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Netflix says it's competing with Pokémon Go, not ABC sitcoms

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Ted Sarandos Winona Ryder

Netflix has to have big hits if it's going to survive, according to the company's head of content, Ted Sarandos.

At a recent roundtable with The Hollywood Reporter, Sarandos explained why while defending Netflix's $120 million Baz Lurmann show. 

"We have a one-on-one relationship with our subscribers," he said. "If you don't like what you're watching on Netflix, it's just one click and cancel. So we have to make noise. Part of our business mandate is we're making 'event television,' and it ain't cheap. So we have to take those big swings every once in a while. We're not competing against ABC sitcoms, we're competing against Pokemon Go, we're competing against the $200million blockbuster movies."

Sarandos said that Lurmann's "The Get Down" was not a "runaway budget," and that Netflix knew from the get-go that it was going to be expensive, but spectacular.

Netflix is releasing 600 hours of content in 2016, and not all of it is high-budget extravaganza. But Sarandos' comments highlight how necessary a few can't-miss hits are to stop people from canceling.

In its last quarterly earnings, Netflix put out disappointing subscriber growth numbers in the US due to higher-than-expected cancellations. Netflix blamed it on media chatter surrounding its price hike, but having shows that everyone is talking about is one way to make sure people keep paying, even if the subscription is two more dollars per month. 

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Here's everything the new 'Star Wars' movie is revealing about the origin of The Force

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The events of the upcoming "Star Wars" standalone film take place just before "A New Hope," and because it's not focusing on the Skywalker family, "Rogue One" can turn its focus to another "Star Wars" staple: the Force.

(Warning: Mild spoilers for "Rogue One" below.)

In "Revenge of the Sith," Anakin Skywalker left the Force in disarray. He killed almost every Jedi and destroyed any hope left that the light and dark sides would become balanced.

"Rogue One" director Gareth Edwards likened the consequences to the Force as a period of members losing their religion.

"The Force is basically in 'Star Wars' like a religion, and they’re losing their faith in the period that we start the movie," Edwards told Entertainment Weekly. "We were trying to find a physical location we could go to that would speak to the themes of losing your faith and the choice between letting the Empire win, or evil win, and good prevailing. It got embodied in this place we called Jedha."

Jedha, which is seemingly revealed in the behind-the-scenes video of "Rogue One," has a Middle Eastern look and is comparable to real-life religious city centers Jerusalem and Mecca.

"It’s a place where people who believe in the Force would go on a pilgrimage," Edwards told EW. "It was essentially taken over by the Empire. It’s an occupied territory... for reasons we probably can’t reveal."

Edwards went on to say that Jedha has a resource desired by both the dark and light sides of the Force. Based on Donnie Yen's interview with ExtraTV, it's probably the material that powers lightsabers. Yen revealed that his character, Chirrut Imwe, a blind warrior devoted to the ways of the Jedi, is from Jedha.

Use of the Force is not limited to Jedi. In "A New Hope," Obi-Wan Kenobi described the Force as an "energy field created by all living things... It binds the galaxy together." In "The Phantom Menace," Qui-Gon Jinn controversially introduced the concept of midi-chlorians, "microscopic lifeforms inside all living cells" that make a person aware of the Force. The idea of midi-chlorians adds a genetic and physical connection to the Force, which was previously seen as solely spiritual. It also contradicts Lucas' comparison of the Force to yoga described in "The Making of 'Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.'" 

Dave Filoni, the director of the animated "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" projects, helped to create a more succint idea of training in and having a natural ability to use the Force in an interview with ComicBook.com.

"For a long time I’ve used someone like Bruce Lee as an example," Filoni said. "He has, if you like, a lot of talent for martial arts — or a very high midi-chlorian count. If I train in martial arts, can I learn martial arts? Yes, I can improve my midi-chlorian count in that discipline."

So basically, natural talent plus training and discipline make for the best Force user.

It will be interesting to see how non-Skywalkers — aka the ones who require more training and discipline — interact with the Force.

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about the next 'Star Wars' movie, 'Rogue One'

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NOW WATCH: We took a ride around NYC in the new ‘Ghostbusters’ car which is actually a 1984 Cadillac hearse

CBS boss addresses all-white male stars in fall TV lineup: 'We need to do better'

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CBS president Glenn Gellar admitted the network's all-white male class of fall stars doesn't reflect well on its diversity efforts.

“We’re very mindful at CBS about the importance of diversity and inclusion," he said after being criticized by reporters during the Television Critics Association press tour on Wednesday, according to TVLine.

"We need to do better and we know it,” Geller also said. “We are definitely less diverse this year than last year, and we need to do better.”

