Though "Star Wars" takes place in a galaxy far, far away, some locations are much closer to home. 

Principle filming for "The Force Awakens" took place at Pinewood Studios, located near London, but the cast and crew traveled to several locations around the world to film scenes for different fictional planets.  

In a new video released by Discover Ireland, director J.J. Abrams talks about the importance of filming in real locations.

"When I saw 'Star Wars' for the first time, it was all practical and real," he said of the 1977 original film and its impact on "Force Awakens." "You knew it when you saw the movie, so I felt that the standard had to be authenticity. The standard had to be reality."

One of the locations featured in the new "Star Wars" is Skellig Michael, a rocky island off the western coast of Ireland. 

"I can't believe they let us shoot there," Abrams said of the island in the video. "It was so beautiful."

See some of the filming locations for "Force Awakens" below:

SEE ALSO: How a 29-year-old basketball player landed a star role as the new Chewbacca in 'Star Wars'

Jakku was filmed in...

Rub' al Khali desert, Abu Dhabi

Rey's desert home planet is where Poe Dameron heads to try and find the map to the missing Luke Skywalker, and it's where Dameron and Finn crash-land after escaping from Starkiller Base. Finn and Rey eventually meet on the planet and escape from attacking Stormtroopers on the Millennium Falcon.

D'Qar was filmed in...

There are two front-runners in the race to claim the virtual-reality crown. Oculus, founded by the modern VR pioneer Palmer Luckey, has been leading the charge and even convinced Mark Zuckerberg to buy the company for $2 billion.

But there's also HTC and Valve, two companies who combined their skill sets — HTC's hardware manufacturing and Valve's gaming software and fan base — to be the first true competition for Oculus and its much-hyped Oculus Rift headset.

It's a good-natured race for the most part. Oculus and Valve even helped each other in the early days before Facebook bought Oculus, and both companies have said that competition just means there's a better chance for VR to go mainstream.

Meanwhile, virtual-reality fans have been debating which company's headset offers the better technology and library of games: HTC and Valve's Vive headset, or the Oculus Rift?

On Tuesday, HTC and Valve made a big announcement, unveiling a new prototype version of the Vive headset called the Vive Pre that now includes a more refined design and, more importantly, a new feature that the Oculus Rift doesn't have: a front-facing camera in the headset that changes the entire experience.

With virtual-reality fans on the fence as to which headset to buy, could the Vive Pre's camera be enough to convince people to opt for HTC's headset instead of the Oculus Rift?

After trying it out first-hand, I think the answer is yes.

Why the front-facing camera is such a huge deal

I got the chance to try out the HTC Vive Pre at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. I've tried the previous version of the HTC Vive that's meant for developers, and was blown away by the headset's ability to track your movements and position within a room.

So why is that camera a big deal?

One of the biggest annoyances when you're wearing a virtual-reality headset is that you can't see what's going on in the real world around you. With a traditional VR headset, that means lots of fumbling around with your hands as you seek out your controller or keyboard.

But the Vive Pre's front-facing camera can port video of the world around you into your headset so you don't have to take it off. This might seem minor, but it allows for all sorts of things you couldn't do before like walking around without worrying about hitting a wall, finding your chair without assistance, and — most importantly — bridging the virtual and real worlds.

Because the Vive Pre tracks your entire room, it also inserts a virtual barrier that lines up with the real walls in your environment. This is called the "chaperone," and it's a virtual set of grid lines that shimmer into being whenever you approach a wall in the real world. Otherwise, it remains invisible so you can concentrate on the virtual scene you're in. If you need to grab your drink or interact with someone else in the room, you can just double-tap one of the buttons on the controller to port the real world into your headset.

The earlier version of the Vive had this sort of chaperone, but it was entirely virtual. The camera found on the Vive Pre, on the other hand, now merges the two worlds into one, showing a stylized version of the people and objects beyond that virtual barrier so you can not only see that your room's doorway is inches away, but also that your friend is standing on the other side, too.

That's huge. I actually conducted a majority of my interview with the HTC representative entirely in VR, and thanks to the front-facing camera, I could see exactly where he was in the room. When he brought in a chair from the other room, I was able to keep the headset on and see where he placed it before going to sit down on the "virtual" chair within the headset that was indeed matched up perfectly with the real-world chair.

HTC and Valve decided to overlay a filter of sorts on the real world when it's ported into your headset, which they argue makes the transition and merging of the two spaces feel more natural. After my demo and trying a similar but limited front-facing camera on Samsung's Gear VR, I agree. Mixing a virtually rendered environment with unfiltered footage of the real world would be jarring, and this way it just feels like you're seeing the real world through a "Matrix"-esque filter.

