Month: April 2020
Before the pandemic began, the systems that govern our world were brittle. Today, they are broken. When we emerge, the world will be different and so will we.
People with no COVID-19 symptoms may be spreading the disease — but big questions remain about how much they are driving the pandemic.
In an effort to provide entertainment relief for everyone doing their part by practicing social isolation, HBO has officially unlocked the largest amount of free content of any streaming platform to date. Starting Friday, April 3, the premium channel is offering viewers over 500 hours of programming that includes a robust collection of hit series and feature films:
All of the programming will be available to stream without a subscription starting Friday by downloading the HBO NOW or HBO GO apps or by visiting HBONOW.com or HBOGO.com. The content will also be made available for free via participating distribution partners’ platforms in the coming days.
HBO has never offered this amount of free programming before, and all it asks in return is that viewers stay at home. But if you’re up to it, they probably wouldn’t mind if you hopped on the #StayHomeBoxOffice hashtag while passing the time. Your call.
Here’s the full list of original series, documentaries, and Warner Bros. movies that will be available for a limited time starting Friday.
9 Full Series
Ballers (5 Seasons)
Barry (2 Seasons)
Silicon Valley (6 Seasons)
Six Feet Under (5 Seasons)
The Sopranos (7 Seasons)
Succession (2 Seasons)
True Blood (7 Seasons
Veep (7 Seasons)
The Wire (5 Seasons)
10 Docuseries and Documentaries
The Apollo
The Case Against Adnan Syed
Elvis Presley: The Searcher
I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth v. Michelle Carter
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Jane Fonda in Five Acts
McMillion$
True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality
United Skates
We Are the Dream: The Kids of the MLK Oakland Oratorical Fest
20 Warner Bros. Theatricals
Arthur
Arthur 2: On the Rocks
Blinded By the Light
The Bridges of Madison County
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Empire of the Sun
Forget Paris
Happy Feet Two
Isn’t It Romantic?
The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part
Midnight Special
My Dog Skip
Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase
Pan
Pokémon Detective Pikachu
Red Riding Hood
Smallfoot
Storks
Sucker Punch
Unknown
As more parts of the country find itself ordered to stay at home, it’s anybody’s guess what’s going to capture the attention of an entertainment-starved populace. First, it was Tiger King, and now, it’s… finding water bottles in the background of Little Women?
Enter Madelyn Rancourt, a Little Women superfan who claims she saw the film seven times in theaters and is apparently still obsessively watching the period drama on VOD. In a now-viral TikTok video, Rancourt highlights a scene featuring Timothée Chalamet where not one, but two modern water bottles are clearly visible in the background. They’re unmistakable, and you can see for yourself in Rancourt’s video below.
@madelynrancourt anyone else notice this?
#fyp #foryou #littlewomen #hydroflask #timothéechalamet
As Variety reports, the video went instantly viral, and Little Women fans even began floating theories around the bottles’ strange presence.
Some fans shared their own theories on why the bottles went unnoticed, with one user suggesting that Gerwig left them in to pay homage to fellow period piece director Sofia Coppola, who famously placed a pair of Converse in her film “Marie Antoinette.”
However, this situation is probably more akin to the Starbucks cup that made a cameo in a “Game of Thrones” scene last year, which was chalked up to the fact that sometimes, things are simply forgotten on set.
Realizing she had a viral hit on her hands, Rancourt released a follow-up video with even a more hilarious twist. While promoting the film in a Vanity Fair YouTube video, Gerwig, Chalamet and co-stars Laura Dern and Saiorse Ronan broke down the exact scene with the water bottles, and the cast never even mention them to Rancourt’s disbelief. She then asks users in the caption if they think the actors even know the bottles made it into the film.
@madelynrancourt do you think the cast knows the water bottles made it into the film? #littlewomen #waterbottles #fyp #xyzbca
We’re guessing the actors probably saw them and figured the professional thing to do would be to not point them out, but who knows? It took a nationwide quarantine for someone to finally spot them, so it’s anybody’s guess.
Tekashi 69 is reportedly a (semi) free man after Judge Paul Engelmayer ordered his release yesterday, according to NY Daily News. Because the Bureau Of Prisons did not raise any objections, the order was completed earlier today, with Tekashi reportedly exiting the Queens Detention Facility via a back exit 90 minutes before the order was publicized.