The network has six new shows for the fall season, all led by eight white males: Michael Weatherly of "Bull," Joel McHale on "The Great Indoors," Kevin James on "Kevin Can Wait," George Eads in the titular role on "MacGyver," Matt LeBlanc on "Man With a Plan," and "Pure Genius" stars Dermot Mulroney and Augustus Prew.

It doesn't stand up well to the diverse leads on the other broadcast networks' new shows.

In the network's defense, Gellar pointed out that CBS's diversity efforts are reflected in its returning shows and with the supporting casts on their shows as a whole. As an example, he pointed out that 11 of the 16 series regulars added to fall shows reflect a diversity of race and gender. "NCIS," "NCIS: New Orleans," and "Criminal Minds," for example, have added Wilmer Valderrama, Duane Henry, Vanessa Ferlito, Adam Rodriguez, and Aisha Tyler as series regulars.

Beyond the fall, Gellar reminded the reporters that its midseason drama, "Training Day," starred co-lead Justin Cornwell.

"Those aren’t just words, that is real action," he said.

He also pointed out that aside from leads, the network has made great strides in hiring diverse directors and writers.

SEE ALSO: 47 new TV shows coming in the next year that just got announced

DON'T MISS: Here are the best TV shows of the past year, according to critics

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People are upset over the recent Snapchat filter that some are calling 'yellowface'

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Snapchat has come under fire over one of its animated selfie lenses that turned people into Asian anime caricatures, reports Mic.

The lense, which has since been permanently removed from the app, depicted a face with closed eyes and raised eyebrows. After discovering the lense, people quickly took to Twitter to call it "overly-racist" and "yellowface."

Snapchat told Business Insider that the lense was inspired by anime and intended to be playful.

This isn't the first time Snapchat has received blowback over its selfie lenses. The company was met with similar outcry after it released a Bob Marley filter on April 20.

SEE ALSO: Facebook wants people to share selfies like they do on Snapchat

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This Minecraft artist loves Pokémon Go so much, he built the most vital accessory for the game ever

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How much of a phenomenon is Pokémon Go? Enough so that it's started something of a civil war between members of the team behind the video game sensation Minecraft

See, when the game first launched, Mojang — the Sweden-based game studio that created Minecraft, acquired by Microsoft for $2.5 billion in 2014 — tried to get all employees to unify and join up with Team Mystic, Pokémon Go's blue team. 

But here in America, the Bellevue, Washington-based Minecraft team was more split. Some of them were willing to go along with the Swedes, while others wanted to go with the red Team Valor or the yellow Team Instinct. 

Amid the chaos, though, came inspiration: Spencer Kern, an artist with the Minecraft team in Washington, found himself getting very into Pokémon Go.

"After spending hours running around my local park with a few hundred people I knew this was a special moment in gaming history," Kern writes on a Microsoft Sway presentation explaining his project.

In the original Pokémon games that Pokémon Go is based on, players can run to a handy Pokémon Center in each city to heal up their pocket monsters and get ready for the next battle. In Pokémon Go, the thing that gets hurt more than anything in your smartphone's battery, as the game chews up power like nothing else.

"I thought it would be fun to re-create a Pokémon Center from the main games and use it as a charging station for trainers to hang out and heal their power drained phones," Kern writes.

And so he did, building an awesome project that doubles as something of a social hub for Pokémon trainers in real life. Here's how. 

SEE ALSO: I spent the weekend playing Minecraft with a 9-year-old, and now I get why Microsoft paid $2.5 billion for it

Since Pokémon Go was released in early July, hordes of players have gathered all over the country to hunt for the titular Pokémon in groups. It's that sense of community and unified purpose that really inspired Minecraft artist Spencer Kern.



"It has been amazing to watch people come together and enjoy catching digital monsters out in the world with their friends and neighbors. And after spending hours running around my local park with a few hundred people I knew this was a special moment in gaming history," Kern writes.



In the original Pokémon games, a Pokémon Center is where you go to heal your Pokémon between battles. Kern's big idea was to build a real-life Pokémon Center where players can "hang out and heal their power drained phones."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Matthew McConaughey is having the best time cheering on Team USA at the Rio Olympics

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Matthew McConaughey is one of the many celebrities reveling in the 2016 Summer Olympics, but few have taken their fandom as far as the Oscar-winning actor. 

Unlike most stars, who are tweeting about the games from the safety of their homes, McConaughey is in the streets of Brazil, braving the threat of the Zika virus to support Team U.S.A.

"I'm loving it," McConaughey told the BBC. "Once the party has started, you're not going to throw a better one than Brazil."

Over the past few days, photographers at the Rio games have spotted McConaughey enjoying various Olympic events.

First, he cheered on the U.S. rugby team.

