deerstalker

https://www.themarysue.com/new-trailer-for-the-355/

The 355 is a star-studded affair as Simon Kinberg directs powerhouses Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Penelope Cruz, Diane Kruger, and Bingbing Fan in a spy thriller. Focusing on international female spies from around the world, the movie introduces us to the idea of the first female spy, all the way back to George Washington. What happens when a group of women from America, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, and Colombia take on the legacy of Agent 355 and the secrecy of being a spy?

With a cast as stacked as this, The 355 is sure to wow us whether or not this is a genre we typically enjoy. But this new trailer for the film gives us a deeper look into the story and the connection that these five women have not only to each other but to the characters played by Édgar Ramírez and Sebastian Stan.

The description for The 355 is as follows:

“When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Oscar-nominated actress Jessica Chastain) will need to join forces with rival badass German agent Marie (Diane Kruger, In the Fade), former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah (Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o), and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela (Oscar winner Penélope Cruz) on a lethal, breakneck mission to retrieve it, while also staying one-step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan, X-Men: Days of Future Past), who is tracking their every move. As the action rockets around the globe from the cafes of Paris to the markets of Morocco to the opulent auction houses of Shanghai, the quartet of women will forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world—or get them killed.”

And honestly, we need another good female spy movie in our lives. We have movies like Salt and Atomic Blonde, but there are rarely spy movies that are diverse or feature more than one female spy, so to see a cast this amazing giving us a spy thriller? Great! Sign me up for whatever they need, even if it is someone to go out and get all these spies coffees.

You can see the new trailer here!

The 355 is far from the first spy movie to heavily feature female spies at its center, but it is rare enough that a movie like this is still a relatively big deal. It shouldn’t be that way—it is 2021—but we’re used to seeing men in these types of films, and so to see a trailer like this just feels power to me? Like I can take out the bad guy while wearing a ball gown, and I’m here for everything that writer Theresa Rebeck and director Simon Kinberg are trying to sell me.

And who doesn’t want to see Lupita Nyong’o, Bingbing Fan, Penelope Cruz, Jessica Chastain, and Diane Kruger kicking ass? Sounds like an absolute dream!

(image: Universal Pictures)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site! 

 —The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

The post Trailer for The 355 Brings Us a Spy Epic With a Stacked Cast first appeared on The Mary Sue.

https://www.themarysue.com/hellraiser-pinhead-jamie-clayton/

About two and a half years ago, Spyglass Media announced it was planning a new Hellraiser movie, but there hasn’t been much news on developments since—that is, until today, when the production company dropped a multi-part bombshell announcement. Here’s what we learned in one fell swoop:

—The film has a full cast, which includes Jamie Clayton (Sense8, The L Word: Generation Q) as Pinhead.

—The movie will stream on Hulu.

—Clive Barker will serve as a producer on the film.

—The movie has already wrapped production.

This is a lot to take in in one press release! The news of Clayton’s casting is especially exciting. The Hellraiser franchise—which spans 10 films, graphic novels, merch, and more–has long been considered a key installment in the genre of queer horror. Putting LGBTQIA talent front and center is a great move.

🚨 Jamie Clayton is playing Pinhead in the new HELLRAISER film 🚨
A trans woman is playing arguably one of horror’s most iconic villains. Fucking divine pic.twitter.com/pA4EjoqCaJ

— Joe Lipsett (@bstolemyremote) October 7, 2021

Demons to some. Angels to others. @hulu #Hellraiser https://t.co/Tvhuo7P7Vn pic.twitter.com/Fj228ZPugt

— Jamie Clayton (@MsJamieClayton) October 7, 2021

For the unfamiliar, Pinhead, aka the Hell Priest, is the leader of the Cenobites—extra-dimensional beings who do not differentiate between pain and pleasure but seek extreme gratification. There’s no release date for the new movie yet but with principal photography already wrapped, hopefully we won’t have to wait too long!

Here are some other things we saw today:

• Breaking down the complicated and generally awful legacy of “Blurred Lines.”  (via Pajiba)
• Britney Spears torched her entire family on Instagram for being complicit in her conservatorship. (via Mediaite)
• Abdulrazak Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism.” (via the NYT)
• Spooky Season Goals Part 1:
  

  @MsKathyBates @jamescaan @StephenKing

  Happy Halloween! 🎃
  📷 Stephanie Crompton (permission given to me to post) pic.twitter.com/C3pHSEAft0

  — veganloveBOOny👻 (@veganlovebunny) October 3, 2021

• Spooky Season Goals Part 2:
  

  Baby are you okay? You’ve barely touched your Char-spookerie. pic.twitter.com/zHGbdBrSqQ

  — Stormy Kittyhawk 🔜 BLFC 🎈🎈 (@StormyKittyhawk) October 7, 2021

• Letitia Wright is apparently still going hard on the anti-vax rhetoric on the set of Black Panther 2 (via AV Club)
• Former FBI Agents blame a culture of misogyny for the botched investigation into Larry Nassar and USA Gymnastics. (via HuffPost)
• This is absolutely incredible: “All the Corrections Dawn Dorland Sent Us About Our ‘Bad Art Friend’ Blogs.” (via Gawker)

What did you all see out there today?