It's one of those things that's easier to see than explain, but when I asked if I could use my phone to take a picture of the new chaperone technology through the headset's, HTC wouldn't allow it.

I'd argue that the front-facing camera gives HTC and Valve a leg up on the Oculus Rift, but some people might not care about the merging of the virtual and real worlds, or maybe they plan to use their VR headset sitting down anyway, so the idea of a virtual chaperone won't be that useful.

As far as other features go, Vive Pre hasn't lost anything, but it's gained some new lenses that are said to make the color black appear even blacker for a more immersive experience. The top-of-the-line motion controllers are now wireless — a welcome change — and feature a new design. The two satellite tracker boxes that scan your room to allow for precise positional tracking have also received a polished redesign and are now wireless, which means less cords to avoid when walking around in VR.

The headset's design is also a bit more polished, with the infrared trackers that dot its shell now hidden, and there's now the game-changing camera that faces forward and rests directly above your nose.

Will Oculus follow?

There isn't a front-facing camera in the Oculus Rift, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way, and Oculus has certainly researched the technology. They just decided to leave it out of the first consumer version of the Oculus Rift. But Oculus worked with Samsung to create its Gear VR mobile headset that includes a pass-through camera like the Vive Pre — but far more limited — so I'd say it's likely to be present in version 2.0 of the Oculus Rift.

For now, however, HTC has an important feature that differentiates itself from the Rift, and it's only going to make deciding between the two headsets that much more difficult.

SEE ALSO: The next version of Blu-ray discs is here, and Facebook is using them

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NOW WATCH: A grandma had the best reaction ever to virtual reality

In 2008, Regent University law professor James Duane gave a lecture. The lecture gained traction online over the years (one version of the lecture video is up to five million YouTube views), but now it's being rediscovered by fans of the hit Netflix show "Making A Murderer" on Reddit.

Much of Duane's lecture feels particularly relevant given the relationship between the police and the suspects (innocent and otherwise) on the show. But there's one particular part of the lecture that really drives home the point. About 18 minutes into the lecture, Duane asks his students a simple question about a crime that he described earlier.

The class' response to the pop quiz shows you how easy it is to make false statements and construct a version of events that's wrong, even if you believe you're telling the truth.

Watch the entire lecture here.

Story by Tony Manfred and editing by Kristen Griffin

INSIDER is on Facebook: Follow us here

SEE ALSO: Someone figured out how much money we've spent saving Matt Damon

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) mocked Donald Trump's apparent concerns about whether Cruz's birthplace should be an issue in the presidential campaign.

Cruz tweeted a famous scene of Henry Winkler's "Happy Days" character, Fonzie, "jumping the shark" late Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, The Washington Post released an interview with Trump in which the GOP front-runner called Cruz's Canadian birthplace a "very precarious" issue for Republicans if they were to nominate Cruz.

“Republicans are going to have to ask themselves the question: ‘Do we want a candidate who could be tied up in court for two years?’ That’d be a big problem,” Trump said, according to The Post. “It’d be a very precarious one for Republicans because he’d be running and the courts may take a long time to make a decision. You don’t want to be running and have that kind of thing over your head.”

“I’d hate to see something like that get in his way. But a lot of people are talking about it and I know that even some states are looking at it very strongly, the fact that he was born in Canada and he has had a double passport," he added.

Trump has actually been questioning the significance of Cruz's Canadian birth for some time. Early last year, Trump said in an interview that the issue could be a "serious hurdle" for Cruz. 

"He was born in Canada. If you know and when we all studied our history lessons, you are supposed to be born in this country, so I just don't know how the courts would rule on it. It's an additional hurdle that he has," Trump said.

Trump has also been perhaps the most prominent questioner of the authenticity of President Barack Obama's birth certificate. Conspiracy theorists have long raised doubts about Obama's birthplace, suggesting that he was actually born in Africa instead of his native Hawaii.

Cruz's mother was a US citizen when he was born in Calgary in 1970. His father was born in Cuba.

Asked if Cruz had a statement about Trump's accusation beyond the Fonzie video, the senator's campaign declined to comment. 

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NOW WATCH: Police say the 'affluenza' teen is on the run

Real-estate mogul Donald Trump took a shot at Samuel L. Jackson on Tuesday, after the actor suggested that Trump cheated at golf.

Trump wrote on Twitter that Jackson did "too many TV commercials" and that he was "not a fan" of Jackson. 