Then, in a Vine video on Monday, McConaughey relayed the following message to Team U.S.A.: "We'll see you in the pool tonight." 

At the swimming events, photographers caught the actor in various states of excitement, confusion, and fervent patriotic expression. 

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When Ryan Seacrest asked McConaughey how he thought Brazil was handling the Olympics, the "Interstellar" actor replied, "I think they're doing damn well."

"The compass for Brazilians... is desire," continued McConaughey, whose wife is Brazilian. "It feels safe. It feels fun. It's damn well festive."

SEE ALSO: 10 celebrities who are totally obsessed with the Rio Olympics

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NOW WATCH: Disney just released 3 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage from the new 'Star Wars' movie

Millions of people have already watched 'Stranger Things,' and it's one of Netflix's biggest hits (NFLX)

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header3 stranger things 80s moviesNetflix's new show "Stranger Things" is a hit, having charmed critics, viewers, and Wall Street analysts alike.

But since Netflix notoriously doesn't release ratings data, it's hard to know just how big of a hit it is. Thankfully we have an estimate from a startup called SymphonyAM, which tracks Netflix ratings and has been cited by the likes of NBC.

SymphonyAM tells Business Insider that in the first 16 days, 8.2 million people watched "Stranger Things," which puts it ahead of all Netflix's recent releases except "Fuller House" and the new "Orange Is the New Black" season. It ranks before "Daredevil," "Jessica Jones," "House of Cards," and "Narcos."

If you haven't seen "Stranger Things," it's a supernatural sci-fi thriller that draws heavily from '80s movies and TV. It's a nostalgia play, done to perfection.

It currently has a 94% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating, a 96% audience rating, and it has sent the internet abuzz since it was released in mid-July. Analysts from Pacific Crest even take it as evidence that Netflix's system for producing shows is working the way it's supposed to.

But it almost didn't happen. In fact, co-creator Matt Duffer told Rolling Stone that "Stranger Things" had been rejected 15 to 20 times by different networks before Netflix.

Now it's one of Netflix's biggest hits.

Here is the full list of recent "live + 16" ratings from SymphonyAM:

Screen Shot 2016 08 10 at 1.26.50 PM

Note: Netflix in the past has disputed SymphonyAM's data, calling it inaccurate. For a full explanation of its methods, see our interview with the startup's CEO

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NOW WATCH: Here's why the Olympic diving pool turned green

Here's what the stars of Netflix's 'The Get Down' had to learn during its hip-hop boot camp

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"The Get Down," Netflix's upcoming hip-hop drama from "Moulin Rouge" director Baz Luhrmann, took two months to bring its cast and crew up to speed on rap's 1970s origin.

The epic $120 million series, notably Netflix's most expensive show to date, tracks the fall of disco and the rise of hip-hop in '70s Bronx, New York, through the experiences of black and Latino kids at rap's ground zero.

According to The Village Voice, Luhrmann took two months to educate his young cast — the oldest, Shameik Moore, is just 24 years old — and crew on the musical history before shooting could start.

That training included hip-hop trivia, clothing styles, dance, and language. According to The Village Voice, some of today's biggest authorities on the era were on-hand to pass their knowledge on to the cast and crew.

"The place was crawling with the statesmen of hip-hop, brought together by Luhrmann to give a little history lesson to the cast: New York graffiti artists LADY PINK and CRASH; Nelson George, author of the seminal cultural history 'Hip Hop America'; and Rahiem of the Furious Five all consulted on the project. And Grandmaster Flash and DJ Kool Herc, who compete for the title of Inventor of Hip-Hop, helped make sure the soundtrack stayed true to reality."

Although the series was expensive and took ultimately took two years to complete, Luhrmann's emphasis on accuracy makes sense. Moore, for example, cited his earliest hip-hop influence as 2004's dance battle movie "You Got Served" — not exactly the look "The Get Down" is going for.

The Voice described the range of what was covered during the two months:

"The cast learned, in no particular order, how to spray-paint with proper technique, how to wear their gym socks stretched to just the right height, how to do the hustle. George constructed playlists for Luhrmann, took the directors on tours of the Bronx — including a stop at George's sister's home — and taught the actors the body language and slang they needed to get in touch with the mythology they were presenting."

But one of the most challenging parts of the training process was not adding to the cast and crew's knowledge, but subtracting from it.

"The hardest thing to do," Jaden Smith, 18, said, "is not say contemporary words, [do] contemporary dance moves. When you feel the music, you feel the music."

After all that went into the production, viewers will be able to see if they "feel the music" when "The Get Down" releases the first half of its season on Friday, August 12, on Netflix.

