Global chess pieces move on the board

Chinese state media announced Friday that Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has ordered the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to “enhance their combat readiness,” without elaborating what threat has made preparation for combat so urgent.

The AQAUAMAN scene popular in China

“I'm thinking of all the crazy set pieces and all the cool visuals and all that," James Wan tells The Hollywood Reporter. "I wasn't even remotely close. They said, 'It's the scene where Amber [Heard] eats the flower."

The scene in question finds Arthur/Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Mera (Heard) in Italy, in search of Atlan's trident. Mera is unsure of how to act amongst the surface dwellers, and in a market she ends up eating a flower as though it were a piece of fruit. Not one to make her feel out of place, Arthur follows suit and eats a flower as well. 

"When he is in her world, he's the fish out of water. When she's in his world, she's the fish out of water. And it is about finding those moments," says Wan, who notes he spends as much time working on the small human moments as he does on the set pieces. 

The film will warn more than $900 mil in global markets with more than $260 mil coming from the newest majority movie consumer: China

Hacker group wants ransom of Bitcoins... or threatens to reveal 9/11 files

A hacker group has threatened to reveal "secret" data related to September 11 attacks in the US after claiming to have got access to a large cache of confidential files.

In its announcement published on Pastebin, the group known as The Dark Overlord pointed to several different insurers and legal firms, claiming specifically that it hacked Hiscox Syndicates Ltd, Lloyds of London, and Silverstein Properties, the Motherboard reported on Tuesday.

"Hiscox Syndicates Ltd and Lloyds of London are some of the biggest insurers on the planet insuring everything from the smallest policies to some of the largest policies on the planet, and who even insured structures such as the World Trade Centers," the group said in the announcement.

The Bandershatch ending you’ll never see

Now THIS is some good press for BANDERSNATCH.. an ending so creepy, so hidden, that even people who made the movie cannot access it..

These are the stories modern urban legends are made of.. And with Black Mirror, no doubt as creepy as it could get.

According to the The Hollywood Reporter, Bandersnatch director David Slade has revealed that some endings are so secret and difficult to get that they may never be viewed by audiences.

"There are scenes that some people just will never see and we had to make sure that we were OK with that," explained Slade, adding "We actually shot a scene that we can’t access.”

.....someone out there now has the mission to find this impossible ending.

And maybe never come back again........

Kevin Smith planning a return to JAY AND SILENT BOB

Smith and Mewes made their film debut in the 1994 comedy “Clerks,” funded for $27,000 through Smith maxing out his credit cards. Smith wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in “Clerks,” portraying the character Silent Bob as part of the team of Jay and Silent Bob.

Smith’s subsequent films featured Jay and Silent Bob and were mostly set in his home state of New Jersey. Those included “Mallrats,” “Chasing Amy,” “Dogma,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and 2006’s “Clerks 2” 

It is good to see Kevin Smith looking like a million bucks after his heart attack and issues.. he lost weight. He looks amazing..

And the amazing feat of producing a remake of this will be very, very interesting.

I would equally love to see a return to MALL RATS. Perhaps in a dead mall.. maybe the third-nippled psychic would still be working all these decades later... With a cameo from Seph Lawless....

In time, in time.

First we see Jay and Silent Bob coming back again.

DARWIN AWARDS: Netflix forced to decry the BIRD BOX CHALLENGE

“Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.”

But they have yet to comment on removing content that Saudi Arabia disapproved of ..

Madge at 60 with a younger butt: Happy new rear from Madonna

The 60-year-old Madonna performed alongside her son David Banda, 13, at the famous New York gay bar Stonewall Inn in New York on New Year's Eve. ..

And fans have faced to the socials to proclaim that she has a happy new rear..

More meaningless gossip here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6548273/Madonna-fans-question-singer-butt-implants.html

China lands on the ‘dark side of the moon’

The China National Space Administration said the 10:26 a.m. landing of the Chang'e-4 lunar explorer has “opened up a new chapter in human lunar exploration.”

The Chang'e-4′s launch on Dec. 8 was hailed as one of the nation’s major achievements in 2018, and state broadcaster China Central Television announced Thursday’s landing to the public at the top of the noon news.

Mean Gene Okerland dead at 76

Legendary wrestling announcer “Mean” Gene Okerlund died at the age of 76, WWE announced Wednesday.