This was apparently in response to Jackson's recent interview in United Airlines' Rhapsody magazine, in which Jackson complained that one of Trump's golf clubs had charged him without his knowledge.

"I've golfed with him," Jackson told the magazine for its latest issue.

"But it's funny — last week or so, I actually got a bill from Trump National Golf Club," he continued. "And I haven't been there in four or five years, so I had my assistant call. They said it was for membership dues. And I said, 'I'm not a member,' and they said, 'Yeah, you are — you have a member number.' Apparently he'd made me a member of one of his golf clubs, and I didn't even know it!"

Jackson also said Trump was an "interesting character" and "more P.T. Barnum than politician."

The magazine finished by asking Jackson whether he was a better golfer than Trump.

"I am, for sure," he replied, reportedly smiling as he added: "I don't cheat."

But Trump wrote Tuesday that "to the best of my knowledge" he had never played golf with the actor:

Jackson responded Tuesday night by posting an apparent bill from Trump's New Jersey golf club on his Instagram account.

"A bill from the guy that doesn't know me & never golfed with me! I'm gonna Block his ass too!" he exclaimed in the post. (It has since been taken down, perhaps because the bill included his apparent home address.)

Trump, who owns numerous golf clubs and resorts, has previously been accused of cheating at golf. Last September, The Washington Post quoted three people, including rock musician Alice Cooper, accusing him of cheating.

The Republican presidential front-runner similarly denied having ever played golf with Cooper. He also denied knowing another of his accusers, Mark Mulvoy, the former managing editor of Sports Illustrated.

As for his third accuser, sportswriter Rick Reilly, Trump made it clear that he was not a fan of Reilly's work.

"I always thought he was a terrible writer," Trump told The Post. "I absolutely killed him, and he wrote very inaccurately. I would say that he's a very dishonest writer."

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump, accused of cheating at golf, responds that it's a 'terrible thing to say about people, especially me'

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NOW WATCH: Jerry Seinfeld interviewed President Obama and it was hilarious

What’s it like to go after a starring role on one of the most sought-after movie franchises in history?

It takes months and you can’t tell a soul you’re doing it.

That’s what we’ve found out from the new leading actors of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” since the film came out in December, became a global sensation in no time at all, and permanently changed their lives.

Here, we take a look at the experiences of three actors on the film:

SEE ALSO: RANKED: Every characters in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" from best to worst

Daisy Ridley, aka Rey

The London actress who would become Rey in the movie was working at a pub when she began to hear rumors that casting had begun for the new “Star Wars” movie and that director J.J. Abrams was considering unknown names. (Ridley's biggest experience before "Star Wars" extended to bit parts in British TV dramas.) She hounded her agent to get her an audition, which led to four callbacks before she got the role. 

Though she clearly seemed right for the part, that doesn't mean Ridley knew much about the "Force Awakens" plot. She recalled her puzzlement when getting select pages in the early audition phase: “I was like, ‘Ah, who’s this girl and this older man?’ I didn’t put two and two together. Someone’s like, ‘That was probably Han Solo.’ I had no idea.”

John Boyega, aka Finn

Boyega also had help from his agent to put him on the path to scoring the role of Finn. Though he got a little attention as the star of the UK sci-fi hit “Attack the Block" in 2011, that didn’t really soften his path to getting into “Star Wars,” as he went through seven months of auditions.

Boyega has said that to power through the first few, he would go back and watch auditions from the original cast. “There was this casual approach to danger and to being a hero that I drew some inspiration from," explained Boyega. "If you see Harrison in his audition and Mark, there’s this, 'The ship’s about to blow up, but, woo hoo! Switch to light speed!' I love that. No other movie does that."

Joonas Suotamo, aka the new Chewbacca

The double of original Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew was playing pro basketball in his native Finland and selling insurance to make ends meet when he was told a movie production (under a code name) was looking for a seven-footer for a role.

After sending an audition tape of himself playing a caveman, Suotamo began making treks to London for his auditions, and realized the part he was going after. "I took three trips there [during the audition], and on the first time I got more details and realized what my role would be," he said of playing Chewbacca.

He then got the call to come back to London one final time, to meet J.J. Abrams.

“When we met he didn’t tell me anything about Chewbacca. He just asked me ‘What do you think Chewbacca is like?’” Suotamo told Business Insider. “I said that Chewie is this stubborn but very loyal companion, and I stuck to that through filming. I guess J.J. felt the same way because he never said anything — he just told me I got the part.”

