The Live-Action Winnie the Pooh is Inspired by 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence'

In an interview with Collider, Perry discussed his inspirations for the film, including Steven Spielberg’s 2001 science-fiction drama:

There’s a lot inspired by the relationship between David and Teddy in AI. That’s not really a children’s film at all. Crushingly depressing. But the relationship between human and toy bear in that movie is pretty spot on. And Fantastic Mr. Fox is something I’ve been talking about and thinking about because it has a lot of characters and each one is pretty distinct. It’s a fun movie and it works for a four year old and for a thirty year old. But David and Teddy in AI is the relevant model. We’re looking at Toy Story a lot because that’s a thing about toys that are alive just as Pooh Bear and his friends are all stuffed animals.

I can tell you right now, this picture will be awful. This director has no idea of his own so he is mining film history to come up with something. Bad, bad sign.

Immoral Tales (1974) **

Explicit art house anthology from a definitely male gaze perspective. Watchable but fails to make a point.

The Beast (1975) **

When a film opens on a shot of a stallion in flagrante delicto you know you're in for something a little different. On that score, this flick does not disappoint. However, this black comedy/social diatribe is shocking at times but feels overlong/stretched out at just 92 minutes and ultimately IS disappointing.

The quantum source of space-time : Nature News & Comment

Einstein loathed the idea of entanglement, and famously derided it as “spooky action at a distance”. But it is central to quantum theory. And Van Raamsdonk, drawing on work by like-minded physicists going back more than a decade, argued for the ultimate irony — that, despite Einstein’s objections, entanglement might be the basis of geometry, and thus of Einstein’s geometric theory of gravity. “Space-time,” he says, “is just a geometrical picture of how stuff in the quantum system is entangled.”

Nuclear Waste Deep Storage Plans Approved - IEEE Spectrum

To provide safer and more permanent storage, Posiva proposes to bury electrically-welded iron-and-copper capsules 400 meters underground. The capsules would be surrounded by clay barriers and capped with rubble and cement. The facility, which would have a 6,500 metric ton capacity, could likely hold Finland and Sweden's projected future nuclear waste. But that capacity doesn’t come close to the volume required by larger nations such as the United States, which has over 70,000 metric tons of waste piled up, and produces an additional 2,200 tons a year.

Though tunneling has been going on for over a decade, Posiva had to wait for the Finnish government to approve its 2012 construction permit application before it could begin the trickier task of loading radioactive waste into its metal coffins. That task may begin as soon as 2023, continue for up to a century, and end when operators fill in the access tunnels with rubble and cap them off with cement. Posiva estimates that installation and operating costs for the first century will be around €3 billion (US $3.21 billion).

Spectre (2015) **

Gets 2 stars for a spectacular opening action sequence, the presence of Ms. Bellucci, Ms. Seydoux and Ms. Harris and some nice cinematography. The rest of the film sadly under-utilizes the aforementioned actresses and is content to be an undistinguished actioner.

Infection causes Cardinals great Lou Brock to lose part of leg : Sports

An infection relative to a diabetic condition has necessitated the amputation of Brock's left leg just below the knee. But the Brock family has sent a message that the Base Burglar is recovering well and, according to a source, Brock already is taking steps with a walker and will be fitted for a prosthetic device.

Brock was visited in the hospital last weekend by former teammate Bob Gibson, who was able to make Brock laugh with one of his remarks, and former manager Red Schoendienst, another Hall of Famer who also lifted Brock's morale.

Jeff Lynne Discusses the Rebirth of ELO and New Album, 'Alone in the Universe' | Guitar World

"But writing the words is like torture, really. Because I just love music so much, the words seem kind of unnecessary to me. I just like the tune and the chords. In fact, I never even listen to the words of a song for probably the first 10 listens. I don't even know what they are on some of the songs that are my favorites, because all I listen to is the melody and the chords and the bass line."