Tag: blast
Meet Blast Radio, the Social Network Beating Amazon at the Audio Game
Social media offers a never-ending stream of content, but to get it, you have to put up with a lot of manipulation. Influencers entice you with clickbait, notifications hijack your attention, and algorithms tune your experience to keep you glued to your phone. The internet can be a hostile place, but recently, I found…
Virgin Galactic’s next crewed flight will blast to the edge of space later this month
Virgin Galactic is gearing up for its first crewed flight in nearly two years. The space tourism company announced that it will launch its Unity 25 crew into space later this month but didn’t provide a specific date.
The upcoming spaceflight is “the final assessment of the full spaceflight system and astronaut experience” ahead of Virgin Galactic’s first commercial flight that’s planned for the end of June. Unity 25 marks the company’s fifth spaceflight and will launch four Virgin Galactic employees — Beth Moses, Luke Mays, Jamila Gilbert, and Christopher Huie — to the edge of space.
#VirginGalactic is returning to space in late May. Meet the #Unity25 crew → https://t.co/7gKH6db8gg pic.twitter.com/lbGhF6BJB8
— Virgin Galactic…
Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 is an action-packed blast, full of so much blink-and-you-miss-it humour
Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3
(12A) 150mins
★★★★☆
EXPECTING Vin Diesel to deliver more than three words of dialogue is a stretch.
One of the many genius decisions of Guardians Of The Galaxy was to have the superstar provide the voice of a walking tree who only ever says “I am Groot”.
Zoe Saldana as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3[/caption]
Rocket is voiced by Bradley Cooper in the flick[/caption]
Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill deserves kudos for putting Rocket at the centre of the story[/caption]
Even more leftfield was casting blue-eyed heart-throb Bradley Cooper as the voice of a hard-boiled talking raccoon called Rocket.
For me, though, the pair have always been the main attraction of this Marvel comic book adaptation.
They shoot first and don’t ask questions later.
So, this third and supposedly final outing of the sci-fi heroes led by Chris Pratt’s Peter Quill deserves kudos for putting Rocket at the centre of the story.
The mystery of how this no-nonsense raccoon learned to speak was a piece of the Guardians puzzle that I was more than happy to have revealed.
The furry hero remembers his past while on life support — and Rocket can’t be his grouchy best while unconscious.
Thankfully, the mission to save him is an action-packed blast set to the year’s best soundtrack.
Director James Gunn’s outlandish ideas include Counter Earth, a planet that looks like our own, except it is populated by talking animals.
It is full of so much blink-and-you-miss-it humour that I’d like to watch Guardians 3 again.
Action-packed
None of this could work without the characters whose flaws are played up for comic effect by judicious pairings.
Quill’s ego is regularly demolished by Zoe Saldana’s deadpan Gamora, the “kill everyone” attitude of Dave Bautista’s Drax contrasts perfectly with the empathy of Pom Klementieff’s Mantis and Sean Gunn’s not-too-bright Kraglin is jealous of his super-smart dog Cosmo (Maria Bakalova).
They are bolstered by the addition of two excellent baddies.
Will Poulter is Adam Warlock, whose brawn is let down by his immature brain, and Chukwudi Iwuji is a psychotic scientist with a God complex.
But the emotional impact of attempting to rescue the loveable raccoon is diluted by the lives of far too many cute characters being at risk at the climax.
Sometimes it’s better not to do or say too much.
I Am Groot.
- Grant Rollings
The Laureate
(15) 109mins
★★☆☆☆
THIS dramatisation of the life of war poet and author Robert Graves is a superficially titillating endeavour.
Written and directed by William Nunez, it begins after Graves has returned from World War One with post-traumatic stress and writer’s block.
Actor Tom Hughes knows how to play the sensitively dashing type.
But this story doesn’t really challenge him to deliver the poet’s introspective struggle to create.
Instead, it focuses on the extramarital affairs sparked by the arrival of an American literary critic and poet.
At his invitation, and that of his illustrator wife Nancy (Laura Haddock), Laura Riding (Dianna Agron) arrives from New York and immediately stirs up a storm.
She becomes his muse and lover but the film only skims the surface of the misogyny and sexism she receives from male literary figures.
Instead it makes her more of a femme fatale stereotype and focuses on her manipulative, dangerous behaviour.
There’s lots of naked female bodies, and girl-on-girl action, yet no man-on-man, despite Graves’s noted bisexuality.
Ultimately, The Laureate is a surface-level entry point into the tumultuous life of one of our greatest artists.
Return To Seoul
(15) 118mins
★★★★★
IF you’re looking for a gut-punch of a character study, then Return To Seoul is just the messy, identity crisis of a drama for you.
But this intimate portrait of a woman caught between cultures is, refreshingly, anything but a melodrama.