The long-awaited Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is finally available to pre-order, but many people have been unable to place their order as the site continues to crash.

The $600 VR headset went on sale at 11 am ET, with a limit of one per customer and estimated shipping date of before March 31st. The Rift includes two games, "Lucky's Tale" and the space dogfighting game "Eve: Valkyrie," but you'll still need a pretty powerful gaming PC in order to power the headset smoothly.

Unfortunately, the Oculus Rift pre-order page has been having some issues, with many (including myself) reporting issues as the site fails to process payment methods.

The estimated shipping date has now been pushed to April as well for current orders.

After trying two credit cards and my PayPal account without any luck, I checked online and saw that many others were facing the same problem, with some even reporting that they were seeing multiple charges to their accounts without any order confirmation. 

The good news? After five tries I was finally able to succesfull pre-order the Rift:

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Inside Apple’s plan to turn the iPhone into a subscription service

The "Game of Thrones" cast and creators really know how to milk toying with their audience about potential spoilers.

Natalie Dormer appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show last night and all but admitted that Jon Snow is alive in the next season.

After Dormer revealed that she shot some of the upcoming season six for the HBO fantasy series in Spain as well as the more usual Belfast, Ireland, Kimmel launched them into a discussion of what's happening to Jon Snow. Is he alive? Is he dead? Is he being revived?

"Now there's some posters up that maybe have given a little bit of the game away," Dormer said, dropping a major hint that those promotional images focusing on Jon Snow mean we're not so done with him, after all.

Then Dormer quickly drifted off to a discussion of spoilers in general and how she stays a fan of "Game of Thrones," keeping the fan questions burning.

Watch the video of Natalie Dormer discussing Jon Snow below:

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NOW WATCH: Everyone is obsessed with these 2 ‘Star Wars’ theories about the movie’s deepest mystery

Spotify has 75 million users in 58 countries. On average, each Spotify user listens to 148 minutes of music on Spotify per day.

As you might imagine, Spotify can collect a ton of data about its users — what kinds of music they listen to, when they listen to it, and more.

At the International Consumer Electronics Showcase (CES) in Las Vegas Tuesday, Spotify creative director Rich Frankel explained how Spotify can know so much about its users, and how it uses that data.

"We're really leaning into selfie culture," the global creative head of Spotify told the audience. "This is an image of yourself through a lens we provide, through our data."

Frankel was talking about a series of projects Spotify has rolled out recently, including its Year in Review, which gave users a ton of information about their year in music in 2015, starting with the very first song they streamed on Spotify back in January 2015. The tool lets users create their own personal year-end recap that runs down things like the artist you listened to most, and how much of your time was spent listening to Spotify last year.

Another way Spotify uses its data is in advertising campaigns. In New York City, Spotify showed users in different neighborhoods the most popular artist where they lived. In the East Village, for example, that meant a big billboard featuring The Weeknd. In Brooklyn’s hip Williamsburg neighborhood, it was Justin Bieber.

In May, Spotify announced it would be launching a new feature that allows users to browse playlists consisting of music in addition to other media like podcasts and video. This was rolled out in beta over the summer; in coming months, Frankel said Tuesday, a more “robust” version is coming.

"Today we're introducing a new Spotify experience that's more accessible, personal and usable than anything in music," Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said. He said this includes new types of content on Spotify, like "non-music content" and "better experiences." Ek also says Spotify can serve targeted advertisements to users by focusing on the new playlist format.

In addition to announcing the new media discovery feature in May, Spotify also announced it's using new running playlists made by artists like Tiesto, along with an "entirely new track format" and using the accelerometer inside your smartphone to help find songs with beats that match your running pace. Gustav Söderström, Spotify's chief product officer, says Spotify's new Spotify Running feature only takes 5 seconds to find the right song to match your pace.

Spotify also launched a Now feature that shows you collections of music for each part of your day, from waking up, to commuting, to falling asleep. These playlists are curated from your personal music as well as by Spotify's "in-house experts." Over time, the company says, recommendations will adapt to be more personalized for you.

Personalization is a huge part of Spotify’s mission now, Frankel said onstage Tuesday. Spotify wants to use the data it has about you and your music taste and lifestyle to show you more music you like and help you discover new artists.

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NOW WATCH: How to use Apple's Spotify killer — now on everyone's iPhone

Steven Avery's defense attorney, Dean Strang, and former Calumet County prosecutor Ken Kratz appeared on Fox News to address questions about the trial covered by "Making a Murderer."

The men, who interviewed with Megyn Kelly separately, addressed two questions many viewers of the Netflix series have been asking.

