Tag Archives: Timeless

Del Toro’s Frankenstein: A Lavish Reimagining of the Timeless Tale

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Oscar Isaac embodies the obsessive and charismatic Victor Frankenstein

Ken Woroner/Netflix

frankenstein
Directed by Guillermo del Toro, Now playing in selected cinemas in the UK and US, streaming on Netflix beginning November 7th

Guillermo del Toro has long been captivated by the intersections of science, mythology, and monsters. In his latest film, frankenstein, he finally explores Mary Shelley’s essential text—the 1818 novel widely regarded as the foundation of both science fiction and modern horror.

The outcome is visually lavish, delivered with intensity, and at times thought-provoking, though its pacing and certain design choices reflect the influence of Netflix, the film’s financier.

Shelley’s tale of Victor Frankenstein, the brilliant yet reckless scientist seeking to animate lifeless matter, remains one of the most poignant cautionary narratives regarding the allure and risks of scientific ambition. In del Toro’s rendition, Oscar Isaac portrays Victor as a charismatic and obsessive character, driven by his personal and intellectual struggles into unknown territories.

Isaac’s performance captures both arrogance and fragility, while the surrounding ensemble enriches the narrative. Charles Dance plays Victor’s authoritarian father, and Mia Goth delivers a standout performance as the poignant and compassionate Elizabeth Lavenza.

The film truly shines in the laboratory scenes. Del Toro, alongside production designer Tamara Deverell, crafts an environment echoing a 19th-century anatomical theater, equipped with towering instruments and rudimentary electrical devices. The representations of anatomy and experimental medicine are stylized, yet maintain an element of realism. Authenticity is embedded in the nuances of ligation, scalpel usage, and surgical procedures.

However, Victor’s excess may risk the film’s realism. The abundance of fresh corpses at his disposal stretches believability, yet his actions resonate with Romantic-era debates on electricity, vitalism, and the boundaries of life and death.

The creature, created and forsaken by Victor (played by Jacob Elordi), deviates from the iconic giant with a neck bolt seen in the 1931 film frankenstein. Instead, we encounter a leaner, scarred figure brought to life through prosthetics and CGI. While effective, certain close-ups—particularly when the creature lies still—evoke discomfort due to his jawline. Additionally, his appearance, imbued with a brooding “emo” aesthetic, aligns more closely with contemporary tastes than Shelley’s 19th-century context.

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The film’s visuals present chiaroscuro depictions of captivating laboratories and landscapes.
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In many ways, this aesthetic continues the early films’ fascination with biology as bricolage, viewing the body as a site for transformation, as seen in water shape. Even through a modern lens, this creature exemplifies our enduring interest in reconstructing life from remnants—a scientific ambition that remains as mesmerizing today as it was in Shelley’s era.

Story-wise, frankenstein may falter in places. Del Toro dedicates his 150 minutes of screen time to Victor’s formative years, intellectual development, and gradual immersion into his quest for conquering death. While this extensive focus fleshes out Victor’s psyche, it may result in a sluggish pacing that some viewers could find overly drawn-out. Additionally, the creature’s strength—capable of lifting a ship as if it were driftwood—runs the risk of exaggeration, potentially undermining the film’s serious examination of scientific potential.

Nevertheless, the central theme remains pressing. In the end, frankenstein is less about the mechanics of resurrection and more about society’s response to the unfamiliar. The film dazzles with consistent visual allure, featuring Dan Laustsen’s cinematography that highlights chiaroscuro scenes of both laboratories and landscapes, along with Alexandre Desplat’s score oscillating between eerie crescendos and tender motifs of longing.

Del Toro’s oeuvre includes various ambitious projects; however, frankenstein stands as a sincere and provocative exploration of one of science’s most profound fables. It compels us to question not only whether we can engineer life, but also whether we can coexist with what we’ve created.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

This Timeless Blue Sea Creature Has Rescued Countless Lives

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Long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, peculiar creatures abandoned their journeys across the ocean floor. They resembled beings adorned with spiked helmets and had eyes positioned on top, along with sharp tails extending behind them.

Today, horseshoe crabs still exist and belong to the animal order known as Xiphosura, derived from ancient Greek, meaning “sword” and “tail.” Despite their name, they are more closely related to spiders than to crustaceans.

Fossils of horseshoe crabs date back to the Upper Ordovician period, approximately 450 million years ago. Their descendants—four existing species—have undergone significant changes in appearance, earning them the title of “living fossils.”

