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Chris Brown is still stuck in the Philippines after he reportedly skipped a million dollar concert

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Chris Brown John Salansang AP

It seems as if Chris Brown's drama in the Philippines isn't over yet.

The singer was reportedly stranded in the South Asian country Wednesday due to a fraud complaint involving a concert last December.

There were multiple reports Thursday morning that the conflict had been resolved, and was just a misunderstanding, but according to NBC, the singer remains stranded.

Local authorities are still investigating the complaint against Brown and his promoter. An order was issued Tuesday night by the Philippine Department of Justice to prevent Brown from leaving the country, and attempt to get him to pay back money he owed to a group he was supposed to perform for.

The religious group Iglesia ni Cristo of the Philippines claimed Brown failed to perform at a concert even after he was paid. According to the Associated Press, the contract was worth $1 million.

Brown seemed to make light of the situation on Instagram Wednesday posting a video saying: "When I go through customs, I say 'Sir I didn't do nothing.'" In the video, he then dropped to the ground and started dancing.

Clowning

A video posted by @chrisbrownofficial on Jul 22, 2015 at 9:58am PDT on

 Thursday morning he posted another video 'begging' to leave the country "Please, please let us leave":

OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A video posted by @chrisbrownofficial on Jul 23, 2015 at 8:45am PDT on

Business Insider reached out to Brown's representatives about the latest developments and will update the story with any new information.

SEE ALSO: Chris Brown is stuck in the Philippines, again

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There's an Adderall doping scandal in the world of professional gaming

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league of legends

Performance-enhancing drugs aren't just for regular sports anymore.

In the world of eSports, however, it's not about bulking up physically. In the world of eSports, performance is about mental acuity and concentration. 

The drug of choice is Adderall, an amphetamine that requires a doctor's prescription. It's used to treat ADHD. Adderall is also common in colleges, where students use it as a study aid. It's a stimulant that enables long periods of concentration, or, as Business Insider science editor Kevin Loria put it: "It's basically speed." 

And that's why it's been so easily adopted by the competitive eSports world.

"We were all on Adderall," Kory “SEMPHIS” Friesen, a professional eSports competitor, said in an interview with Launders on YouTube on July 12.

Here's the full interview (Friesen starts talking about using performance-enhancing drugs at around 7:30):

 Friesen claimed that "everyone" used Adderall at one particular event – a $250,000 prize tournament in Poland – and that it's a commonly used drug among eSports players during competitive events. The event was hosted by ESL, the Electronic Sports League, which is one of the oldest and largest eSports leagues in operation. It boasts "more than 5,000,000 registered members."

As a result, ESL announced on Thursday that it's is implementing anti-doping measures.

We will be administering the first PED [performance-enhancing drug] skin tests at ESL One Cologne this August, with a view to performing these tests at every Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One and ESL ESEA Pro League event thereafter as soon as the official PED policy is established and tournament rules updated accordingly.

ESL is working with European regulators at the Nationale Anti Doping Agentur to establish rules and standards for it's anti-doping measures, and says it will begin implementing the regulations in August. Friesen, meanwhile, won't be punished. ESL representatives told Motherboard, "We can't punish someone if we are not 100 percent sure he is guilty. And as we have no way to test it anymore (we're four months after the event), we won't take action in this specific case."

SEE ALSO: Why your favorite video game series is never, ever coming back

AND: We break down the latest 'Fallout 4' trailer in excruciating detail so you don't have to

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Meet the new teen heroes of the next 'X-Men' movie

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X-Men: Apocalypse

Outside of a few behind-the-scenes photos tweeted out by director Bryan Singer and a teaser shown off at San Diego Comic-Con,  very little of "X-Men: Apocalypse" has been shown to the general public. However, details are finally starting to trickle out.

Thursday, 20th Century Fox finally released a small bundle of high-resolution images of the film's cast, focusing mostly on the new heroes we'll be meeting when the movie comes out next summer. 

Given that they're teens in the '80s, it's not a big surprise that a bunch of these photos are at the mall. 

"X-Men: Apocalypse" is scheduled to release on May 27, 2016.

Let's take a look at the cast!

SEE ALSO: 'Ant-Man' review

Tye Sheridan will step in as a younger Scott Summers aka Cyclops.

Picking up  James Marsden's ruby quartz sunglasses is Tye Sheridan, a young actor who previously worked on critically acclaimed films like "The Tree of Life" and "Mud".

If you need a refresher, Scott Summers has the mutant power to project uncontrollable concussive red energy from his eyes whenever they're open. Those red shades are the only thing keeping them in check. 