To recap, "Making a Murderer" follows the life of Avery, who was released from prison after serving 18 years for a crime he didn't commit. Shortly after his release, Avery, along with his teen nephew Brendan Dassey, was arrested and convicted of the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach. The series focuses on the events of the murder trial.

First, the lawyers addressed the lack of blood evidence. According to the prosecution, Avery and Dassey shot Halbach in Avery's garage. But no blood or DNA evidence from the victim was found there.

Kratz told Kelly that Dassey had told the police he and his uncle cleaned the garage with bleach, and he even provided evidence to back that up.

"In fact, Brendan turned over to the police, and we presented it as evidence, his bleach-stained jeans he was wearing that day," Kratz said. "So, you could see the splashes up from the bleach, which were absolutely consistent not only with the blood evidence being cleaned up, being removed because of the bleach, but also the statement by 16-year-old Brendan."

In response, Strang told Kelly: "Steven Avery can be accused of a lot of things, but a really good housekeeper doesn't make the list ... I have no idea when the bleach got on the jeans. I can't imagine, especially where as I recall there was deer blood left in the garage, that all traces of human blood would've been removed from that garage by anybody, let alone Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey."

The second central question the attorneys addressed was related to evidence Kratz has asserted didn't make it into the show. He says Avery's DNA was found under the hood of Halbach's car — not blood DNA, but sweat.

Kratz said Dassey told the police about the sweat for "the first time," which led the lab to swab under Halbach's car hood.

"It came out to be Steven Avery's DNA, but importantly non-blood DNA," Kratz said, referring to the defense's theory that blood from Avery's previous arrest was planted at the crime scene as part of the police's framing of Avery.

Strang answered: "There was no evidence of stress. There was evidence of DNA transferred, Steven Avery's DNA. But the sweat idea is just Mr. Kratz's theory and has never been any more than that. The DNA from Steven Avery under that hood could've been transferred any number of ways."

Watch the interviews below:

SEE ALSO: 'Making a Murderer' prosecutor admits 2 crucial mistakes in the case against Steven Avery

MORE: Local sheriff says 'Making a Murderer' 'manipulated' the story of Steven Avery's arrest

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NOW WATCH: 'House of Cards' ran a realistic-looking political ad during the Republican presidential debate

In a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Netflix ’s head of content Ted Sarandos announced that Netflix will release a whopping 600 hours of original content this year.

That would take you 25 days to watch if you attempted to binge-watch it all straight through.

The company has previously said that it will roughly double its output of original shows to 31 in 2016. Netflix also has the following in the pipeline: 10 feature films, 30 kids shows, 12 documentaries, and 10 stand-up comedy specials.

Here are all the original shows and movies you can look forward to on Netflix next year (we excluded the kids shows). The ones with firm release dates are listed first:

SEE ALSO: RANKED: All 16 of Netflix's original shows from best to worst

'Chelsea Does' (January 23)

Netflix description: "In her new documentary film series, Chelsea Handler delves into four topics that fascinate her: marriage, racism, Silicon Valley, and drugs."

Type: Docu-series

Star power: Chelsea Handler

'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny' (February 26)

Netflix description: "In this sequel to 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' four Martial World heroes must keep the legendary Green Destiny sword from villainous Hades Dai.

Type: Movie

Star power: Donnie Yen, Michelle Yeoh

'House of Cards' Season 4 (March 4)

Netflix description:Is it true that absolute power corrupts absolutely? Congressman Frank Underwood absolutely intends to find out.

Star power: Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright

Average critic score (25 critics): 76/100

Audience score: 9/10

"American Idol" has been a reality-TV staple for 14 long years now, but it's finally coming to an end.

January 6 marks the beginning of the show's 15th and final season on Fox.

When it first debuted in 2002, the show was a massive hit. It drew more than 30 million viewers per episode and was the No. 1 show for eight years, but it's declined in viewership over time and only drew about 9 million people last year.

And it's undergone enormous changes. Of the three original judges — Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, and Randy Jackson — Abdul was the first to leave. Since then, others have come and gone, including Ellen DeGeneres, Steven Tyler, Mariah Carey, and Nicki Minaj. The current trio of Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Connick Jr. has been together since season 13.

While some winners have all but seemingly disappeared from the public eye, the show has been a launching pad for stars like Carrie Underwood and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. It even made Ryan Seacrest a household name. Who remembers that Seacrest wasn't even the only host the first season?

In honor of this final season, here's a look at what the original hosts, judges, and some former contestants have been up to since their time on the show.