SEE ALSO: The ex-showrunner for Netflix's 'The Get Down': It was 'one of the odder TV experiences'

DON'T MISS: Here are the best TV shows of the past year, according to critics

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'The Crow' is getting a reboot and this 'Game of Thrones' actor is in talks to star

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It's possible that "Game of Thrones" alum Jason Momoa is going to be busy for the next few years. 

The actor is in serious talks to be the star of "The Crow" reboot, according to Mashable

The franchise, which is based on the popular graphic novel about a man who is resurrected by a crow and seeks revenge on the men who killed his girlfriend, has been on the ropes since its original star Brandon Lee's accidental death after being shot on the set of the movie in 1994.

Momoa, who is already playing Aquaman for the upcoming DC Comics movie "Justice League," posted this picture of himself with "Crow" reboot director Corin Hardy on Instagram with the hashtag #sealthedeal.  

According to Mashable, multiple sources confirm that Momoa is in talks and trying to fit the movie into his Aquaman commitments for DC, which will also include a standalone Aquaman movie slated for 2018.

"The Crow" franchise has continued since the death of Lee, but none of the films has received the same top talent as Momoa.

SEE ALSO: 10 celebrities who are totally obsessed with the Rio Olympics

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Chance the Rapper released a beautiful, patriotic new song for the Olympics

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With the 2016 Summer Olympics underway, Chance the Rapper has teamed up with Nike to release a new song and music video celebrating the U.S.A. men's and women's basketball teams. 

The video, titled "Unlimited Together," was shot in black and white by Hiro Murai, an acclaimed Japanese music video director, Billboard reports

On the piano-led track, Chance puts in a typically stellar, spoken word-style verse, rapping, "We want some heros in our story / We need highlights for a nightlight / We need glory for a while," before singing an uplifting chorus. 

"Nike heralds the strength of unity and power of team with 'Unlimited Together,' a film featuring original lyrics from Chicago-born artist Chance the Rapper," a statement on Nike's website reads. "The film celebrates how the USA Basketball men’s and women’s teams' individual strengths are amplified when unified in pursuit of a common goal."

This is the second sports-related song Chance has debuted this summer. In July, he sang a moving tribute to Muhammad Ali at the ESPY Awards. 

Watch "Unlimited Together" below.

SEE ALSO: The Grammys made one big change to their rules — and now this rapper has a chance at winning

SEE ALSO: 10 celebrities who are totally obsessed with the Rio Olympics

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NOW WATCH: Disney just released 3 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage from the new 'Star Wars' movie

RANKED: The top 10 movies at the summer box office

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There's been a lot of complaining this summer about Hollywood releasing sequel after sequel from big movie franchises.

And yes, there have been a lot of big-budget movies that underperformed: "Independence Day: Resurgence," "Alice Through the Looking Glass," "Zoolander 2," and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" are just a few. 

But if you hate franchises, sorry: The movie sequels and adaptations will keep coming.

To see why Hollywood loves franchises, all you have to do is look at the top 10 highest-grossing movies of the summer so far, below. 

Note: All figures below are domestic gross totals via BoxOfficeMojo.com.

SEE ALSO: Why Hollywood hasn't learned anything from a miserable summer of box-office bombs

10. "The Angry Birds Movie" - $107.2 million

Based on the popular app.



9. "Ghostbusters" - $116.5 million

A female-led reboot of the franchise that began in 1984.



8. "The Legend of Tarzan" - $124 million

The latest movie based on the stories created by Edgar Rice Burroughs.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Damon Wayans wants to bring back the TV show that made him famous: 'The time is right'

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Damon Wayans thinks that "the time is right" for the sketch show that helped make him famous, "In Living Color," to return to TV.

TV is certainly in the midst of a reboot trend. Wayans himself is playing the Donald Glover role on Fox's remake of "Lethal Weapon" this fall.

But with The CW currently airing a reboot of late-'90s/early-2000s sketch show "Mad TV," there's an even bigger argument for an "In Living Color" return.

"I still believe that it should’ve been an institution like 'Saturday Night Live,'" Wayans told Business Insider at the Television Critics Association press tour this week. "If you just think about all the talent that came through ‘In Living Color’ that are famous today: Jennifer Lopez, Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, a global, iconic actor/comedian. But there’s still more talent to be found."

The show aired on Fox from 1990 to 1994. Created by Wayans' brother Keenen Ivory Wayans, the show's predominately black cast set it apart from mainstream television and other sketch shows. It also controversially parodied life in low-income black neighborhoods, another big difference from other shows of the time.

Aside from other Wayans family members, Carrey, and Foxx, "In Living Color's" cast included David Alan Grier and Tommy Davidson. It also featured dancers known as the Fly Girls. Oscar-nominated actress Rosie Perez acted as choreographer, with Lopez and "Dancing with the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba as dancers.

