NPR News: White House Moves To Formally Decriminalize Accidentally Killing Birds

New story on NPR: White House Moves To Formally Decriminalize Accidentally Killing Birds https://ift.tt/318ZQLS

Manufacturers urge clarity on post-Brexit trade

As Britain prepares to leave EU, businesses say the future trading relationship remains unclear.

from BBC News - Business https://ift.tt/2RHFFSa

Theme Park Bits: Galaxy’s Edge Sporks, Pokemon in Universal Studios, and More

In this edition of Theme Park Bits:

• Buy a spork at Galaxy’s Edge.
• Get ready for the Food & Wine Festival at Disney California Adventure.
• Pokemon may be coming to Universal.
• And more!

If you have a hankering for merchandise, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has you covered. Yes, they’ve got everything from puppets to droids to lightsabers to…sporks. Yes, you read that right, there are sporks that you can now buy at Galaxy’s Edge, if you’re so inclined. Now, here’s the interesting twist: these sporks used to be at Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo, for free before they were discontinued. Now, you can buy one…for 11 dollars. If you’re the kind of person who would take the sporks back home with you when these were still a free utensil, well, you’re probably the reason why they cost over 10 bucks now.

Speaking of Galaxy’s Edge, there’s a big change that’s arrived in Orlando for Rise of the Resistance. The attraction currently requires every rider to hold their place in a virtual queue, with guests separated into numbered groups. Originally, boarding groups would be notified of their return and get a two-hour return window. Now, however, Disney is changing things up a bit and giving some groups just a one-hour return time instead of two. Not that you should be dawdling anyway, but you need to keep a careful eye on your mobile device to make sure you’re not missing out on your window to experience this ride.

Back in the Disneyland Resort, they’re preparing for some good food and drink over at Disney California Adventure. That’s because the Food & Wine Festival is returning, from February 28 to April 21. And you should make sure now to set aside some time for the special events going on during the festival, from the Jammin’ Chefs (the singing and dancing show that’s pictured above) to a limited-time menu of beer and wine at Sonoma Terrace, to cooking along with none other than Goofy. That last event is in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot, and really just for the kids in your group, but talk about a memory they won’t forget. Getting to cook with Chef Goofy is the kind of thing I wish I could’ve done when I was a kid.

Let’s hop back to Orlando, over to Universal Studios. They’re still in the early planning phase for the Epic Universe park, with a Nintendo area already promised. But rumors abound that there might be another specific video-game world arriving in the park: Pokemon. These are just rumors, to be clear, but with an unknown section of the park yet to be identified, people are starting to wonder if that’s where a Pokemon Gym will be built for guests to play and explore. For those of us who never got into Pokemon, and only know any details from stuff like that Detective Pikachu movie from last year, this all sounds a bit foreign. But hey, if you love Pokemon, cross your fingers that they’ll be at Universal Orlando soon enough.

We’ll end today’s column back at the Disneyland Resort, and specifically at the Disneyland Hotel. This hotel has been around in the resort for decades, having opened its doors soon after Disneyland Park did in 1955. But the hotel is getting a big upgrade, in light of the fact that the plans to build a fourth hotel got scuppered. Instead, there will be a Disney Vacation Club tower built as part of the overall hotel, and if you look above this paragraph, you can see the first concept art for the new tower. Seeing as it’s just concept art, and the tower won’t be scheduled to open until 2023, it’s hard to know what this will all end up looking like. But with the other Disneyland Hotel towers themed to different lands in Disneyland, we can only hope this will take on a Tomorrowland theme (that’s the only major land un-accounted for so far in the hotel). The outside looks…nice enough, just not too distinctive yet.

The post Theme Park Bits: Galaxy’s Edge Sporks, Pokemon in Universal Studios, and More appeared first on /Film.

from /Film https://ift.tt/36Eybnm

Dan Trachtenberg Serving Up ‘MILK’ (‘Mother I’d Like to Kill’) at Lionsgate

Dan Trachtenberg made his feature directorial debut with the outstanding 10 Cloverfield Lane, but somehow, no studio has picked him up for another feature yet. Sony Pictures tried by bringing him in to direct their long-gestating adaptation of the video game Uncharted, but that fell through. Thankfully, it sounds like Lionsgate is smart enough to give him another crack at the big screen.

In a report about Disney producer and development executive Kristin Burr heading to Lionsgate with a new multi-year overall deal, it was revealed that one of the first projects she’s bringing to the studio is MILK (aka Mother I’d Like to Kill), an action comedy that puts a motherly spin on Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

The Hollywood Reporter has the news on Mother I’d Like to Kill heading to Lionsgate. Dan Trachtenberg will direct the movie and also came up with the idea himself. But writing the screenplay will be Patrick Aison (Wayward Pines, Jack Ryan). So what’s the movie about?

The logline describes MILK as being about a former assassin that must manage the pressures of being a new mom while avoiding her former co-workers who have been sent to kill her. It’s easy to picture this as a goofier comedy at first, but in the hands of Dan Trachtenberg, this could be more of a dark comedy with some strong action.

As for Burr, she has a long history of success with a variety of films like The Prestige, The Muppets, Sweet Home Alabama, Mary Poppins Returns, and much more. She was an executive at Disney for 20 years, and she’s wrapping up there by producing the 101 Dalmatians spin-off Cruella. At the same time, she’s also working on the Netflix musical Jingle Jangle featuring Forest Whitaker and the music of John Legend. She can obviously juggle a lot of projects, and she knows where to find good stuff, so we’re very much excited to see how MILK turns out.

It’s a shame the studio system is so reluctant to take risks on original ideas most of the time. I have a feeling that Dan Trachtenberg would be one of the most prominent filmmakers working today if they weren’t so reliant on established intellectual property. The filmmaker seems to thrive with original ideas, which is exactly what 10 Cloverfield Lane was before Bad Robot decided it should be part of the Cloverfield franchise. So hopefully MILK finds success and Trachtenberg can start making movies more often.

The post Dan Trachtenberg Serving Up ‘MILK’ (‘Mother I’d Like to Kill’) at Lionsgate appeared first on /Film.

from /Film https://ift.tt/38S2BUt

Amazon Christmas sales soar as rivals struggle

Sales were up 20% over the festive season in sharp contrast to weakness at other retailers.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2Ubwifk
via IFTTT

Stand-Up Comedian Gary Gulman To Pen Memoir ‘K Through Twelve’

EXCLUSIVE: Comedian Gary Gulman has made a deal to write his first book, K Through Twelve for Flatiron Books. After his HBO special The Great Depresh aired to great acclaim, there was interest from several publishing houses for Gulman to write a book with his initial meetings resulting in preemptive offers. K Through Twelve, which is the […]

from Deadline https://ift.tt/2U8vfwq

Bella Thorne Signs On To Dystopian Thriller ‘The Uncanny’

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Bella Thorne will star in director Mitzi Peirone’s post-apocalyptic thriller The Uncanny.  Written by Peirone and Chaya Doswell, The Uncanny presents a future where every citizen is implanted with a chip capable of controlling everything from emotions to directions, until a routine update backfires, causing a cyber apocalypse. Wiping out most […]

from Deadline https://ift.tt/2U9ZyTy