SEE ALSO: The newest 'Star Wars' actors reveal what their secretive auditions were really like

Then: Simon Cowell — known for his blunt, sometimes brutal comments — served as one of the original judges on the show. He left after nine seasons.

Now: Cowell has since continued to be a judge on a number of shows, including "The X Factor," which he created, and "Britain's Got Talent." His most recent TV show launch was Univision's "La Banda," a search for the next Latino boy band that aired this year.

Then: Paula Abdul joined the show as an original judge, and even though she almost left during the earlier seasons because of Cowell's meanness, she stayed on for eight.

Kanye West stopped by American Idol to do a mock audition in front of the show's three famous judges. In true American Idol style, judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Harry Connick, Jr. quizzed the rapper about his life.

"What's your name? Where you from?" Urban asked.

"My name's Kanye. I'm from the south side of Chicago," Kanye responded.

"Right on. And what do you do there, Kanye?" Urban continued.

"Originally, a producer. I always wanted to rap, but nobody really believed in me," Kanye joked.

His wife, Kim Kardashian, stood outside the audition room waiting with the show's host, Ryan Seacrest, like family members and friends of auditioning contestants often do in the show.

"So, you nervous?" Seacrest asked Kim.

"I'm not nervous, because I do really believe in him," Kardashian replied.

During the audition Kanye rapped the first verse of one of his most famous songs, "Gold Digger," in which he refers to Jennifer Lopez. After Kanye finished the verse he was given a golden ticket suggesting that he made it to the next round of the competition.

He was thrilled.

Story and editing by Andrew Fowler

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SEE ALSO: Kelly Rowland talked about being a new mother after losing her own

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If the name Ashton Kutcher still brings to mind "Dude, Where's My Car," you're behind the times.

In the past few years, the actor turned entrepreneur and investor has cofounded a viral media site and a human-rights organization, appeared on "Shark Tank," and invested in buzzy tech companies such as Spotify, Airbnb, Uber, and Meerkat.

In Grow, the new digital magazine from investing app Acorns (another of his investments), Kutcher talks about everything from why he got started investing to the best investment he's ever made — and it isn't a tech company.

When asked what he considers to be his best investment, Kutcher tells Grow:

My relationships — taking the time to get to know [people], what motivates them, what their challenges are. These things are often overlooked. Investors get so wrapped up in returns and numbers that they forget that the true privilege of their position is to share a journey with exceptional people.

Kutcher's reflection has a practical takeaway for just about anyone: The best investments don't have to cost a fortune. Investing in relationships can cost as little as a few cups of coffee and a handful of emails.

His advice to people wondering what they should invest in can be similarly affordable:

First: Yourself! Double down on your own expertise, your passion, the thing you do when you have free time.

[Then] pay attention. If you work in a grocery store, pay attention to the items that you can't keep in stock, and the new things that are hitting the shelf. If you are a contractor, investigate the new materials showing up on jobs. Who makes them? Why are they better? You may have a more educated opinion than you are giving yourself credit for. Too often, people speculate on investments based on what's making someone else rich and forget to do a deep index on their own behaviors.

Invest in that which you would like to see become a reality. Worst-case scenario, you lose money — but at least you will get the life you want.

If you're ready to invest, take a look at the online courses that can help you get rich and read up on why you should stop networking if you want to be successful.

SEE ALSO: Tina Fey says a job she took in her 20s was life-changing, even though it barely paid anything at all

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NOW WATCH: JIM CRAMER: These are the best and worst stocks for 2016

After the wild success of season one of HBO's "True Detective," season two was a disappointment to many fans. 

Some have blamed creator Nic Pizzolatto for the lackluster season, but HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo told the Frame that he feels responsible for the second season's failure to live up to the first, though he doesn't necessarily believe it's one of HBO's "biggest failures." 

"When we tell somebody to hit an air date as opposed to allowing the writing to find its own natural resting place, when it’s ready, when it’s baked — we’ve failed," he explained. "And I think in this particular case, the first season of 'True Detective' was something that Nic Pizzolatto had been thinking about, gestating, for a long period of time. He’s a soulful writer. I think what we did was go, 'Great.' And I take the blame. I became too much of a network executive at that point. We had huge success. 'Gee, I’d love to repeat that next year.'"

He continued that the pressure to pump out a second season didn't let Pizzolatto have the creative freedom he needed.

"Well, you know what? I set him up. To deliver, in a very short time frame, something that became very challenging to deliver," Lombardo said. "That’s not what that show is. He had to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. Find his muse. And so I think that’s what I learned from it. Don’t do that anymore."