 



"Game of Thrones" star Sophie Turner will play Jean Grey.

The actress famous for playing Sansa Stark makes the leap to comic-book blockbusters as telepath Jean Grey, one of the original comic book team members previously portrayed by Famke Janssen in the first "X-Men" trilogy.



Alexandra Shipp plays Ororo Munroe, aka Storm.

Previously portrayed by Halle Berry, Ororo Munroe/Storm is a mutant with the power to control the weather. While the previous movies didn't do much with her character, the Storm of the comics is one of the series' most important characters, serving as the team's leader for a number of years. However, in "Apocalypse", it looks like she starts out on the titular bad guy's team.

The greatest thing about this photo? Storm is rocking her famous mohawk from the comics. Mohawked Storm is the best Storm. 



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The director of the short film that inspired 'Pixels' says Adam Sandler’s version 'could have been better'

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Pixels George Kraychyk Sony 2

If you watch the trailer for the new Adam Sandler comedy “Pixels,” you'll find the usual antics from the funny man and eye popping 8-bit graphics developed from the backing of a major movie studio.

But what’s more remarkable is the short film that inspired it.

French filmmaker/artist Patrick Jean created the two-and-a-half minute short, also titled “Pixels,” five years ago for $5,000. In it, the classic arcade games of the 1980s travel to New York City and begin to devour it into 8-bit blocks.

Pixels short finalThe short became an instant sensation on the web, getting over a million views in its first 24 hours online, according to Jean’s website. And, as Jean told Business Insider, within two weeks he began hearing from movie studios about making it into a feature-length film that he’d direct.
 pixels short“I came up with the idea of what the feature film became,” said Jean in a phone conversation from L.A. “I pitched it to about five companies that really wanted it and we ended up going with Adam Sandler and Sony.”

For the next four years, Jean went from directing a modest-budgeted movie about ex-gamers trying to save the world from its destruction by classic video game characters, to stepping aside as major players in Hollywood took it over.

He said he’s grateful for what has happened, but he has some critiques about the finished product.

According to Jean, he sold the film rights for $1 million. He was to direct the film with Sandler producing it and perhaps star. Jean teamed with a screenwriter hired by Sandler’s Happy Madison production company to write the script, which he said went through many drafts over a few years.

Pixels Chris Columbus George Kraychyk SonyBut when the script got to a point when the project got a green light, the budget increased, which led to Jean’s exit as director.

“They asked me to come up with a list of directors [to make the movie] and we got Chris Columbus,” said Jean.

Columbus is known for the fantastical films he wrote in the 1980s ("Gremlins" and "The Goonies") and the classics he went on to direct ("Home Alone," "Mrs Doubtfire," and the first two "Harry Potter" movies).

Jean became an executive producer on the film and made an arrangement with Sony that he would shadow Columbus on set.

“It wasn’t easy because it was my baby at one point,” said Jean of having to relinquish the director reigns. “But I still wanted to be attached to the project, so I learned to watch and not interfere with what Chris wanted.”

When asked what he thinks about the film, Jean doesn’t give the usual Hollywood spin.

Patrick Jean final“I think the movie is not perfect, but I like it,” he said. “I feel the second half of the movie could have been better. But I know they had budget issues, they had to cut some stuff.”

One bit in particular is a scene at the end where the heroes (played by Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, and Peter Dinklage) meet their younger selves (who we meet in the beginning of the movie) while battling the mothership that’s releasing the video game characters onto Earth.

“They did shoot it,” said Jean. “But sadly it didn’t make it in the film.”

Overall, Jean said he loves the humor of the film, and the visual effects. “It’s a light action comedy movie and that’s what we wanted to do in the first place,” he said.

But he’s now ready to direct one of his projects.

He says he’s shooting a live-action film for a French company next summer and is in talks with Sony to direct an animated feature.

“Pixels” opens in theaters on Friday.

Watch Jean’s “Pixels” short below:

 

SEE ALSO: Here's when you'll be able to see Adam Sandler's first original Netflix movie

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Here's what iconic female video game characters would look like with average American bodies

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Female characters in video games like Lara Croft from "Tomb Raider" have historically had body types that were far from "average."

Even beyond the impossibly proportioned women of early console fighting games, most iconic female characters are, in various ways, stylized in an unrealistic way.

Now Bulimia.com, a collective dedicated to empowering those with eating disorders, has asked the question: “What would video game characters look like with average American bodies?”

