Emperor

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/23992689

Archive/mirror: https://archive.ph/zoBGi

Police in Japan have sent papers to prosecutors concerning a woman under suspicion of violating the Road Traffic Act for allegedly riding an "electric suitcase" on a sidewalk without a license.

The police say this is the first time someone has been identified for an alleged traffic offense involving such ridable luggage in Japan.

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Electric suitcases can move at a maximum of 13 kilometers per hour, and are legally in the same category as small motorcycles.

But they are not allowed on public roads in Japan as they do not meet standards for brakes and blinkers set by the Road Transport Vehicle Act.

The woman is reportedly denying the charges saying during voluntary questioning that she was not aware that the suitcase is a vehicle that requires a driver's license.

Neil Kinnock has warned his party not to ignore the nationalist threat posed by Nigel Farage, as concern grows in Labour ranks that Reform UK could pose a long-term threat for them as well as for the Conservatives.

The former Labour leader told the Guardian he wanted Labour to turn its guns on Farage’s party in the final week of the election campaign, saying the populist right could gain a stronghold in the UK as it has across much of Europe.

Labour has been accused of not putting up a fight against Farage because the Reform party appeared to be taking more votes from the Conservatives. But with Reform predicted by some pollsters to win more than a dozen parliamentary seats next week, Kinnock said Labour needed to start taking the threat seriously.

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Kinnock added that if Labour was overly cautious in government, it would play into Reform’s narrative that there was little difference between the two main parties. “Absolutely vitally, [the populist right] have to be combated with actions,” he said. “That means the implementation of change which is positive and cumulative, and driven by strong purpose in the service of the community.”

“Any scumbags in the audience?” Joe Talbot leers at a seething Other Stage crowd by way of introducing the bovver boot chant ‘I’m Scum’. There’s a distinct sense that the outsiders have stormed the gates during IDLES’ headline set, which pits them against fellow post-punks Fontaines D.C. on the Park Stage. Perhaps the clash gives Talbot and the gang something to prove: this is a bravura show that pops with cartoonish rage and flows with compassion, righteousness… and even a few chuckles along the way.

Talbot sports a shock of pink hair; guitarist Mark Bowen a sort of sheer onesie covered in roses. The frontman proclaims of the aforementioned track: “This is for the people of Palestine and this is for you.” He repeatedly announces “Viva Palestina!”, incites a crowd to bellow “Fuck the King!” and demands a circle pit so massive it makes “the whole fucking field spin”. He almost gets his wish.

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Most astonishing, though, is tonight’s performance of ‘Danny Nedelko’. As ever, Talbot describes the song as “a celebration of the bravery and the hard work of the immigrants who built our country”. And then something wholly unexpected (not least among the band themselves) happens. A fake life raft bearing life-jacketed dummies rears up through the audience: it bobs and weaves, lifted by countless outstretched hands that scramble to right the vessel when it upturns.

The raft, which we later learn was designed by Banksy, drifts towards the stage and Bowen reaches out to it before he flops into the crowd – an unforgettable image from a truly incendiary show. “We’ll back to back headline the Pyramid Stage in 2027,” a bloodied Talbot spits before they leave the stage. You’d better believe it.

A quick clip of it on TikTok.

STUDIOCANAL announce a fantastic new 4K restoration of ORCA, THE KILLER WHALE, as part of the Cult Classics Collection. Terror is just below the surface in this ferocious action adventure of mythical proportions from legendary producer Dino Di Laurentiis (King Kong, Conan), starring screen legends Richard Harris (Oscar-nominated for This Sporting Life) and Charlotte Rampling (Oscar nominated for 45 Years). As well as a collectable 4K UHD SteelBook, the film is available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.

From Academy Award nominated director Michael Anderson (Around The World In Eighty Days) and screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni (The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly) comes a gripping and terrifying tale of man versus beast. Described by Scream Magazine as ‘Jaws with heart’, ORCA, THE KILLER WHALE features a marvellous lead performance from Harris as a sea captain targeted by a vengeful killer whale, and also stars Will Sampson, famous for his performance as in Chief Bromden One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Bo Derek (“10”), and Robert Carradine (The Long Riders).

With a magnificent, stirring score by Ennio Moricone (Oscar-winner for The Hateful Eight), and cinematography by Ted Moore (Oscar winner for A Man for All Seasons), you’ll have a whale of a time with this handsomely mounted and tremendously exciting adventure thriller, restored to its original glory in this beautiful restoration.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/13989416

This year's 50% off B&N Summer sale runs through July 28.

I missed Criterion's flash sale earlier this year so I'll probably stock up on this one sometime next week.