Tekashi’s legal team first requested the early release two weeks ago, concerned that his asthma would make him vulnerable to a possible COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak at the detention facility. Although the request was initially denied, Engelmayer apparently simply wanted Tekashi’s lawyers to follow correct protocol and appeal to the Bureau Of Prisons first, then re-submit the request, which Engelmayer was inclined to grant. However, in order to allow for a low-profile release, the ordered that news of his decision be delayed until after 69 was well clear of the facility. He’ll serve out the remainder of his two-year sentence on house arrest.
Tekashi has spent the last year in protective custody as a result of his decision to cooperate with federal prosecutors in hopes of an early release. While he was given a drastically-reduced sentence in comparison to the Nine Trey Bloods compatriots also scooped up in the racketeering sting that led to his arrest, he has lobbied unsuccessfully for the opportunity to leave prison and serve his sentence in alternative confinement as a result of the animosity against him since finding out his original release date. With the outbreak of the coronavirus, it seems he got his wish, but he’ll only be joining the rest of us in quarantine bumping Curtis Roach and Tyga’s latest hit.
For more Uproxx coverage on Tekashi 69’s case, click here.
It’s census time, cats and kittens!
Oof. Friends, our team at Upworthy tried to think of a way to make filling out the census form sound exciting, but let’s face it—there’s just nothing sexy about counting people. It IS super important, though.
The census counts literally every person living in the U.S., so everyone needs to participate. While it might sound super snoozy on its face, the result will be used for important policy decisions for the next 10 years, such as:
– drawing congressional and state legislative district boundaries
– distributing government funding for schools, roads, and local services
– planning where to build new schools, hospitals, supermarkets, and other local businesses.
Traditionally, the census has been completed by people who go around from house to house, but now the form can be filled out online. With the pandemic happening, we can’t have census takers going door-to-door right now anyway, so it’s even more important for us all to do it online. It literally takes 10 minutes. One form per household. Basic demographic info. Easy peasy.
Tell your friends and family, too.
Here’s the link to the form: https://my2020census.gov/
And here’s the preview for The Tiger King in case you’ve been living under a rock and can’t figure out why people keep mentioning Joe Exotic. You’re welcome.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness | Official Trailer | Netflix
www.youtube.com
One of the biggest obstacles to treating patients with COVID-19 is the worldwide ventilator shortage. New York state is the hardest-hit region in the U.S. and the situation is so dire, Governor Andrew Cuomo recently put out a call for 30,000 additional ventilator units.
A study from Imperial College in London found that an estimated 30% of all people hospitalized due to the virus will need a ventilator.
COVID-19 creates inflammation and fluid build-up in the lungs, which makes it very difficult for people to breathe — especially those with chronic respiratory problems. For these patients, a functioning ventilator can mean the difference between life or death.
One of the major obstacles to ventilator production is the cost. A ventilator can cost hospitals up to $30,000.
A team at MIT has been working day and night to create an emergency ventilator that costs only $100 to produce. The ventilator uses a bag-valve resuscitator, a common hospital item.
A bag-valve resuscitator or Ambu bag, is a self-inflating, hand-operated resuscitator used by first-responders to temporarily help people having difficulty breathing before they are able to hook them up to a ventilator.
They’re affordable, costing about $20.
The MIT engineers created a mechanism that squeezes and releases the bag without needing a human operator. The big issue is that the ventilator has to be extremely reliable because any mechanical failure would surely result in death.
“The primary consideration is patient safety,” one team member told SciTechDaily. “So we had to establish what we’re calling minimum clinical functional requirements.” The team members wish to remain anonymous to prevent any unnecessary attention that would delay their work.
The ventilator must also be adjustable to pump the correct amount of air given the patient’s lung capacity.
The ventilator project didn’t start from scratch. It was informed by a project done a decade ago by MIT students in a Medical Device Design class. The students published a paper outlining their design and testing, but the work stopped there.
The new team used their research as a jumping off point to make their ventilator.
In just over a week, the team has gone from empty benches to a working prototype. Its prime motivator has been reports of doctors being forced to ration ventilators.
“We all work together, and ultimately the goal is to help people, because people’s lives understandably hang in the balance,” one team member says.
The engineers are currently looking to have the ventilator approved by the FDA.
“The Department of Health and Human Services released a notice stating that all medical interventions related to Covid-19 are no longer subject to liability, but that does not change our burden of care.” he said. “At present, we are awaiting FDA feedback” about the project. “Ultimately, our intent is to seek FDA approval. That process takes time, however.”
Ultimately, the team hopes to publish the plans for the device online so that other engineers can improve on their designs and to make the device available to hospitals across the globe.