The organization questions why — with games now featuring technical wonders such as natural cloud movements — they still don’t usually portray the female body accurately and free from exaggerated proportions.

Though it's also true that video games certainly don’t portray the average male body — with games like "Gears of War" featuring hulking body types that are practically unobtainable — it’s still useful to be reminded of just how far our fantastical representations can sometimes take us from reality. And that this could potentially have consequences.

Here is a series of graphics, created by Bulimia.com, that shows what different iconic female video game characters would look like with average American body proportions.

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'Jurassic World' sequel announced for June 2018

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jurassic world

Numerous reports have come out confirming that Universal will be releasing the sequel to "Jurassic World," on Friday, June 22, 2018. 

Star Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will return.

"World" director Colin Trevorrow will pen the script with his writing partner Derek Connolly. However, Trevorrow will not direct. Currently, Universal has not announced a director for the sequel. 

Since "Jurassic World" opened June 12, the film has grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide

This week, it became the third highest-grossing movie of all time behind "Avatar" ($2.79 billion) and "Titanic" ($2.18 billion).

 

SEE ALSO: 14 "Jurassic Park" references made in "Jurassic World"

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The kids at Comic-Con are absolutely hilarious


It's baffling that Nintendo let its treasured characters appear in Adam Sandler's new movie

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pixels nintendo donkey kong

"Pixels" looks like one of the worst movies to come out in awhile. With a rancid 13% rating on RottenTomatoes, critics are calling it "moronic," a "disaster," and a "movie I wanted to run over with my car, repeatedly."

So it's a bit baffling when you consider Nintendo, one of the most beloved gaming companies that's notoriously protective of its games and characters, allowed its most cherished creations be vandalized by Adam Sandler and company.

Chris Columbus, the director of "Pixels," reportedly spent months negotiating with Nintendo to let its classic characters, particularly Donkey Kong, be used in this film. Columbus explained the challenges to Wired:

I was excited because the script had a Centipede sequence and a Pac-Man sequence, but what the first draft of the script did not have was Donkey Kong. After months and months of meeting with the board of Nintendo they agreed that we were going to treat Donkey Kong with respect and the proper gameplay, which was very important, and bringing Donkey Kong into the film was a slam-dunk for us.

super mario bros movieNintendo obviously cares a great deal about how its characters are used outside of its games, particularly since the early 1990s when the "Super Mario Bros." movie was universally panned by critics and even later condemned by the film's stars and Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario.

Since that 1993 film, Nintendo swore off involvement with Hollywood for a period of time. The most recent exception was the 2012 animated comedy "Wreck-It Ralph," which featured Bowser, the main villain from the "Super Mario" series (not the recently hired Nintendo exec).

But for some reason, Nintendo got involved with "Pixels," which is incredibly unfortunate as critics seem to loathe this movie. The main critique, at least according to one extremely popular online review floating around YouTube (warning: graphic language), is that it tries to pay homage to classic arcade games but actually demonstrates zero love or understanding of the games themselves, and only pretends to appreciate them. Here's one particularly scathing passage from the popular video review by "MovieBob":

It's so oppressively endlessly bald-faced cynical about the disingenuous appropriation of its own supposed reason for existing. There's not a single interesting joke or visual gag making use of the presence of all the classic gaming iconography Sandler and his goon squad have been allowed to f--k around with. The supposed humorous use of every single pixelated creature in the movie never once rises beyond the level of "ha ha ha, I recognize that," which for some reason qualifies as a joke now. This isn't just keeping great art in a bad frame, this is using original Monets to wallpaper the port-a-potty at an IBS symposium.

This above all else is what's so irrationally infuriating about this maggot-oozing head wound of a movie. It plays at being this sentimental ode to the glory days of classic video games but clearly doesn't have a drop of sincere interest in what's made these characters and imagery so enduring, or even what made the game so compelling for all these years. ... There's a germ of an interesting idea — i.e. so much of our popular culture grounded in the mythologizing of warfare, competition, and the arbitrary winner/loser binary; why wouldn't someone mistake it for a declaration of war? — but that might have been interesting and insightful, and "Pixels" is clearly aiming for an advanced scrotal cancer kind of vibe.

"Pixels" features several Nintendo characters, including Mario, Donkey Kong, and the dog from "Duck Hunt," which most recently appeared in the last "Super Smash Bros." game. Hopefully Nintendo was compensated well for its involvement. You can check out the full trailer for "Pixels" below.

