a new video from YouTuber Syrmor (via Polygon), and the whole process is equal parts earnest and absurd. Soto describes his...

Obama the Avatar? Does this effect the Oscars? Our congressional leaders had the guts to confront this issue at the recent Health Care Summit.

A lot of virtual training happens in video game-like environments, where soldiers see combat through the eyes of a superhero character. But if the Army is going to train its troops through gaming, officials say the characters in the virtual world should perform more like actual soldiers. That is one part of the reasoning behind a new idea the Army has to create avatars for every soldier. These digital representations would accompany service members throughout their training and allow them to see, through simulation, how their skills, or lack thereof, would play in life and death situations. The influence of...

The Walt Disney Co. will build a theme-park “land” based on the movie “Avatar” in Disney’s Animal Kingdom as the first step in a broader licensing deal that will lead to similar attractions in Disney parks worldwide. The deal announced Tuesday gives Disney exclusive theme-park rights to use elements from the 2009 blockbuster and from sequels due out in 2014 and 2015. “Avatar,” which was directed by James Cameron and grossed nearly $2.8 billion in worldwide box-office receipts, is widely considered one of the most valuable intellectual properties not already tied up by a theme park. Disney said it plans...

There are too many of us already, and we must not let our numbers grow even further beyond what Earth's resources can provide. If we want to keep/improve our current standard of living, those who are able should take precautions. A few of the more extreme ideas (i.e. killing off "unnecessary" members of a population), while theoretically efficient, seem elitist and unnecessarily drastic and cruel from a human standpoint. Then there are people who believe in the ideal that either nature or an all-powerful being will eventually "balance out" our growing numbers (Eywa?). Yes, people die every day, but lives...

10. 'The Back-up Plan' 9. 'The Bounty Hunter' 8. 'Clash of the Titans' 7. 'Cop Out' 6. (tie) 'The Great Directors' / 'Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel' 5. 'Grown Ups' 4. 'The Last Airbender' 3. 'The Last Song' 2. 'Sex and the City 2' 1. 'Furry Vengeance'

You want the quick version? Don't waste your money. And don't keep reading. But for the few that still care...