Despite their ancient lineage, horseshoe crabs are crucial in today’s world. Most people eventually come into contact with life-saving doses of bright blue blood derived from these creatures.

The blue hue comes from Hemocyanin, a pigment responsible for oxygen transport, which is analogous to red hemoglobin found in vertebrate blood.

Importantly, it also harbors their blood. Amebocytes, a powerful immune cell are exceptionally sensitive to harmful toxins produced by bacteria. Endotoxins, prevalent in the environment, are resistant to standard sterilization methods.

Should a vaccine contain endotoxins, it could trigger a dangerous reaction historically known as “injection fever.”

Previously, tests were conducted by injecting a vaccine batch into a living rabbit; if any exhibited a fever, it signified contamination.

In the 1960s, American marine biologists observed that the blue blood of horseshoe crabs coagulated instantly upon contact with fever-inducing endotoxin. This mechanism allows horseshoe crabs to encapsulate bacteria by forming clots around them, proving beneficial for human applications.

Now, rather than injecting rabbits, hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs are harvested from the ocean each year, with a third of their blood extracted to test for endotoxins in intravenous medications and medical implants.

Many people eventually encounter the vibrant blue blood of a life-saving horseshoe crab – Image credit: Jurgen Freund/Naturepl.com

The demand for blue blood has surged, especially with the competition surrounding the development of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Not all horseshoe crabs survive the blood collection process; approximately 15-30% do not. Conservationists are advocating for synthetic alternatives to blood tests.

In the 1990s, researchers in Singapore developed a method to create synthetic endotoxin detection using a compound based on horseshoe crab DNA. Currently, various alternative compounds mimic this reaction without utilizing horseshoe crab blood.

Although regulatory processes have been sluggish, these new compounds received approval for use in Europe in 2016 and 2024. Nowadays, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly opting for synthetic methods.

This development bodes well not just for horseshoe crabs but also for other species reliant on them. Each year, thousands of horseshoe crabs come ashore on sandy beaches along North America’s East Coast, particularly in Delaware Bay, where eggs are laid near Philadelphia.

A single female lays around 4,000 eggs, many of which become vital sustenance for migratory birds like the red knot, which journey between South America and the Canadian Arctic.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Twenty Years Later, I’m Still Emotional: The Timeless Brilliance of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater | Games

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It’s unforgettable—the first time you play a Metal Gear game. Among them, Konami’s iconic stealth series is epitomized by the 2004 installment, Snake Eater. This initial chapter and its sequel acted as a reboot. Initially aimed for the PS3 due to its ambitious technology, it was eventually released on the PS2. The writer-director, Kojima, sought to take the gravelly-voiced protagonist, Solid Snake, out of the shadowy military bases and into the great outdoors. With elements like food hunting and broken bones that could be reset, Snake Eater felt far more grounded and immersive compared to PlayStation games of the 2000s.

Despite Snake Eater’s significant transformations, one classic aspect remains unchanged—stellar voice acting. In Konami’s upcoming remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, all the iconic, absurd lines from the original script are preserved. Enhanced with modern controls and stunning new graphics, Delta more closely resembles a 4K restoration of a beloved film than a standard remake akin to the latest Resident Evil titles.

“To their credit, Konami wanted to maintain the authentic experience,” says David Hater, the voice of Solid Snake. “They aimed to ensure it felt like the original, while still leveraging today’s technology.”




“Very cinematic”… Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Photo: Konami

Hater, who also penned the scripts for the 2000s X-Men films, takes immense pride in his portrayal of Solid Snake, a role achieved through the unique recording process of his eccentric performances. “For my first Metal Gear Solid, I recorded in an unusual house in Hollywood,” he reflects. “There were five microphones set up and it was just me and the other actors.”

This atypical setup was in stark contrast to the usual individual recording method, where voice actors would record separately, and their performances would be pieced together afterward. Hater found this collaborative approach to be incredibly effective. “I insisted my contract required me to record in this manner for all the Metal Gear games; I’d be in the booth alongside other top voice talents for months at a time.”

By the time the actors recorded their roles for Metal Gear Solid, the storyline was nearly finalized. However, for Snake Eater, they received only cues, leaving much of the visual imagination to the voice talent. “We had no visuals,” says Hater. “It was challenging to grasp the full impact of what we were creating at the time.”