 

SEE ALSO: Female gamers have it bad: Study suggests women are targets for 'low-status, low-performing' male gamers

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Donald Trump ended an interview by asking an aide to play a hip-hop song about himself

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Donald Trump and Mac Miller

Real-estate magnate Donald Trump has changed his tune on the issue of "Donald Trump" — the song, that is.

The song, by hip-hop artist Mac Miller, bears the same name as the Republican presidential candidate who's currently leading polls.

As his interview with The Hill drew to a close on Wednesday, Trump asked an aide to open the "Donald Trump" music video on YouTube.

I want to see how many hits," he said. He was reportedly quite pleased that it had garnered almost 100 million views, according to The Hill.

“By the way — great song,” he said.

But Trump has not always been a fan of the song. Two years ago, Trump went off on the song in a string of tweets, as HipHopDX reported

Here are a few of those tweets Trump published in 2013:

Back in 2011, when Miller's music video had received only 20 million views, Trump endorsed the song that bore his name, HipHopDx reported. Trump said he was "very proud" of Miller and praised the rap artist as "the new Eminem."

At the time, Trump said that he could not fully understand the song's lyrics, which are rife with expletives and language degrading to women.

Although Trump now appears to again be a fan of the song, he's careful not to fully endorse its lyrics. 

“I wouldn’t say it’s entirely good for the women or the women of Iowa," he told The Hill.

SEE ALSO: This shrewd photographer has a gift for lodging himself into every major political event — and people are starting to notice

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'Game of Thrones' author George R. R. Martin liked 'Ant-Man' so much he blogged about it

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george r.r. martin

When he's not writing "The Winds of Winter", George R.R. Martin likes to update the world on his various musings and what he's been up to via his LiveJournal page. This week, it's all about "Ant-Man", a movie he really liked — although, like me, he was a bit worried at first. 

While this in and of itself might not be news per se, it's worth noting that Martin has some very cogent thoughts on what makes Ant-Man such a special character in the Marvel Universe, and why it's such a shame that The Wasp doesn't have a prominent role in the film:

"I loved his [Ant-Man's] partnership with the Wasp. At a time when every other comic was playing the endless "romantic tension" card, or the older and hoarier "I must hide my secret from my girlfriend" trope, here was a man and a woman who adventured together, who loved each other without question, who even helped found the Avengers together... that was revolutionary in the early 1960s, like much of what Stan Lee did... (and sad to say, it would even be sort of revolutionary today)."

The Wasp

He also brings up an oft-repeated criticism of Marvel movies: They have a villain problem. Martin's take, however, is a bit different than most — he's just tired of all the villains that have the same powers as the heroes.

I am tired of this Marvel movie trope where the bad guy has the same powers as the hero. The Hulk fought the Abomination, who is just a bad Hulk. Spider-Man fights Venom, who is just a bad Spider-Man. Iron Man fights Ironmonger, a bad Iron Man. Yawn. I want more films where the hero and the villain have wildly different powers. That makes the action much more interesting

This is a really good point! Change things up some more, Marvel. 

While no one knows when "The Winds of Winter" will come out, the next George R. R. Martin appearance will be at a baseball game in Staten Island, New York — where two local baseball teams will change their names for one day only to become the Staten Island Direwolves and the Hudson Valley Lannisters.

Martin also mentions a meeting with his publisher so who knows, maybe we will get some news about that book soon after.

Don't count on it, though. 

SEE ALSO: It's kind of a miracle that 'Ant-Man' makes sense

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Pixar made one very small change for the Japanese version of 'Inside Out'

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inside out

Some things tend to get lost in translation when making their way from one country to another. Luckily for Pixar, they had the technology to fix a very small, but important, cultural gap. 

According to David Lally, a tech artist at Pixar, all the broccoli from "Inside Out" was swapped out with green peppers for the Japanese version.

This small change has been making the rounds on Reddit, but it was first posted to Lally's Twitter account:

In the American version, Riley's dad attempts to feed her broccoli. This causes Disgust (Mindy Kaling), and later Anger (Lewis Black), to go off once Riley finds out there will be no dessert until she finishes her vegetables.

In the Japanese version, they tweaked this slightly to green peppers. According to Laska, it is green peppers, not broccoli, that are more universally disliked by Japanese children.

It might seem like a minor detail, but it makes a big difference, given that this film is all about what drives our emotions.

inside out cheeseboard pizza

This isn't the first time Disney has altered one of its films for international release. Disney made a few tweaks to the China release of "Iron Man 3". Meanwhile, in the U.K. version of "Captain America: Winter Soldier," Steve Rogers had a much different to-do list.