Pizzolatto signed a two-year contract with HBO in 2014, leaving the option open for a third season, though nothing has been confirmed yet. 

"I’d love to have the enviable certainty of knowing what my next year looks like," Lombardo added. "I could pencil things in. But I’m not going to start betting on them until the scripts are done."

SEE ALSO: The exotic real-life locations where scenes in the new 'Star Wars' were shot

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NOW WATCH: Kesha held a secret concert to prove that 'no one will ever shut me up'

Even as hundreds of thousands of people are signing petitions asking President Barack Obama to pardon "Making a Murderer" convict Steven Avery, the leader of the free world's hands are tied.

Constitutional laws regarding presidential pardons will keep Obama from utilizing the move for Avery. According to the United States Department of Justice, presidential pardons can only be used on federal convictions.

"Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President ... the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense," the department's site reads.

Appeals for state convictions are to be filed in local courts and petitioned to the state's governor.

"If you are seeking clemency for a state criminal conviction... you should contact the Governor or other appropriate authorities of the state where you reside or where the conviction occurred (such as the state board of pardons and paroles) to determine whether any relief is available to you under state law."

In Avery's case, petitions to pardon should really be addressed to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, if they're going to achieve their intended purpose.

Watch a video about the presidential pardon rules and the Avery petitions below:

SEE ALSO: 'Making a Murderer' lawyers answer 2 burning questions viewers have about the Steven Avery case

MORE: 'Making a Murderer' prosecutor admits 2 crucial mistakes in the case against Steven Avery

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Real-estate mogul Donald Trump's golf feud with Samuel L. Jackson appears to be heating up.

On Wednesday, Trump fired off several tweets trashing Jackson's golf game despite claiming the day before he had never played with the famous actor. The Republican presidential front-runner owns a number of golf clubs and resorts.

"I don't cheat at golf but @SamuelLJackson cheats—with his game he has no choice—and stop doing commercials!" Trump exclaimed.

Trump added that he didn't like Jackson's swing, which he suggested was not "athletic."

"I've won many club championships. Play him for charity!" he wrote.

The day before, Trump also said Jackson did too many television commercials, and that "to best of my knowledge," they had never golfed together. This was apparently in response to Jackson telling United Airlines' Rhapsody magazine that Trump cheats at golf.

Jackson also accused one of Trump's New Jersey golf clubs of automatically making him a member and attempting to charge him.

"Apparently he'd made me a member of one of his golf clubs, and I didn't even know it!" Jackson told the airline magazine of Trump.

After Trump's Tuesday Twitter broadside, Jackson briefly posted an Instagram photo of the bill he said he received from Trump's club.

"A bill from the guy that doesn't know me & never golfed with me! I'm gonna Block his ass too!" he exclaimed in the post.

And in a Tuesday-night interview on on "Late Night with Seth Meyers," Jackson further said that Trump had once invited him to play golf with former President Bill Clinton, whose past marital infidelities Trump has repeatedly attacked on the 2016 campaign trail.

Here are Trump's Wednesday tweets attacking Jackson:

SEE ALSO: Samuel L. Jackson fires back at Donald Trump: 'I'm gonna block his a-- too!'

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Netflix’s “Making a Murder” continues to attract more attention as people discover the series and learn about the Wisconsin murder of Teresa Halbach in 2005.

If you haven't seen the 10-episode docuseries yet, you may want to stop reading and watch the full story first to avoid any spoilers.

After an engrossing and at times frustrating 10 episodes, the documentary ends with Steven Avery and his learning-impaired 16-year-old nephew, Brendan Dassey, found guilty of first-degree intentional homicide.

But because the documentary contains seemingly corrupt authority figures, potentially planted evidence, and an arguably coerced confession, many viewers now are not convinced of either man’s guilt.

Ken Kratz, the original former prosecutor in the case, told The New York Times, however, that Avery “is exactly where he needs to be.”

Kratz and other Manitowoc County figures, such as the current sheriff, Robert Hermann, have been vocal after the Netflix documentary aired in December, citing evidence that was left out, which they believe points unequivocally to Avery’s guilt.

We rounded up all of the reasons why they still believe Avery is guilty — and what they say was left out of “Making a Murderer.”

The cat-killing incident was more gruesome than filmmakers made it seem.

“Avery’s past incident with a cat was not ‘goofing around,’” Kratz wrote in an email sent to media outlets as well as Reddit users. “He soaked his cat in gasoline or oil, and put it on a fire to watch it suffer.”