(image: Paul Archuleta/Getty Images)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

The post Things We Saw Today: Meet Hellraiser’s New Pinhead: Sense8’s Jamie Clayton! first appeared on The Mary Sue.

https://www.themarysue.com/venom-let-there-be-carnage-director-andy-serkis-on-that-end-credits-scene/

**Spoilers for Venom: Let There Be Carnage end-credits scene.**

Venom: Let There Be Carnage delivered another wild entry in the Sony/Marvel partnership, but it was the end-credits scene that truly changes the game for Eddie Brock and his favorite symbiote.

The scene sees Brock/Venom on the run, where they find themselves zapped into a strange hotel room. On the hotel television, they see J.K. Simmons’ J. Jonah Jameson onscreen talking about the death of Mysterio. Then, Peter Parker (Tom Holland) appears on the news alert. Venom growls, “That guy…” and licks the TV with Parker’s face on it.

That’s right: Eddie and Venom have entered the Marvel cinematic universe! It’s the crossover fans have long anticipated ever since the first Venom film was announced. According to our own Rachel Leishman, this means that Eddie and Venom will likely turn up in Spider-Man: No Way Home as part of the multiverse explosion caused by Peter and Doctor Strange. She writes, “Personally, I think this confirms that theory that Tom Hardy is in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In some incarnations of the Sinister Six, Venom is there with Eddie Brock, but with the way that the Venom universe has been setting up Venom/Eddie, they’re not really villains. But if both Venom and Eddie think that Peter Parker killed Mysterio … well, then maybe that falls into place for their Lethal Protector deal.”

Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis discussed the game-changing scene in an interview with Comicbook.com, where he said, “We wanted to leave the audience knowing that these universes are going to somehow collide and we wanted to do it in such a way that it still leaves so much open and we’re not timing anything, … The portal is not being crossed fully. It’s opening up more questions, I suppose, rather than sort of firmly saying [anything]….It is a tease. It’s a tease, in the fullest sense of the word.”

This would be the first time that Spider-Man encounters Venom since Sam Raimi’s 2007 Spider-Man 3, where Topher Grace played Brock opposite Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker. We already know that No Way Home will bring an assortment of villains from past Spidey films (like Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock) and potentially former Spider-Men Maguire and Andrew Garfield. Oh, and Daredevil might make an appearance as well because, why not?

Apparently, plans for the bombshell ending were still undecided until the very end of filming. Serkis told the Hollywood Reporter, “[The mid-credits scene was] 100 percent in flux, yeah. It couldn’t have been more in-flux-y if you tried, … Yeah, of course, it was something that they talked about from before I even came on to the movie. There were moments where [Spider-Man] was going to be in the story, potentially, and then he wasn’t. But no, we decided that we wanted to really examine the Venom-verse first. So as we were going through principal photography, the inevitable discussions had to be had, but it wasn’t until very, very late on that we reached the precise notion of the teaser that we wanted to lay in there.”

Needless to say, we’re excited to see what kind of havoc Venom wreaks in the MCU.

(via Comicbook.com, image: Sony Pictures)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—

The post ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Director Andy Serkis on That End-Credits Scene first appeared on The Mary Sue.

http://nerdywithchildren.com/hobbies-for-teenagers-that-will-spark-their-passion/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hobbies-for-teenagers-that-will-spark-their-passion

Looking for guidance about hobbies for teenagers that will spark their passion? Read on! Maybe you’ll ignite a spark in yourself too!

You can always tell when someone has a passion. It can be in sports, or drama, or coding, or a universe of different things, but it’s always something that nourishes them. Cultivating a hobby that they can be passionate about is good for teenagers. Hobbies can help them find both their tribe and something they can excel at, which are important steps on their path towards adulthood. 

It isn’t easy to start a new hobby, especially with teenagers. Here are some thoughts on hobbies for teens that might spark a lifelong passion, as well as some info on how you and your kids can get started with these hobbies.

Have a kid that’s not a teen? Head over to our article Hobbies for Your Kids That Your Family Will Love and check out our hobby recommendations for kids 12 and under!

Cosplay

What is it?

Cosplay is short for costumed play—cosplayers take on the role of a favorite character by creating elaborate, visually accurate costumes. It involves crafting clothes, weapons, and accessories. Cosplay encourages skills in a variety of arts, and just how elaborate you want the costume to be is limited only by your creativity and budget.

Getting Started

It’s best to start small, assembling a costume out of pre-made pieces. If your kid is interested in cosplay, they probably already have a character they want to cosplay as. Find some images of the character online, and then break down the costume into individual pieces. What is the character wearing on their feet? Their hands? What’s on their head? What’s their pants situation looking like? Then, you can go through your closets and local thrift stores to find what you need. Be patient with yourselves and with each other. You probably shouldn’t try to build light-up Iron Man suits for your first cosplay. Pick a character whose costume is doable with your for-now limited skills, like Doctor Who, Harry Potter, or Kiki (and her cat Jiji) from Kiki’s Delivery Service. 