"Inside Out" has grossed a total of $493.7 million worldwide. The film was released in Japan on July 18.

SEE ALSO: Pixar’s imaginative ‘Inside Out’ was so powerful that it changed the way I understand my own emotions

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Apple Music needs to be fixed, so here's a really good alternative

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Apple Music app intro

Apple Music isn't turning out to be the revolution Apple made it out to be.

It's confusing, buggy, and extremely frustrating to use. Even Jim Dalrymple, a veteran Apple blogger for over 17 years who is usually buoyant about the company's products, torched the new music service in a Wednesday post, calling it a "nightmare."

Here's what he said:

Over the weekend, I turned off Apple Music and it took large chunks of my purchased music with it. Sadly, many of the songs were added from CDs years ago that I no longer have access to. Looking at my old iTunes Match library, before Apple Music, I’m missing about 4,700 songs. At this point, I just don’t care anymore, I just want Apple Music off my devices.

I trusted my data to Apple and they failed. I also failed by not backing up my library before installing Apple Music. I will not make either of those mistakes again.

Apple needs to address some of these major issues in Apple Music, particularly those related to usability and syncing across devices. Hopefully, a major patch will release with iOS 9, Apple's new mobile software expected to launch in September.

But until Apple Music sees some huge changes, there's no reason to suffer through your three-month free trial of the service. Not when you could do much, much better, for the same monthly price (once your free trial ends).

It's a little app called Spotify.

spotify itunes fight 3Here are a few reasons why Spotify is better than Apple Music right now:

  1. Exploring and discovering new music is actually fun, since it's much easier to find music that fits your mood or style. No more random "introductions" to this artist you may or may not know. You won't see a disorganized mess of random albums when you click on the "For You" tab. No more relying on those pink bubbles with artists you might like, or that recommendation system where you have to "love" or "favorite" any song to inform the recommendation engine. Simply visit the "browse" option and get going, it couldn't be any simpler.
  2. Spotify has a much better system for getting your music on and off your devices. Find any music you're looking for — be it a song, an album, an artist, or an entire playlist — and you can add it to your saved music with a single click of a button. You can also instantly add it to a playlist, and if that playlist is toggled for "offline listening," all you need to do is launch Spotify on any device and you'll see those songs magically download. Apple Music's system is similar, but here's the most important difference: It's extremely easy to see which songs, albums and playlists are available offline. In Apple Music, it's common that you won't see your albums appear in playlists on other devices until you toggle the "Show Music Available Offline" option, which is hidden in a menu under "My Music." Everything should just work as it does on Spotify. Take notes, Apple!
  3. Everything is intuitive. If you click on any artist or album, you'll be taken right to their catalog; not so on Apple Music. There's one sidebar with all your music, playlists, and menu options. Apple Music's menu options make it difficult to find what you're looking for on your first click: Maybe what you're looking for is under "My Music," or perhaps it's in "For You," or "New." And when you add music to Spotify, nothing gets lost. In Apple Music, it's common to have several tracks of an album suddenly missing for no reason at all.

iphone with spotifyFor these above reasons and so many more, Spotify Premium should be the obvious choice when it comes to music streaming. Of course, everyone wanted to give Apple Music a fair shake, considering Apple is the biggest tech company in the world and its previous inventions — the iPod and the iTunes Store — transformed how we buy and enjoy music. But at the moment, it's Spotify, not Apple, that demonstrates it understands how people want to enjoy music.

Spotify's interface is intuitive, the playlists are unique and easy to find, and even the social features — you can see what your friends are listening to and share your listening experience with others — are leagues better than Apple's "Connect" feature, which encourages artists to share content like they would on Twitter or Instagram. "Connect" is almost a clone of Apple's defunct social network called "iTunes Ping" that debuted in 2010, but there's a reason Ping was a failure: It didn't understand what music listeners want. This is where Apple Music, as a whole, needs to improve.

Apple Music may succeed in the long run, but right now, choosing the best streaming music application should be a no-brainer. It's Spotify. You can try your first three months of Spotify Premium for $0.99.

Join the conversation about this story »

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Watch John Oliver hilariously explain why expiration dates are completely bogus

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Screen Shot 2015 07 23 at 10.24.06 AM

As many as nine out of 10 Americans throw away their food before they need to. Most of us do it out of fear.

On this week's episode of "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver called out the food industry for its waste problem. A large amount of that food waste stems from people throwing away food after it’s passed its “sell by” date.