Freddie (Park Ji-min) is an impulsive French woman returning to Korea for the first time since she was adopted at birth by white parents.
She quickly makes friends with French-speaking locals but when the chance to meet her biological parents arises, her carefree spirit is confronted by some hard truths.
Park’s face does so much of the talking as we watch Freddie both turn away and face up to her dual heritage.
Director Davy Chou allows the camera to patiently watch her react, take in, feel and mask all her conflicting feelings.
She’s as mesmirising as the beautifully charged Korean backdrop.
At times, the scene throbs with bold red, anarchic energy; elsewhere, a moment recedes with pale regret.
It is a triumphant reflection of a brilliantly complex woman navigating the vast distance in her identities to make herself whole.
Film News
- THE Last Of Us actor Pedro Pascal will join director Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel.
- A FOLLOW-UP to Ben Stiller’s Dodgeball is in the works.
- ROB DELANEY will return to his role as Peter in Deadpool 3.
BRIAN VINER: A Rocket fuelled farewell for the Guardians of the Galaxy… and it’s a blast!
Blast Off With Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy Space Snacks at Disney Parks
The space milk must flow—straight out of a galaxy far, far away and Knowhere in particular.
John Hennigan ‘puts KSI on blast’ and slams ‘overnight tough guys’ Jake and Logan Paul after Creator Clash win
JOHN Hennigan called out KSI and slammed the Paul brothers after his explosive win at Creator Clash.
The former WWE star, 43, dominated Harley Morenstein in their bout in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night.
John Hennigan thrashed Harley Morenstein in Creator Clash on Saturday[/caption]
Hennigan called out British YouTube fighter KSI[/caption]
Hennigan put his opponent on the canvas three times in the opening three rounds before the fight was called off.
And wrestler Hennigan called out KSI for a fight after his dominant win on the pay-per-view event.
He said: “Boxing is different from wrestling and stunt choreo. I know how hard I worked, I know how hard Harley worked.
“I have all the respect in the world for that man.
“But there are some influencer boxers I have zero respect for.
“Jake Paul, Logan Paul. They make me sick. Overnight tough guys. The entire Misfits boxings.
“Jake Paul got beat. Logan got beat by KSI, which is why I’m going to put KSI on blast right now. You hear me? Come on.”
KSI will take on Joe Fournier in London on May 13 in his next fight.
Hennigan’s clash with Morenstein was the co-main event on Creator Clash 2 in Tampa.
In the main event bout, Alex Wassabi beat iDubbbz by majority decision.
Wassabi won the four-round contest 39-37 on two cards while the other was a 38-38 draw.
He also slammed Jake and Logan Paul as ‘overnight tough guys’[/caption]
MPs blast passport delays that caused ‘misery’ for Britons and left many unable to travel last year
‘Statue assassin’ who killed Putin blogger with ‘TNT-laden bust’ seen smiling while ‘on the run’ after café bomb blast
SHOCKING footage shows a woman who allegedly killed a Kremlin blogger with a booby-trapped statue smiling hours before she was arrested.
Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, was killed by a bust of himself that detonated in a Russian cafe on Sunday during an appearance in St Petersburg.
Daria Trepova can be seen smiling in the footage[/caption]
She was allegedly seen on the run hours after the blast[/caption]
Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, unknowingly enabled his own assassination[/caption]
He was reportedly handed the deadly gold-coloured figurine by alleged anti-Putin bomber Darya Tryopova, 26, who was arrested today.
Russia released a supposed confession video showing the blonde, with cropped hair, admitting her role in the bomb plot.
Now, footage released by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation shows the moment Tryopova entered an apartment building with a large suitcase and shoulder bag.
She can be seen smiling as a man opens a door for her, before the video cuts to show her arrest by Russian police.
Cops said she travelled around the city by taxi for four hours before arriving at the apartment block, Russian media reports.
Local newspaper Izvestia claims that Tryopova bought a ticket from Pulkovo airport – but never arrived for her flight.
On Monday, Russia released a supposed confession video.
When asked to explain why she is being detained, Tryopova says: “I’d put it this way, for being at the assassination side of Vladlen Tatarsky.
“I brought there the statuette that exploded.”
She was then pressed to reveal who supplied her with the devastating explosive, to which she replied: “Can I tell you later?”
Tryopova is alleged to have posed as an admirer while attending the creative event, while carrying the explosive in a cardboard box.
CCTV footage captured a suspect strolling past the café clutching the package, before entering the venue owned by mercenary warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the brutal Wagner Group.
In a cruel twist of fate, eyewitnesses claim Tatarsky effectively signed his own death warrant by welcoming Tryopova and her lethal gift.
Security at the café had questioned the blonde upon her arrival and told her to leave the box at the door after they asked: “What if it’s a bomb?”