If your kid decides that they want to do more ambitious and original cosplay, then eventually they’re going to have to learn how to read a pattern and sew. There are lots of patterns for making your own costumes out there, ranging from this similar to but legally distinct from Sailor Moon costume, to this intimidating Assassin’s Creed-esque coat, or this Magical Guy.

Resources

Beginners Guide to Making Your Own Clothes.

Cosplay – The Beginner’s Masterclass: A Guide To Cosplay Culture & Costume Making: Finding Materials, Planning, Ideas, How To Make Clothing, Props & Enjoy Conventions, by Miyuu Takahara and Kenji Weston.

Kamuicosplay on Youtube has lots of how-to videos.

Depending on the character, cosplay can involve a bit of painting, including area coverage and fine detailing, color mixing, and various other techniques, plus painting is its own terrific hobby, so pop on over and brush up on our Bob Ross Painting Tutorial Starter Kit For Beginners!

Robotics

What is it?

Robotics combines engineering and computer science to make machines that can help people, or failing that, creating machines that can do something entertaining without catching on fire, or trying to annihilate the human race. There are lots of robotics competitions in high school, and building and programming robots can lead to your kids developing marketable skills.

Getting Started

LEGO Mindstorms is a good jumping on point with robotics, because of the large user community around the Mindstorms platform who can mentor you and your kids in this complex, but oh so satisfying, hobby. There’s a Mindstorms Facebook group and the LEGO Ambassador Network to connect you with more experienced LEGO roboticists. Either the LEGO Mindstorms Robot Inventor set or the EV3 Core Set will help you get started and give you everything you need to build and program several different robots. Be forewarned, LEGO Mindstorms gear requires an investment, of both time and money. Your kids might want to join a LEGO group or their high school’s robotics team to see if robotics is something they’re truly passionate about.

Resources

Getting Started With LEGO Robotics: A Guide for K-12 Educators, by Mark Gura.

LEGO EV3 User Guide—this guide might give you a sense of what is involved with building programmable LEGO robots.

First LEGO League—this is one of the main high school robotics competitions.

For more STEM related ideas, check out our article What is Science for Kids?

Fossil Hunting

What is it?

Fossil hunting is searching for evidence of prehistoric life. Once you start looking for fossils, you’ll see them everywhere. Learning about fossils is a great way for teenagers to “zoom out” and look at their lives from a broader perspective. Slotting the day’s frustrations into the context of geologic time might help make them less frustrating. 

Before we go any further, I want to remind everyone not to take fossils from public lands. Instagram them all you want, but leave them where they are so other people can enjoy them too. 

Getting Started

Your first order of business in fossil hunting will be to find a place that has lots of fossils. A quick Google search should help you find a fossil-rich area to visit. It’s also a great idea to seek out mentors at your local fossil hunting club. A good mentor can save you a lot of time and frustration, and your teenagers will benefit from having cool grownup friends. After that, there are a few small pieces of equipment that’ll make fossil hunting more rewarding: A magnifying loupe or a microscope attachment for your smartphone will help you unlock more knowledge about your fossils. If you and your kids get deeper into the hobby, you may eventually want a rock hammer to break open fossil-bearing rocks and a proper microscope to help you examine and clean your fossils.

Resources

Fossil Hunting 101: A Guide the Absolute Newbie, by Michael Maisch

National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fossils, by Ida Thompson and Townsend P. Dickinson

Smithsonian Handbooks: Fossils, by David Ward

Volunteering

What is it?

Volunteering is giving your time and energy to make a positive impact on a person or a group. We nerds tell ourselves over and over and again that with great power comes great responsibility. Volunteering can help you make those words mean something. When your kids see you volunteer, it sets an example that they’ll remember. Volunteering together can help start your kids on a lifetime of service to others.

Getting Started

Get your kids started with volunteering by thinking with them about their values. What matters to your family? STEAM education? The environment? Your fandom community? No matter what your priorities are, there’s a volunteer opportunity out there that is a good fit. Is reading important to your kids? Reading is Fundamental’s Literacy Network can help you help others learn to read. Are your kids interested in STEAM? There might be a volunteer opportunity available through STEM-E that would help you become STEAM educators. If you’re looking for a way to volunteer and social distance, STEM-E is currently offering virtual opportunities! In the world of fandom, the 501st Legion of Star Wars cosplayers does a lot to help people and is also a place to show off your kids’ painstakingly crafted cardboard Stormtrooper costume.

Resources

Volunteermatch.org is a clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities all over the USA and in a huge variety of areas. It’s a great way to find an opportunity that fits you and your kids. 

Volunteering: The Ultimate Teen Guide, by Kathlyn Gay

A Smart Girl’s Guide: Making a Difference: Using Your Talents and Passions to Change the World, by Melissa Seymour

The post Hobbies for Teenagers That Will Spark Their Passion appeared first on Nerdy With Children.