As it turns out, that handy "sell by" or “use by” date you'll find on the edge of your cereal box is pretty much made up.

That's right. The dates are picked — basically at random — by manufacturers.

“If I were a food manufacturer, I would make those dates a tight as possible to convince people to buy a new one of my products," says Oliver.

As Oliver points out, the US government only requires one food product to have an expiration date. It's baby formula. In other words, none of those other sell-by dates are in any way official. 

Of course, foods like milk, yogurt, and meat definitely do go bad after a certain amount of time in your fridge. For this reason, some states do require expiration dates. That doesn't mean that the minute it turns July 24, 2014 you can no longer eat that ground beef you've been neglecting to eat — but by all means, toss that milk carton when it begins to smell more like buttermilk than 2%. 

But for most of the food we eat, our made-up expiration labels aren't necessary. And, as Oliver points out, they're contributing to a far bigger problem: Waste.

Screen Shot 2015 07 23 at 10.55.43 AMThere’s not much incentive to use an item after its arbitrary expiration date — grocery stores won’t sell it, and they also won’t give it away, because they're worried they'll be sued for donating unsafe food. That contributes to up to $165 billion worth of food waste a year, or enough food to fill 730 football stadiums!

“Imagine walking out of a grocery store with four bags of groceries, dropping one in the parking lot and just not bothering to pick it up,” said Dana Gunders, a staff scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “That’s essentially what we’re doing in our homes today.”

With 49.1 million people in the US who aren't able to get enough nutritious food, that’s a big problem, Oliver said.

So what can we do?

Oliver suggests giving tax breaks to small businesses and farmers so they're encouraged to donate the food they can’t sell. The USDA and EPA already have some of these tax incentives in place, but most of them don't apply to major food companies, which would get major tax breaks if they were to donate their "expired" products.

Watch the full segment.

 

SEE ALSO: Scientists figured out what's making these California shoppers buy more junk food

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A sound engineer found 20 unfinished Michael Jackson songs on his computer

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Michael Jackson (2nd from R) performs with his brothers at Madison Square Garden in New York on September 7, 2001

Paris (AFP) - Michael Jackson's sound engineer said Thursday he has 20 unfinished tracks by the late pop star on his computer -- but he isn't allowed to let anyone hear them.

"I don't have the right to write the song titles or to let people hear them for the moment," Michael Durham Prince told the French newspaper Le Parisien.

Months after Jackson's death in 2009 from a lethal overdose of sedatives, the entertainer's estate signed a $200-million deal with Sony recording company, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Under the agreement, Sony can bring out up to seven albums over a decade, including new or remixed Michael Jackson songs. Two posthumous albums have already been released, in 2010 and 2014, but Sony told AFP on Thursday that no others were currently in the works.

Prince, who was Jackson's audio engineer from 1995 up to his death, told Le Parisien in an interview from Germany: "I have on my computer 20 unreleased (songs) by Michael, all of them unfinished".

He explained that Jackson hadn't sung the choruses for the tracks, so "someone would have to be found" to perform them whenever they did get released, if Sony and Jackson's family gave the go-ahead. "That would mean duets," he said.

Prince added that he believed there would be further Michael Jackson albums in the future, "but for the moment, we are thinking more about bringing out new songs every six months".

Jackson died aged 50 on June 25, 2009 as he was readying to give a series of concerts in London. 

His personal doctor, Conrad Murray, was jailed in 2011 for involuntary manslaughter but served only half of his four-year sentence because of prison overcrowding and good behaviour.

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The 'X-Men' director has a plan for a 'Fantastic Four' crossover

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X-Men/Fantastic Four team-up

If you're the type who follows superhero movie news, you'll know that Marvel doesn't have the film rights to all of the characters that appear in its comics. In fact, two of the biggest parts of its comic book universe — the Fantastic Four and the X-Men — are licensed by 20th Century Fox, and all the characters with ties to them are contractually forbidden from appearing in movies made by Marvel Studios.

This is why popular characters like Wolverine won't ever appear in an "Avengers" film, and why the news that Spider-Man has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe was such a big deal. But since Fox has the rights to both the Fantastic Four and the X-Men (both huge properties with loads of characters and worlds unto themselves), it stands to reason that they would build their own mini-Marvel Cinematic Universe, since that sort of thing is so hot right now — and also because screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg has worked on both rebooted franchises (there's also a comic book precedent).

x men apocalypse cerebro

In a recent video Q&A with Yahoo Movies, "X-Men: Apocalypse" director Bryan Singer answered a number of fan questions — and one of them was about the presumed crossover. 