Tryopova is alleged to have described herself as an “artist” and explained she “wanted to show the heroes of Putin’s special military operation”.
It is claimed that she struck up a conversation with the popular blogger before retrieving the package from a coat cupboard.
One attendee claimed the suspect had used the fake name Nastya to get close to Tatarsky before handing him the TNT-laced statue.
Video captured the moment she handed the box to Tatarsky, who held it approvingly before placing it down.
Alisa Smotrova said the pro-Kremlin pundit had insisted on seeing the bust, despite concerns from security.
Discussing the encounter she claims to have witnessed, she told KP.ru that Tatarsky had asked his alleged killer’s name during the seminar.
Alisa explained: “She said: ‘Nastya. I want to give you a sculpture because I study at the sculpture department at the Academy of Art.
“He said: ‘Well, fetch it.’ She said: ‘They told me at the entrance, ‘What if it’s a bomb? So I left it there’.
“Well, everyone here laughed. She said: ‘Well, shall I bring it?’ He said: ‘Yes, bring it’.
“She came, brought this box and went to the stage. She gave it to him.”
The bystander claimed that Tryopova then became reluctant to engage with him and sit closer after he invited her to.
Alisa continued: “She says: ‘Oh, I’m so shy’. He said: ‘Sit closer’.
“She sat closer to the window, and said: ‘Well, I’m here on the chair’.
“They took out the sculpture, it’s a golden head in a helmet. Well, I don’t even know if it looks like Tatarsky.
“He put it down there without a second thought and then continued asking questions [to his seminar audience].
“And suddenly an explosion and smoke… We were sitting in the second part of the hall. Everyone ran.
“Those nearby, of course, were already covered in blood and ran away. The windows exploded too. We ran to the exit.”
Just three minutes after the exchange, Tatarsky was dead after the statue that contained up to 450 grams of TNT erupted.
Police told RBC media that “the explosion was at a height of 60 centimetres from the floor.”
Its capacity was 300 to 450 grams of TNT and it went off “to the right of Tatarsky.”
Tryopova is said to have fled the scene and was reportedly booked on a flight from Pulkovo Airport to Turkey hours later – but never showed up for it.
A fireball explosion tore through the café, injuring 30 and sending shards of glass blasting into the street.
Footage of the aftermath shows people attending to bleeding victims outside the façade of the collapsed café.
State media said 19 of the 30 caught in the St Petersburg blast were taken to hospital. Eight people remain in a serious condition.
Tryopova was busted at a rented flat close to the scene on Monday by the FSB and Investigative Committee, according to local media.
As she was led away in handcuffs from the residential complex, she reportedly said: “I was set up. I was just being used.”
The first picture of Tryopova after her arrest showed her with cropped blond hair, suggesting she had cut it to disguise herself.
Cops are still hunting her alleged Ukraine-born accomplice Maria Yarun, 40, although some reports say she is in hospital after the blast.
Officials are now said to be scouring through Tryopova’s conversations in a private web chat, according to Telegram channel VCK-OGPU.
The messages reportedly suggested she had come to St Petersburg from Moscow late last week and intended to fly abroad – to Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, via Istanbul.
The former shop worker had breakfast with her friend on Sunday and sent her a message following the explosion.
Tryopova wrote: “I could have died there, I’d rather have died there, I was set up.”
Darya Tryopova, 26, admitted she brought him the statue in a confession vid released by Russian authorities[/caption]
The pro-Putin blogger is said to have asked the blonde to sit closer to him at the event[/caption]
The cafe was destroyed and 30 were injured in the horror explosion on Sunday[/caption]
She is then alleged to have changed the settings on her messenger account for the first time in seven years.
Tryopova’s boyfriend Dmitry Rylov – also in his 20s and a member of the so-called Russian Liberation Army – insists she has been “set up.”
He is also wanted by the secret services and has previously been detained at anti-war protests with his girlfriend.
Rylov insisted Tryopova must have “completely misunderstood the purpose” of the statue given to Tatarsky.
He said: “I believe that my wife was set up.
“I am in full confidence that she would never be able to do something like that on her own volition.
“Yes, with Daria we really do not support the war in Ukraine, but we believe that such actions are unacceptable.
“I am 100 percent sure that she would never have agreed to such a thing if she had known.”
Tatarsky, whose real name is Maxim Fomin, is one of Russia’s foremost military bloggers and has over 560,000 followers on Telegram.
He provided a critical running commentary on Russia’s war in Ukraine and had once been a fighter in the battles in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Along with other Putin pundits, he criticised the Russian army for failing to fight even more brutally and ruthlessly against Ukraine.
Tryopova was arrested on Monday in wake of the deadly blast[/caption]
Security at the event had raised concerns about the suspicious package[/caption]