Okerlund was one of the more recognizable names in sports entertainment with his career spanning the American Wrestling Association, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment.

We did know something MeanJean.. you were the voice of countless childhood backgrounds and will hold a special place in millions of people's hearts ..

Hasan Minhaj’s episode on Saudi pulled by Netflix!

Netflix has removed the second episode of Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj from its service in Saudi Arabia after receiving a request from the country’s Communications and Information Technology Commission, reports the Financial Times.

The episode focused on America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

FANS START THEIR OWN #BirdBoxChallenge.

Fans inspired by “Bird Box,” Sandra Bullock’s Netflix horror hit, have started attempting something called the #BirdBoxChallenge.

The task requires participants to attempt to do things blindfolded like Bullock’s character in the film.
There is a slight difference: In “Bird Box,” characters wear the blindfolds as protection against an unseen force that seemingly takes over people’s vision by manifesting their greatest fears.

In the #BirdBoxChallenge, people wear the blindfolds in hopes of going viral.

The hopes of going viral are the hopes of BIRD BOX makers and NETFLIX, who are seeking newfound ways to keep the social media virility alive for the movie.. 

45 million people watched, we are told...
....Got to keep up those numbers at NETFLIX..

Midsummer nights dream! STRANGER THINGS confirmed for July 4

Don’t want to tell you I told you so .. but I told you so! * Or maybe just friends privately. Can't prove I told anyone so * ... Summer time stranger things on the way. Freedom on the Fourth of July!

Netflix has released the first key art and a video for the third season of “Stranger Things,” with the latter announcing the new season’s launch on July 4th 2019.

 The streaming giant made the announcement via a clip designed to look like a local Hawkins, Indiana television affiliate.

The new season’s tagline is: “One summer can change everything.” And with the news comes beautiful and mesmerizing nostalgic image to coincide with the July 4 theme.. The teaser is appropriately New Year’s-themed, featuring archival footage of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve from 1984: As the ball drops in Times Square and 1985 dawns, things take a turn toward the Upside-Down just as the clock is about to strike midnight..

 The program has been brought to you by the STARCOURT MALL..

 

 The screen also serves up the following “scene,” which appears to show someone accessing an entity called “Lynx Corp.” and running the program “SilverCatFeeds.exe”..

 

 And now the wait to summer begins.. Born on the Fourth of July in 1985!

2 0 1 9

1919 was then. 2019 is now. 100 years later and the same fears and human emotions persist

New years 1919.. 100 years back.. The temperature went down to 25 degrees and remained below 31 all day. 

Sleet fell sporadically, mixed with rain. A blizzard loomed on the Panhandle and threatened Central Texas..

Also in the war’s aftermath, labor unions began a series of strikes for higher pay and better benefits. Unions had stalled negotiations because of the war; now times were different, but management refused to bargain. 

The Santa Fe Railway’s telegraphers went on strike just before New Year’s. Other unions joined in solidarity.

“The fire department was called out twice Tuesday night (New Year’s Eve) to answer false alarms, presumably turned in by New Year’s celebrants,” the Telegram reported. 

“The New Year was otherwise ushered in very quietly. At midnight, many guns were fired, but the whistles and bells joined in the noise very weakly.”

Victories in Europe allowed the United States, once considered a backward uncouth nation, to emerge victorious as a 20th century superpower…

That was then.

2019 is now.

BIRDBOX with 45 mil?

NO...
Maybe?

Netflix doesn't give ratings.. but BIRD BOX is so popular it decided to come out of the ratings closet and tell some potentially tall tales...

The streaming service on Friday said more than 45 million "accounts" have watched the Sandra Bullock-led film in its first week of release, the "best first 7 days ever for a Netflix film," the company boasted in a Tweet....
Rebecca Keegan of The Hollywood Reporter questioned the value of Netflix's data in the absence of further context.
"Does Susanne Bier's agent use this data as leverage on her next film? How does a traditional studio considering her for a project view it?" Keegan asked on Twitter.

Bier directed "Bird Box."

Exactly how Netflix qualifies what counts as a viewing is another question. Does the figure account for those who accidentally play the film from an auto-play option? Does it log "viewers" who only watch a few seconds or the entire film?