Wanting to talk to women, a man hatched a plan to soil their clothes with a mixture of his urine and flour so that he could have an opportunity to break the ice between them and him.

On June 20, Tan Jun Hao, a 31-year-old Malaysian, was fined $1,200 after he pleaded guilty to using criminal force on one of the women.

He followed a 26-year-old woman as she was going up an escalator from Nicoll Highway MRT station at around 8.30pm on April 9.

He then squirted the mixture, which he had earlier mixed in a small plastic bottle, on her dress as she was walking along a nearby overhead bridge.

Instead of stopping to talk to the woman after that, he walked past her.

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Deputy Public Prosecutor Yap Jia Jun said: "The accused intended to squirt the mixture on the clothes of ladies, especially young ladies wearing dark-coloured bottoms, and then alert them that their clothes had been dirtied.

"He wanted to create opportunities for him to talk to these ladies."

Where’s Jack? This year marks the 50th anniversary of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown (1974), the 1930s LA-set crime thriller that has one of Jack Nicholson’s most famous performances, as sardonic detective Jake Gittes. It’s also nearly half a century since Nicholson played rebellious everyman RP McMurphy, who is incarcerated in a mental institution and engaged in a battle of wills with the sociopathic Nurse Ratched, in Milos Forman’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). Those two movies alone are cast-iron classics.

But despite such major anniversaries, Nicholson – now 87 – is nowhere to be seen. There was a time when the actor was spotted everywhere: in nightclubs, on chat shows, at basketball matches, at movie premieres. No more. The actor has performed a vanishing act. It is 14 years since his last movie, the rapidly forgotten romcom How Do You Know. One of his friends, music producer Lou Adler, told the WTF podcast that Nicholson now prefers to spend his time “sitting under a tree and reading a book”.

Lots of shocking things came out of this week’s episode of The Acolyte, but for me, one stands above the rest. It’s the fact that our new favorite maybe-Sith, the Stranger, is wearing a bronze helmet, not a black helmet.

If you’re reading this, you’ve probably seen the episode already or at least one of the episodes with this creepy new villain so you have an idea of what he looks like. Well, after the episode, Hasbro released images of its replica version of the helmet and it’s bright bronze, which I found shocking. Watching the show, I thought it was black. Star Wars bad guys (Vader, Maul, Kylo, Palpatine) tend to like black.

The assumption here is one of two things. The most likely possibility is that, in the reality of the show, the helmet was bronze when it was new but has since been in so many battles that there’s significant damage, hence the discoloration. Another possibility is that the helmet is actually bronze on-set but, through lighting and movie magic, it just ends up looking black on screen. (We’ve actually reached out to Lucasfilm to try and clarify this and will update the post if or when we find out.)

Now, why is this interesting at all? Well because, as most Star Wars fans know, it’s happened before. In The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo’s jacket on Hoth looks blue on screen. In fact, it looks so blue on screen that when Kenner made toys of Han from those scenes, the toys wore blue. So, for a generation, everyone assumed the jacket was blue. However, it was later revealed the actual on-set jacket was brown. Debates rage to this day of which jacket is the real one, the one that was on set or the one we think we see?

Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker will launch a bid to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader after the election, it is understood.

The Brexiteer Conservative is expected to attempt to replace Mr Sunak if the party is defeated on 4 July.

Mr Baker hinted at a leadership run if he retains his Wycombe seat at the general election.

bHe said: "One thing at a time. I want to represent the people of Wycombe the best that I can, as I always have done.

"Then let's see what happens."

It is understood he will announce his intentions after polling day.

For Junchang and the rest of “The Acolyte” stunt team, taking the cast from Jar Jar Binks to Jedi Master was no easy feat. It required months of coaching from over a dozen trainers, encompassing lightsaber practice, force training, movement work and hand-to-hand combat.

“Usually on a production, you’ll either have hand-to-hand or sword-based combat — this requires both,” says action designer Chris Cowan. “It was pretty difficult and intensive, because we had to run them through the gamut.”

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Jedi training for “The Acolyte” was scheduled three times a week in three-hour blocks. For the first month, it was “just basics,” according to stunt coordinator Mark Ginther. “Kicks and basic punches,” he says. “When we start doing fight choreography, or if we’re on set and we got to make a change, we’re going to need to know they have the basics.”

After mastering the fundamentals, each cast member worked with a designated trainer to learn their character’s specific moves. Sparring sessions were also frequent, during which the actors donned pads and fought their instructors in full-contact simulations.

“We want them to feel the real pain [of the hits], so their muscles can get used to it,” Junchang says. “Once they feel the pain, they know, ‘Oh, this is real. If they kick me, I have to block, I have to move. Otherwise, I’m getting hurt.'”