Cultural life during classical era

Technoblade, a wildly popular Minecraft creator on YouTube with over 11 million subscribers, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 23. Technoblade’s family confirmed his death in a video shared on his YouTube page. In the clip, his father read a message Technoblade wrote before his death, in which the creator finally revealed his real first name, Alex — a long-kept secret amidst his massive popularity. In the letter, Alex thanked fans for all their support, especially for purchasing various memberships and merch over the past year, even if it seemed like he was selling out. He noted that the money from all that would be used to help send his siblings to college — “Well, if they want to,” he quipped. “I don’t want to put any dead brother peer pressure on them.” He added: “If I had another 100 lives, I think I would choose to be Technoblade again every single time because those were the happiest years of my life. I hope you guys enjoyed my content, and that I made … [Read more...] about Technoblade, Popular Minecraft Player and YouTube Creator, Dead at 23

Daniel “Keemstar” Keem, the prominent YouTuber and creator, has celebrated the life and trailblazing work of Technoblade, the wildly popular Minecraft player who died at the age of 23 following a battle with cancer. Technoblade began uploading Minecraft videos to YouTube in 2013 and grew a dedicated audience over several years. But his profile really exploded around 2019 when he won several installments of “ Minecraft Monday,” a weekly tournament hosted by Keemstar. In a video message, Keemstar spoke about how “ Minecraft Monday” began as a joke among fans of the popular online tournaments he hosted for games that were considered more “legitimate” esports, such as Fortnite . The general attitude towards Minecraft at the time, Keemstar says, was that it “could never be considered an esport. From the outside looking in, the skill difference between the best player in the world and an average person playing the game, you’d think would be very, very slim.” … [Read more...] about Keemstar Honors Minecraft Trailblazer Technoblade: ‘An Absolute Legend’

Wildly popular Minecraft player Technoblade died Thursday at the age of 23 following a battle with cancer. Now, the video game that the young streamer devoted so much of his life to is paying tribute to the beloved figure. ”We have been trying to find the words, but all of us here at Minecraft are heartbroken over the loss of Technoblade,” the company wrote in a Twitter post Friday . ”He meant so much to our community and brought so much joy. He will be missed dearly.” Technoblade began uploading Minecraft videos to YouTube in 2013 and grew a dedicated audience over several years. But his profile really exploded around 2019 when he won several installments of “ Minecraft Monday,” a weekly tournament hosted by controversial streamer Keemstar. Technoblade revealed his cancer diagnosis in Aug. 2021. At the time, he said he’d been experiencing pain in his right arm, which he just assumed was from a stress injury tied to gaming. It was after his shoulder started … [Read more...] about Minecraft Pays Tribute to Trailblazing Streamer Technoblade: ‘He Meant So Much to Our Community’

In the competitive world of feature animation, it takes more than an entertaining yarn and a bit of slapstick comedy to cut through the noise. To make an impact at the box office in 2018—and at the Oscars, heading now into its 91st go-round—filmmakers are called upon to pursue a new standard of excellence, going back to the drawing board with each new effort, and finding exciting ways to break the mold. Leading the charge as regular contenders for Best Animated Feature since the category was created in 2001, Walt Disney Studios , and its Bay area subsidiary Pixar , once again enter the field of 25 films, with two projects that embody the category’s ideals. First, there’s Incredibles 2 , Brad Bird’s return to the groundbreaking superhero world he established in 2004. Sending the Parr family off on new adventures (with Elastigirl out chasing runaway trains, and Mr. Incredible taking a backseat), the film easily achieved hard-to-get hit sequel status, setting a record … [Read more...] about Oscars: Can Anyone Break Disney & Pixar’s Animated Feature Streak In 2019?

Spoiler Alert: This interview features discussion of critical plot elements from Pixar ’s Incredibles 2 . When The Incredibles came out in 2004, it was a film ahead of its time. Marking a major paradigm shift in animation as a whole, Brad Bird ’s family-centric superhero story was so ambitious—in the midst of the technology and techniques of the era—that it seemed impossible to make, even for artists at Pixar, one of the most innovative and influential animation studios of all time. When Bird’s original work achieved huge success at the box office, and built an avid fan base, a sequel became inevitable. And while Incredibles 2 would have beasts of its own to slay—from conceptualization through completion—they were of an altogether kind. Technology had caught up with the scope of Bird’s ideas, meaning that the problem to work out was the story itself, rather than the means through which to tell it. Picking up the story of the Parr parents and their remarkable … [Read more...] about ‘Incredibles 2’ Director Brad Bird On Sequel Challenges, Prejudice Toward Animation, & The Prospect Of ‘Incredibles 3’