"That would be a natural match-up because they’re both ensemble films and there is a natural mechanism by which to do it," said Singer. "It deals with time — that’s all I’m going to say.”

Singer didn't say anything else about the potential project, but based on the films as they stand now, time travel is probably the only way to bring both casts together in a way that makes sense — it was used in "Days of Future Past" to effectively reboot the "X-Men" movies and turn them into period pieces ("Apocalypse" is set in the 1980s), while "Fantastic Four" looks like it's set in the present day. So time travel is a nice convenience, and probably a necessity from a plot perspective.

fantastic four

Singer also makes sure to hedge his bets when talking about the potential crossover, noting that it's important to make sure both movies do well before getting too deep into speculation about a potential crossover.

The whole Q & A is worth a watch — Singer spends most of it answering questions about the recently-released "Rogue Cut" of "X-Men: Days of Future Past", but also drops a bunch of other great "X-Men" tidbits — like briefly teasing that "Apocalypse" might have feature the X-Men in their iconic comic book costumes at some point.

Check it out below.

 

SEE ALSO: Meet the new teen heroes of the next 'X-Men' movie

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WWE fires Hulk Hogan

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hulk hogan

Hulk Hogan has been fired from the WWE, the company announced Friday morning.

It comes after his profile page was abruptly removed from WWE.com and his merchandise was taken out of the online shop late Thursday night.

The WWE put out a statement suggesting the firing had to do with unspecified offensive comments made by Hogan:

WWE terminated its contract with Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan). WWE is committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide.

After references to Hogan were scrubbed from the WWE website, there was widespread speculation it had to do with the imminent release of an audio recording on which Hogan reportedly could be heard making racist comments.

RadarOnline, along with the tabloid The National Enquirer, reported on Friday that Hogan was caught "spewing foul-mouthed racial slurs — including the N-word" on an unauthorized sex tape. The comments came in a conversation with a woman about his daughter's music career and personal life, according to Radar.

In a statement to People, Hogan acknowledged that he used the racist language "eight years ago" (via THR):

"Eight years ago I used offensive language during a conversation. It was unacceptable for me to have used that offensive language; there is no excuse for it; and I apologize for having done it."

"This is not who I am. I believe very strongly that every person in the world is important and should not be treated differently based on race, gender, orientation, religious beliefs or otherwise. I am disappointed with myself that I used language that is offensive and inconsistent with my own beliefs."

The wrestling star is suing Gawker Media after it published parts of a leaked sex tape in 2012. It is unclear whether the Gawker tape is related to the alleged racist audiotape. According to Radar, the woman in the alleged racist tape is the same woman from the video published on Gawker.

On Thursday night, Hogan put out this cryptic tweet:

Pro Wrestling Torch's Wade Keller notes that Hogan is also no longer listed as a judge for the show "Tough Enough."

Here's what Hogan's biography page looks like:

hulk hogan biography page

A cached version of the page from last Friday looked like this:

hulk hogan page

We've reached out to Hogan through his lawyer and marketing company for further details.

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Video game composers are quietly doing something incredible — and this podcast totally gets it

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Emily Reese

Public radio isn't known as a hub for video game coverage. As recently as this past April, National Public Radio published a think piece just to convince its readers that they should care about video games at all. 

That's why Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) host Emily Reese is such an anomaly. Reese has two professional passions: classical music and video game scores. Classical music, of course, is a staple of the public radio universe. 

"Top Score," Reese's video game music podcast, is an exception.

Video game composers are often unknowns in the music world, choosing to hammer away for years on melodies to match the unique, interactive experience of gaming. Those artistic and technical demands make their work special, Reese told Business Insider:

When you think about writing music for media, video games are pretty much the only time it gets interactive. With video games it's fascinating that composers need to think about what players may or may not be doing.

The broader culture has only just begun to notice what game composers are accomplishing. In 2013, the Playstation 3 game "Journey" was nominated alongside "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" for a Grammy in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category. You can listen to it here:

It's only a matter of time before a video game beats out its film competitors for the award. "Top Score" is ahead of the critical curve in this respect.

With Reese's background in classical music broadcasting and her personal passion for gaming – right now she's obsessed with "The Elder Scrolls Online" and has a love-hate relationship with "Destiny" – "Top Score" was a natural next step.

She says it gives her the chance to explore an aspect of the art form she'd been aware of but, like many video game fans, knew very little about. "That's why its fascinating to have people on who are in the trenches doing it."