IN LIVING COLOR FOXIn fact, it's today's talent that most forms Wayans' argument for bringing back the Emmy-winning "In Living Color."

"There’s still more talent to be found," he said. "I see them when I’m in the comedy clubs. If we had ‘In Living Color’ on, these people should go through there, because it was great training ground."

He also thinks YouTube stars could do very well from on a show like "In Living Color."

"I watch YouTube and I’m looking for [talent] and it’s not consistent," Wayans told us. "All these years, they’re uploading 10 billion videos a week on YouTube and I can’t find anything consistently funny. There’s something wrong. There's no filter. Who’s locating the talent? Nurturing the talent? It should be more consistent... The time is right."

Keenen Ivory Wayans and Fox did try to bring the show back in 2013, but they felt that there was a lack of talent at the time and the project was killed. Damon Wayans should speak to his brother.

SEE ALSO: There are more TV shows now than ever before, but this executive says that'll end soon

DON'T MISS: The 10 best and worst TV shows this summer

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Rose McGowan calls out media for helping Donald Trump: 'You are POISONING us'

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Rose McGowan issued an open letter to the media Wednesday urging journalists to stop covering Donald Trump.

The outspoken actress and director starts out by saying she wrote a letter to a "rabid Trump supporter" after the Republican National Convention, but realized that she should really have written to the media, whom she refers to as "enablers" in spreading a "disease."

"WE ARE BEING POISONED," she wrote (emphasis hers). "We, the public, are being sickened by an ever expanding assault on our right to live a healthy and free life. Donald and you ratings-driven colluders, are holding us the public hostage and exposing us to disease. A massive DISease."

McGowan goes on to implore media to take "ownership of this situation" and accept blame for "propagating this propaganda."

"We, the public, need for you to look for your humanity," she said. "We, the public, need you to think differently and to do better. Think different. Do better. It’s that easy to be a better person and to do the right thing no matter the cost. The time is now."

McGowan is best known for the TV series "Charmed," and for starring in several movies, including "Encino Man," "Scream," "Grindhouse," and "Jawbreaker." In 2014, she embarked on a directing career with her first short film, "Dawn."

Read the full open letter from Rose McGowan below:

AN OPEN LETTER TO CNN FOX CBS ABC NBC VIACOM THE MURDOCHS AND DONALD J. TRUMP

RE: STATE OF EPIDEMIC/ZIKA2

Dear Enablers and Donald,

After the Republican National Convention I wrote an open letter to a rabid Trump supporter. I realize now the letter was for you, Donald and media men. It’s you I’ve been wanting to talk to.  You who have been stressing me and most of the nation out to the point of a diagnosable sickness. WE ARE BEING POISONED. We, the public, are being sickened by an ever  expanding assault on our right to live a healthy and free life. Donald & you ratings driven colluders, are holding us the public hostage and exposing us to disease. A massive DISease.

Our symptoms are knots in our shoulders, sick feelings in the pit of our vaginas, stomach tightness, shortness of breath, wildly elevated stress levels- we are now chronically experiencing a true mass illness.  

Caused by you. You all had a hand in this. You must take ownership of this situation.

You are causing a worldwide sickness. You are POISONING us as sure as Flint is poisoning its citizens. You are poisoning your very own family and us, your brothers and sisters.

This is real. We are sick. Living with your daily reign of terror cancer, and it is terror cancer, is something we are unwilling to do for another minute. I do not want to live my life this way. I am a proud AMERICAN & GLOBAL CITIZEN who's head is bowed to her knees in because she is sickened every day. Because of you. It is NOT most of America who should be ashamed, it is YOU for propagating this propaganda. 

We, the public, need for you to look for your humanity. We, the public, need you to think differently and to do better. Think different. Do better. It’s that easy to be a better person and to  do the right thing no matter the cost. The time is now.

Stop poisoning humanity. Go rogue, reverse course, be BRAVE. He is a murderer in the making.  Do NOT AID AND ABET A CRIME. 

UNPLUG THE MICROPHONES 

STOP COVERING HIM 

TURN THE LIGHTS OUT

STOP THE CANCER

It is time to RISE and say NO MORE

#ROSEARMY#ANARMYOFTHOUGHT

SEE ALSO: 'Veep' predicted Donald Trump's meltdowns with this hated character

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'Suction cup guy' at Trump Tower recreates an awe-inspiring 'Mission: Impossible' moment

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The internet instantly went crazy when a man started climbing Trump Tower in Manhattan (the one in which Donald Trump himself lives and works) using suction cups on Wednesday.