This post contains full spoilers for the final two episodes of Stranger Things Season Four, which are streaming now on Netflix. Midway through the super-supersized Stranger Things fourth-season finale, “The Piggyback,” Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve (Joe Keery), and Robin (Maya Hawke) are climbing a haunted house’s stairway in the Upside Down as part of a complicated plan to keep the hell dimension from breaking through into their own world. They have avoided attention so far, but suddenly Robin wakes up the demonic tentacles that surround them, and within moments, all three teens are pinned to the walls, having the life choked out of them. The scene cuts to another set of characters, leaving the viewer on edge about how (or if, but not really) Nancy and the others will escape what looks like certain doom. A few scenes later, the season’s main villain, Vecna/One/Henry/Mother of Dragons/Breaker of Chains/Cleaner of Carpets (played under at least some of those names by … [Read more...] about ‘Stranger Things’ Season Four Finale: Runnin’ Up That Hill for Two-Plus Hours Isn’t So Fun

When A League of Their Own hit theaters on July 1, 1992, it was up against a crowded slate of blockbusters, including Batman Returns , Lethal Weapon 3 , Patriot Games , and Universal Soldier , that were expected to linger around multiplexes all summer. But when Labor Day rolled around two months later, all those other movies had faded away, and A League of Their Own was still packing in crowds on its way toward a $107.5 million domestic gross. Love for the Penny Marshall-directed film about the World War II-era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, staring Geena Davis , Lori Petty, Tom Hanks , Madonna , and Rosie O’Donnell, has only grown in the three decades that followed thanks to VHS rentals, DVD sales, and endless replays on cable television. It’s a rare movie that appeals to people across all age groups and demographics, and it revived interest in the half-forgotten AAGPBL. In honor of A League of Their Own ‘s 30th anniversary, we spoke with … [Read more...] about ‘There’s No Crying in Baseball!’: ‘A League of Their Own’ Turns 30

The Forgiven with Jessica Chastain opens in 122 theaters this weekend as the flow of indie films continues to build with well-reviewed, festival-pedigreed product including Mr. Malcolm’s List and Clara Sola . Meanwhile, producers and most other U.S. businesses are hoping economic storm clouds won’t ding their industry’s nascent revival. “I think we have seen a slow recovery. We are feeling bullish,” said Howard Cohen, co-president of The Forgiven distributor Roadside Attractions. He cited a helpful “knockoff effect” from popular wide releases Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick, where a significant chunk of the audience is an arthouse-friendly 55 and over. He’s talking about moviegoing, a great value for people during economic slowdowns when box office grosses have tended to rise. But down the chain, higher inflation, “while it doesn’t mean movies won’t get made, will affect decision making and things may be more complicated,” said Cohen. Higher interest rates could … [Read more...] about Indie Recovery Builds Amid Inflation, Interest Rate Jitters – Specialty Preview

After working for years on the socially conscious Zootopia and seeing it win the Oscars’ Best Animated Feature prize in 2016, Phil Johnston and Rich Moore had no time to rest on their laurels, returning to work on Ralph Breaks the Internet . A sequel to 2012 Disney hit Wreck-It Ralph —a beloved work centering on video game characters Ralph and Vanellope, and the friendship they share—this film would send its two heroes on a mission into the Internet, where they would confront new personal challenges and an astonishing new world. Making his directorial debut alongside veteran Moore, from a script he co-wrote, Johnston explains that with the second Ralph installment—as is often the case—themes emerged first. “The first idea of sending them to the Internet was more about looking for a place where Ralph and Vanellope’s friendship could be tested. One of the themes we’re working with is the idea of change, that friendships change, and that good friendships can survive and … [Read more...] about Confronting Fairy Tale Tropes, ‘Ralph Breaks The Internet’ Directors Examine A Friendship In Flux Within A Whole New World

Avid fans of the Dr. Seuss canon that were excited to bring one of the author’s most well-known characters to life in a new animated iteration, Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney set out on a long process of trial and error, seeking to bring a freshness to The Grinch . The third adaptation of a classic 1957 children’s book, Illumination Entertainment ’s latest would place Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of the iconic green curmudgeon, setting out to ruin Christmas for those pesky Whos of Whoville once and for all. Making his feature debut alongside veteran Cheney, Mosier had produced a 3D animated film in 2013— Free Birds , starring Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson—getting a “crash course” in the form. So, when it came to The Grinch , the challenge wasn’t learning the ropes—it was taking a pre-existing world and fleshing its 60-something pages out, playing with story, character and world design where possible, while delivering fans a faithful adaptation of the story they … [Read more...] about With An Eye Toward International Audiences, ‘The Grinch’ Directors Seek The Essence Of A Seussian World