The soaking of his cat in gasoline or oil was also reported by The Associated Press in 2005: “[Avery’s probation] was revoked in 1982 after he was charged with animal cruelty for pouring gasoline on a cat and throwing it into a bonfire.”

Though this incident is in the documentary, filmmakers Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi included a voiceover from Avery that it was a “mistake” and he and his friends were “fooling around.”

“Another mistake I did, I had a bunch of friends over and we were fooling around with the cat and, I don’t know, they were kind of negging [sic] it on,” viewers heard him say in the first episode. “I tossed him over the fire and he lit up. You know, it was the family cat. I was young and stupid and hanging around with the wrong people.”

Avery allegedly planned to build a "torture chamber" after he was released from prison.

“While in prison, Avery told his cell mate of his intent to build a ‘torture chamber’ so he could rape, torture, and kill young women when he was released,” Kratz said in the email. “He even drew a diagram. His other cell mate was told by Avery that the way to get rid of a body is to ‘burn it’...heat destroys DNA.”

This shell-shocking assertion was included in additional charges filed by Kratz in 2005 and allegedly comes from “prisoners who served time with Avery at Green Bay Correctional Institution,” according to an article from the Appleton Post Crescent.

“They said Avery talked about and showed them diagrams of a torture chamber he planned to build when he was released,” the report said.

Halbach was "creeped out" by Avery.

“On October 10 [2005], Teresa had been to the property when Steven answered the door just wearing a towel,” Kratz wrote in the email. “She would not go back because she was scared of him (obviously).”

This incident was reported at the time by The Chippewa Herald when Manitowoc County Circuit Judge Patrick Willis would not allow this evidence into trial.

The story came from Dawn Pliszka, an AutoTrader receptionist at the time, but it went a little differently than how Kratz describes it:

“She had stated to me that he had come out in a towel,’’ Pliszka said. “I just said, ‘Really?’ and then she said, ‘Yeah,’ and laughed and said kinda ‘Ew.’’’

Willis did not allow the testimony because “the date wasn’t clear and few details were known about the alleged encounter,” according to The Chippewa Herald.

Julie Chen and her co-hosts on CBS’s “The Talk” may steer away from discussing politics, but that doesn’t mean Chen hasn’t noticed Donald Trump’s effect on politics since declaring his presidential run.

“You never thought that Donald Trump would unite the Democrats and Republicans, but he managed to,” she told Business Insider when we recently went behind the scenes of the hit daytime talk show. “They’re all like, ‘What is this guy saying?’”

Chen, a veteran news anchor, can also see Trump’s appeal to voters that explains his notoriously high and steady poll numbers. She says that, ultimately, his popularity lies in making people feel secure in an insecure world.

“I think he has rallied more supporters who are just civilians who are feeling fearful,” the 45-year-old news veteran said. “He knows how to say the right thing to rally voters to support him. Everyone right now just wants to feel safe. And whether he’s the one with the best plan to keep us safe, he certainly acts like he knows it.”

Trump has certainly been driving the conversation around national security and immigration in the Republican field lately. In his first TV commercial on Monday, he double downed on his desire to build a wall between the US and Mexico, as well as a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants if he were elected.

"He’s tall. He can be very charismatic,” Chen added. “And people are like, ‘Yeah, I want this crazy dude.’ Other countries might be saying, ‘Well, our leader might be nuts, but he’s more nuts. We’re not going to mess with him.’”

SEE ALSO: Donald Trump says his guilty TV pleasure is literally watching himself

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In an interview with Network Ten journalist Mel McLaughlin, Melbourne Renegades cricket star Chris Gayle flirted with his interviewer.

After she complimented him on the game, he answered "I wanted to be interviewed by you as well. That's the reason why I'm here, just to see your eyes for the first time. It's nice. So hopefully when I win this game, we can have a drink after. Don't blush, baby."

It was an ugly moment that showed how women aren't always treated like professionals. After the game, on Fairfax Media, McLaughlin said the experience was "disappointing."

"He'd done so well out there with the bat," she said. "I was really excited to talk to him about that, so I would have much preferred to be talking about that instead."

Gayle apologized at a meeting with the press, saying he was joking, and that he wants to move on. McLaughlin accepted the apology, and said she wants to move on as well.

"I don't really want to be the subject of such conversations," she said in an interview with Reuters. "I like just going about my business and doing my job, but definitely good thing that people are talking."

Gayle was fined $10,000 by the Melbourne Renegades for his comments.

Story by Jacob Shamsian and editing by Chelsea Pineda

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