Yes, suction cups just like the ones Tom Cruise has used throughout the entire "Mission: Impossible" film series. It's one of the most popular tropes of the movies.

Cruise and Jon Voight both made use of them when they were scaling a train and stealing a file in "Mission: Impossible" (1996).

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But the suction cups were most memorably used in "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol" (2011) when Cruise (aka Ethan Hunt) scaled the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

It gave everyone in the world vertigo.

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By the time "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation" came around in 2015, apparently Crusie no longer needed the cups, so he just held onto dear life on this plane. Still, the effect was cool.

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Of course, this didn't stop people on Twitter from making other pop-culture comparisons for "suction cup guy."

 

 

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15 documentaries on Netflix right now that will make you smarter

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One of the great things about Netflix is that it has brought thoughtful, compelling documentaries to a much wider audience that filmmakers could only dream of a decade ago.

And with binge-worthy titles like “Making a Murderer” and the vast ESPN “30 for 30” library being just a click away, you can get a lot of great nonfiction viewing any night of the week. You'll learn a lot more about the world, but don't worry — you'll also be entertained.

Here are 15 documentaries we think you should stream right away on Netflix.

SEE ALSO: All the "Avengers" and Marvel fans who nailed their cosplay at Comic-Con

1. “30 for 30” ESPN movies

Pretty much any “30 for 30” title is worth your time. The documentaries that highlight moments in sports that you may or may not be aware of are both entertaining and filled with emotion. A few we highly recommend: “No Crossover: The Tale of Allen Iverson”; “June 17th, 1994,” which looks at everything that happened in the world of sports at the time of O.J. Simpson's Bronco chase; “I Hate Christian Laettner”; and likely available in 2017 will be ESPN’s new masterwork, “O.J.: Made in America." 



2. “The Act of Killing”

Joshua Oppenheimer’s Oscar-nominated doc looks at the Indonesian genocide by having death-squad leaders reenact their mass killings. The results are both comical and heart-wrenching. 



3. “Blackfish”

Why is Sea World going to end killer-whale shows? It’s because of this incredible movie that looks at the abuse these magnificent creatures have endured for decades.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

This is one of the most rewarding games I've ever played, but it's also downright terrifying

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This past weekend, I finally finished a game I've been playing for almost a full year. After hundreds of hours and literally thousands of deaths, I can definitively say "Bloodborne" is one of the best action adventure horror games ever made.

I had never played a game like "Bloodborne" before, but ever since my brother gifted it to me late last year, I hadn't been able to put the controller down. I spent hours each day slowly carving through the old city of Yharnam, exploring gorgeous Gothic architecture while hunting monstrous beasts and earning increasingly better weapons and gear along the way.

"Bloodborne" is made by a Japanese game company called From Software, which has made some of the most punishing video games of all time, including the beloved "Dark Souls" franchise. "Bloodborne" is similar to the "Dark Souls" games, but its mechanics reward a more aggressive playstyle, and thus, the game is a bit more approachable. Still, as I've learned, you will die a lot in this game — but this makes every victory that much sweeter.

If you've never heard of this game — or if you already own the game and can't stop thinking about it — this is what "Bloodborne" is all about. (Warning: Nightmare fuel ahead.)

SEE ALSO: This looks like the most beautiful game to come out in 2016

This is Yharnam, the Gothic city you'll be exploring in "Bloodborne."



And this is you. You are a Hunter.



As a hunter, it's your job to clean the streets of Yharnham from an endemic plague that's taken over the town and transformed most of its citizens into beasts.



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President Obama just released his summer music playlists

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jay z obama

It's President Obama's last summer in office, and he's shared the tunes he's going to be listening to.

Obama created two Spotify playlists, one for day and one for night, that are his soundtrack to the summer. The list spans from rap to jazz to Manu Chao. One track conspicuously absent is Eminem's "Lose Yourself," which Obama used to hype himself up before his DNC speech this year.

Here are the two playlists:

ThePresident'sSummerPlaylist: Daytime

1.     LoveHate Thing - Wale

2.     Smooth Sailin' - Leon Bridges

3.     Elevator Operator - Courtney Barnett

4.     Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

5.     Many the Miles - Sara Bareilles

6.     Tightrope - Janelle Monáe

7.     Classic Man - Jidenna

8.     So Ambitious - Jay Z feat. Pharrell

9.     Me Gustas Tu - Manu Chao

10.  Forever Begins - Common

11.  The Man - Aloe Blacc

12.  As We Enter - Nas & Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley

13.  Sinnerman - Nina Simone

14.  U Got the Look - Prince

15.  Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin

16.  Good Vibrations - Beach Boys

17.  Don't Owe You A Thang - Gary Clark Jr.

18.  Man Like That - Gin Wigmore

19.  II B.S. (edit) - Charles Mingus

 