Some of the most surprising things she's learned have had to do with the unusual methods many composers use. "I remember [composer Jason Graves] telling me how he scored the first 'Deadspace' and was blown away," she says.

Graves records violinists in the studio before writing a single note. Then, he mixes and edits the recordings to produce the spooky, alien melodies of that series. Reese didn't even realize the sounds were from violins.

Here's the full soundtrack to "Dead Space," which is both impressive and extremely creepy – it is a horror game after all:

"I was like, wow, I guess people really can write music like that."

That artistic wonder translates into the podcast – and it's addictive. I put on a short playlist of "Top Score" episodes to prepare to interview Reese, and ended up listening through the archive for a whole evening.

Part of what makes "Top Score" so interesting is the raft of technical challenges these composers face in their work – challenges that most of their musical peers never have to deal with.

For example, games written for mobile devices and handheld consoles like the Nintendo DS have to ration memory space like water in the desert. And music often gets only a few drops. It's an exercise in minimalism, harkening back to classic games with limited technical capacity for music.

Games like the original "Super Mario Bros." had extremely rudimentary soundtracks:

That's probably the most recognizable piece ever written for a video game, and it had to squeeze in among the few tens of kilobytes allotted early NES titles – a footprint several orders of magnitude smaller than even a two minute low-quality Spotify stream.

In her most recent episode, Reese spoke with composer Michael "Skitch" Schiciano about his experience writing with that kind of hardware challenge in mind. Skitch is a technician as much as he's a musician, and when he talks about the process of scoring "Hot and Cold," a game for DS, he wades deep into the weeds of music theory and computational jargon.

"This is probably one of our most technical episodes ever," Reese warns listeners, "so get ready to nerd out." 

But even as Skitch talks over everyone's head, Reese clarifies and explains without getting in his way. She says her goal is to make "Top Score" appeal to anyone who likes music and creative puzzles, whether or not they play video games themselves.

That model works even in the staid line-ups of public broadcasters; a five-minute national radio version of "Top Score" reaches the same listeners who tune in for "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Carnegie Hall Live."

"It's really just a show about music," Reese says, "and people who love music are interested in the show."

If you want to go out and listen to "Top Score" now, you can find it in your preferred podcast app or on their show page.

SEE ALSO: Podcasts that will make you smarter

AND: Online communities are changing video games to make them better, weirder, and much more wonderful

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Angelina Jolie to direct Cambodia-set drama for Netflix

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angelina jolie

On the heels of Brad Pitt’s latest project being bought by Netflix, his wife, Angelina Jolie Pitt, is now teaming with the internet-network giant for her next directing effort.

On Thursday, Netflix announced that Jolie Pitt will direct and produce an adaptation of “First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers,” a memoir from Cambodian author and human-rights activist Loung Ung.

The story recounts Ung going through the Khmer Rouge regime as a child in Cambodia, a four-year genocide in which two million Cambodians died. Ung was forced from her family’s home and went to a work camp where she trained as a child soldier. Her book was published in 2000.

Jolie Pitt contacted Ung over a decade ago about making a film about her experience and the two adapted a screenplay.

first they killed my father“I was deeply affected by Loung’s book,” Jolie Pitt said in the Netflix release. “It deepened forever my understanding of how children experience war and are affected by the emotional memory of it. And it helped me draw closer still to the people of Cambodia, my son’s homeland.”

Jolie Pitt has had a connection with Cambodia since visiting there while filming "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" in 2001.

She adopted her first child, Maddox Chivan, from an orphanage in Battambang, Cambodia, when he was 7 months old. Before that, she did humanitarian work in Cambodia and nearby regions.

Production on “First They Killed My Father” will begin later this year in Cambodia, according to the release.

Jolie Pitt is currently in postproduction on the drama “By The Sea,” which she wrote, directed, and starred in opposite her husband.

She is still planning to direct “Africa,” a passion project of hers on the work of paleo-anthropologist Dr. Richard Leakey and his decade-long fight to save Africa from the illegal-wildlife trade. According to the Netflix release, Jolie Pitt plans to take that on following production of “First They Killed My Father.”

unbroken movieJolie Pitt’s previously released directorial effort, “Unbroken,” came out in 2014 and was nominated for three Oscars. The biopic on Olympian Louis Zamperini, who was also a prisoner-of-war during World War II, grossed $161,459,297 worldwide.

SEE ALSO: Netflix gains 18% after earnings

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This looks like the sequel 'Maze Runner' fans were waiting for

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