NETFLIX has taken away their ratings grid.. people cannot bully some shows anymore into non-existence.. 

And social media--word of mouth that is either true and original or contrived by intelligent brokers of Twitterverse behind the scenes--is better for the streaming service than any ad they could buy.

But 45 million? ...

Bird Box?

Those are some big numbers.

And if true, it proves they know what we are watching.. streaming.. but does it know what you're turning off midway through while you chill?

THE BEST OF TIMES AND THE WORST OF TIMES! PREDICTIONS FOR 2019!

Every year I attempt to give me thoughts about the upcoming year and events that will occur..

But first a breeze back in time. HOW DID I DO!?

FROM 2017, WHAT I SAID WOULD BE THE STORIES OF 2018. My comments afterwards in bold. 

1. Donald Trump is going to have a much more difficult time than expected. At least initially.  He will be besieged by protests and also by people within his own party. By the middle of the year, he will realize that by going directly to people above party leaders can motivate the electorate to accept some if his policies. I expect rallies by the end of the year to be a normal course of White House business.  There were rallies and yes, indeed, a lot of them.. Politics were business as usual as opposed to business as usual. I will give myself credit on this. 
2. The stock market will hit 20,000 and stay within that range. By August we will be speculating when the market will hit 25,000. YES! Right .. .but the market dropped after. I would chalk this up as yet another victory in my predictions. 
3. Vladimir Putin will either visit the United States or Donald Trump will visit Russia. Either way a more united front will emerge. They met. But not the visits I expected. HALF RIGHT.
4. The weather in 2017 will be hot. As hot as 2016.. there may be slick spots of winter that emerge from time to time sporadically throughout the world, but the majority of the months to come will feature hotter than normal temperatures. Yep. As so it goes... Another point. 
5. The British Royal family will have to decide how to move forward after a tragic scenario.. there may be a new queen before 2018. I will try again next year. No point.
6. Stephen Colbert may be facing cancellation in 2017. There is going to be a dramatic realignment of late night TV. People are tired of an obsessive amount of politics during the daytime hours. The nighttime should be sacred for comedy. People may turn on political version of such by rebelling against the Colbert program on CBS. Wow how wrong could I be!! Trump helped him. No chance of this ...
7. BREXIT. Trump. I think France and Germany will have upheaval in 2017. The world is shaking like a post-earthquake atmosphere from the changes in 2016. Transitions something are sloppy. And we have somehow transitioned into something very different than we were in 16.. Yes.. but not being specific, I will not give myself a point.
8. Major hacking will reveal something in 2017. Either from Wikileaks, or a source not yet to be named. Secrets will become revealed in 2017 to make us question what type of reality we live in. Nope..
9. Though everyone seems to predict it, Donald Trump will be aggressive in NOT declaring war or bombing other nations. (This is a prediction, but also a prayer) Right.
10. Virtual reality! All the rage in 2016! …..but just wait. I predict the opposite for 2017. Nope.

And now without further ado some predictions for 2019.......

1. Economic uncertainly! Will we collapse!? Will we fail?! All of this is on the table as markets go up and down with high momentum.. Big changes and shifts. We will end the year mostly strong, but 2020 remains the enigma.. Election year recession? It's possible by the end of '19
2. Donald Trump investigations galore! But what to see!? Everyone around him will be in trouble trouble.. him> .... he will make it to 2020 ...
3. Democrats in Congress MAY impeach Trump but the Senate will not convict...
4. Most high ranking officials around Trump will continue to resign or go to jail. It's mayhem at the highest levels!
5. Weather!? Yep. Another big story. Few snow events but much more in the rain and flooding and tsunamis category... it's going to be a brutal year.
6. Robots will begin to take over parts of many industries.. people will start seeing the end of their careers thanks to tech.
7. SEARS will be gone, as will many other major retailers that have been around for 200 years. I guess that's called progress.....
8. Big big celestial events will cause chaos and fright as blood moons and eclipses reign supreme..  These space events will coincide with strange anomalies on this planet. We live in strange times. 
9. TECH OVERLOAD!!! We will start doing yoga.. seeking out peace.. and anything NOT associated with computers and smartphones...
10. Ruth Bader Ginsberg will .. well... there will be a new nomination for the Supreme Court.. and the rest of the year of politics will be hell......................