ThePresident'sSummerPlaylist: Nighttime

1.     If I Have My Way - Chrisette Michele

2.     Espera - Esperanza Spalding

3.     Tell It Like It Is - Aaron Neville

4.     Alright - Ledisi

5.     Trapped By A Thing Called Love - Denise LaSalle

6.     Lady - D'Angelo

7.     So Very Hard to Go - Tower of Power

8.     Midnight Sun - Carmen McCrae

9.     Cucurrucucú Paloma - Caetano Veloso

10.  Green Aphrodisiac - Corinne Bailey Rae

11.  I'll Be There for You / You're All I Need - Mary J. Blige / Method Man

12.  Lover Man - Billie Holiday

13.  Criminal - Fiona Apple

14.  Acid Rain - Chance the Rapper

15.  My Funny Valentine - Miles Davis

16.  Do You Feel Me - Anthony Hamilton

17.  I Get Lonely - Janet Jackson

18.  Lean In - Lizz Wright

19.  All Day Music - War

20.  Say Yes - Floetry

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This teen went from getting bullied in school to being a Musical.ly star with millions of fans

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kaylee halko musical.ly star

Like most girls her age, 13-year-old Kaylee Halko loves singing along to her favorite tunes in the bathroom. It has the best lighting in the house, which is important for Halko's purposes.

Because unlike her peers, when Halko records her concert in the commode and uploads it to Musical.ly, a fast-rising social video network, millions of fans tune in to watch.

If you haven't heard of Musical.ly yet, it's probably because you're older than 16 or don't live with a teen. The app took off in 2015 and today, 50% of teens in the US have downloaded it, according to Alex Hoffman, president of Musical.ly North America.

The app allows people to upload 15-second videos of them dancing, performing comedy skits, or lip-syncing to today's top hits, and it's given rise to the next generation of social media stars. While most middle schoolers are worrying about zits and exams, overnight celebrities like Halko are learning to juggle international stardom with real life.

Halko has never been your typical American girl. Halko has a rare and fatal disease called progeria, which makes her body age up to 10 times faster than normal children. She stands less than four feet tall, with a smooth head and radiant blue eyes. Her voice sounds like tiny jingle bells.

Typically, people born with progeria show no signs until the age of two, when they start to exhibit growth failure, loss of body fat and hair, aged-looking skin, and stiffness in the joints. On average, they die at 14, often of a heart attack or stroke.

There are 135 known children in the world currently living with progeria. But only one is a rising social media star.

Growing up in suburban Ohio with three older brothers, Halko became the confident, fearless one in the clan. She always insisted on taking the bus to school. She took dance classes in jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, and musical theater, and continues to enter dance competitions.

@kaylee_halko

A video posted by FANPAGE (@kaylee__halko) on Apr 9, 2016 at 6:22pm PDT on

When she was 8, she appeared on ABC's "20/20" and explained to Barbara Walters what the biggest difference between them was: "I have a bald head and you have hair," she said.

Around the same time as her national news debut, Halko became a victim of bullying in her elementary school. A couple students created Instagram hate pages targeting her disease.

"It pretty much said, 'We need to kill all kids with progeria,' and, 'I want to see all these f-----g kids die,'" Halko's father, Tim, told a local news station.

When they complained to the administration, the school forced the students to delete the pages. They popped back up a day later. Eventually, Halko transferred to another school.

A year ago, when Halko's cousin showed her what Musical.ly was, she downloaded the app and didn't think much of it. Halko started spending 15 minutes a day creating lip-syncing videos that show her bopping along to her favorite hip-hop and dance tunes, serenading the camera in her bathroom.

Let's try to get @kaylee_halko 1st place on the musical.ly leaderboard 👏🏻 To do this like all her vids ❤️ Her musical.ly is ~khalko

A video posted by FANPAGE (@kaylee__halko) on Apr 4, 2016 at 8:09pm PDT on

Halko has since racked up over three million followers and a dozen fan pages on Musical.ly. She almost always cracks the top 25 leaderboard, a list of the most liked users on the app that's updated daily. And on any post, there are thousands of comments complimenting her eyes, her taste in music, and her spirit.

For every bully that calls her a name, a flock of fans bury the comment with positive replies.

kaylee comments musical.ly blurred

"I definitely feel [supported] because I've gotten a lot of nice comments and stuff," Halko tells Business Insider. "They are definitely nice, so that makes me feel good."

She says she will often respond to direct messages from fans and doesn't mind posing for selfies in public. On a trip to South Carolina, she was ambushed for photos on the beach, in the store, and at a café. Fans often ask to take photos with her, but are too starstruck to strike up a conversation. Halko is happy to chat, and doesn't mind their nervousness.

Just don't expect her to talk about progeria on Musical.ly. Halko doesn't make her disease part of the conversation, because that's not why she's on the app. She's here to have fun.

"Like, I don't want followers to follow me just because I have progeria," Halko says. "I want them to follow me because they like me."

That they do.

SEE ALSO: Teens are becoming overnight celebrities on this lip-syncing app you've never heard of

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This founder sold his last startup to Google for $400 million, and now he's created a Tinder for movies and TV shows

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MightyTV team

Part of Tinder's runaway success rested on the fact that swiping "yes" or "no" over and over is inherently fun. Scrolling through potential dates no longer felt like a chore; it felt like a game.

MightyTV wants to bring some of that same magic to finding what to watch on video services like Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. The iPhone app has you swipe through a list of movies or shows, and from your choices it suggests what new ones you should watch, based on your taste.

The app is immediately useful if you're someone like me, who subscribes to more than three of these services and finds it annoying to browse each separately. But cofounder Brian Adams, who sold his last startup, Admeld, to Google for $400 million, has bigger plans for the app.

"There is a point in 'discovery' [of new shows and movies] where it changes from work to addictive," he told Business Insider.

That's what he's going after. Adams says that giving good recommendations is as much about making sure the interface is fun as it is about making sure the algorithm works well — which it seems to, at least in my subjective experience.

Here's one example: group discovery. MightyTV has a feature called "mashup" where you can connect with a friend and the app will tell you what your tastes have in common, from shows to specific actors. That's not work — it's fun. And for MightyTV to succeed, it's going to have to keep delivering those moments.

MightyThere are VCs that believe it will. MightyTV revealed Thursday it has raised an additional $2 million in seed capital from Canaan Partners and Spark Capital, bringing its total funding to $4.25 million. The company also announced that Michael Barrett, former CEO of Millennial Media and cofounder of Admeld, will join the board.

Mighty TV also released a new feature on Thursday, a weekly report called "The Mighty List." This serves as a rundown of "can't miss" shows and movies for the week, curated by the editorial team with help from user data.

The future

But Adams says the focus moving forward isn't just on features. He and his 10-person team are also working to improve the algorithm. It takes about 100 to 200 swipes for MightyTV to get a good sense of your taste, he says, but a new update would give the system as good a prediction at 50 swipes as it used to have at 200.

pr app screenshots SIDE BY SIDE hbo now crackle

The big question for MightyTV is whether it can build up a loyal-enough user base by the time larger players put the finishing touches on their own smart recommendation systems.

Apple is reportedly building an "advanced TV guide" that aims to pull together a bunch of content providers, and Comcast is pushing toward universal integration of streaming services like Netflix with its X1 system. Both want to use artificial intelligence, voice commands, and dynamic design to become the one platform that rules all video services. You can bet Amazon, Google, and so on will make their plays as well.

MightyTV's advantage seems to be that it's fun, free, and available to everyone with an iPhone (Android coming soon). And Adams says it has the potential to move beyond premium video recommendations into recommendations more broadly, which is a potential lane if it gets squeezed by the tech giants.

MightyTV currently works with Amazon, Netflix, Showtime, Hulu, Cinemax, HBO Go, HBO Now, and Crackle. You can download it here.

SEE ALSO: Spotify has released its first original video show, but it's less than 2 minutes long

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Seth Rogen explains how he came up with his new movie after smoking pot with Jonah Hill

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Jonah Hill Seth Rogen Jason Merritt Getty final

This may come as a shock, but not all of the movie ideas Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg come up with emerge out of major sessions of smoking marijuana.

But the writers behind "This Is the End" and "Superbad" admit that their upcoming R-rated animated movie, “Sausage Party” (out Friday), was born from such an encounter.

While doing a panel for the Producers Guild of America in the summer of 2014 (watch here), Goldberg explained that some weed-smoking with Jonah Hill helped nail down the movie.

“It started out with a bunch of dudes and then Jonah said, ‘What if it was literally sausages?’ and it became our passion project,” Goldberg said.

Hill has a story by credit on the movie.

While recently talking to Business Insider, Rogen confirmed that weed was involved and went into a little more detail about the origins of the plot.

“It actually came from me and Jonah and my wife having dinner together,” Rogen said. “We started talking about what it would be like if we made a Pixar-style movie about food and how f---ed up that would be and how potentially hilarious it would be. And that was almost 10 years ago, and we've been tirelessly trying to make it ever since then.”

Here’s the trailer.

SEE ALSO: Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg talk making movies their way, and how life blew up after the Sony Hacks

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