“I know why you go back to it over and over again”… Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Photo: Konami

This shared experience resonates with Lori Alan, who voices The Boss, a key character in Snake Eater. “This is where the voice director showcased his remarkable skills,” Alan shares. “The recording sessions were intense. After a session, you’d exit saying, ‘What a ride!’ as the director would quietly remind you, ‘You love him. You trained him. You’ll betray your country!’ It was astonishing, and left you feeling completely drained.”

As Alan departed the booth while Hater was recording, she didn’t fully grasp the impact of the character she embodied. “I have a devoted fan who once sent me a clip, but I’ve never played it,” Alan admits. Over two decades later, she finally experienced the iconic role she helped create. “We were filming promotional videos for the remake,” Hater recalls. “Lori mentioned she wanted to know what we did back then, but it was hard to convey! So, I sent her the complete cutscene from the game… A couple of hours later, I received an emotional call from her. She was in tears, saying, ‘Oh my god! I didn’t understand before, but now I get it.'”

“It’s incredibly cinematic,” Alan adds. “The depth of the relationships stands out, giving me chills. I found myself completely engaged in the storytelling, as one would when reading a captivating novel or watching a compelling film.”




“We didn’t need to change anything great from the original”… Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Photo: Konami

Beyond some audio refinement and adjustments to fit the new control system, the cast confirms that no additional material was introduced in Delta. “I like to think I’ve become a better actor since then,” Hater muses. “Yet, these recordings had to align perfectly with the original, making it surreal to step back into the booth and reprise the same role after 20 years.”

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Hater and Alan aren’t alone in revisiting the jungle—Cynthia Harrell, the original singer of Snake Eater’s theme, has re-recorded the iconic anthem for the remake. Harrell noted that she recorded her vocals with little direction. “That final scene, with the song playing as she dies, the red petals falling… I still cry 20 years later.”

Decades later, that moment remains powerful. Following an emotional climax, players are given the choice to pull the trigger. “I wished there was an option to shoot her in the leg instead,” Hater admits.

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The ongoing separation between Kojima and Konami means that the original Snake Eater director isn’t involved in Delta, yet the publisher has engaged and retained members from the original development team. “For me, that thrill and surprise felt like the first time I played, 21 years ago, and that’s the experience we aimed to replicate,” shares Yuji Korekado, a producer on Delta and a former team member. Fellow producer Okamura Noriaki emphasized the intention to maintain creative integrity: “We concluded that adding twists or new plot elements was unnecessary; the original was already exceptional.”

As a new generation grows up unaware of the significance of Revolver Ocelot, Hater views Snake Eater Delta as the ideal reintroduction to one of gaming’s most revered franchises. “Someone asked me last night why they started remastering with No. 3,” he mentions. “That’s because it’s the best, you know? The characters are incredible, and the storylines are profound. These are some of the most tragic and beautiful moments in gaming history. It’s akin to living through a cinematic masterpiece for 60 hours.”
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Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater will launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox on August 28th

Source: www.theguardian.com

Readers’ Reflections on the Timeless Allure of Microsoft Excel | Microsoft

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“I’m a boring guy,” says Mike Erwin, an energy management consultant based in Warrington. “My friends think it’s crazy how much I use Microsoft Excel, but it’s a very useful tool.”

Erwin, 56, has been using Excel to organize his life for years, from mapping his finances to plotting medical test results to monitoring his home’s energy usage. When his son was born in 2007, he created a spreadsheet of his feeding schedule.

“We were recording the feeding time and the amount of milk, and calculating when we could fall asleep.” None of this data was very helpful, “but then I felt better.” added Erwin.

Still, he’s an evangelist about Excel. “I have charts from 10 years ago,” he says. “Some of my friends have Mickeys, and now they’re starting to use them to plan their vacations.”

Erwin is one of dozens of people who responded to an online call for love Excel has celebrated its 40th anniversary.

Many people have found uses for the software that were probably not intended by the developers.

“I grew up with it,” says John Severn, 35, Mansfield’s marketing director. “When I was 11, I couldn’t afford Warhammer models, so I wrote the names of the models in Excel and printed them out and did elf-dwarf battles on the cheap.”




John Severn playing a board game (not generated by Excel). Photo: Guardian Community

Mr. Severn’s innovations puzzled some opponents. The Warhammer tabletop game is meant to be played with intricately painted models rather than a labeled grid.

“The children of my mother’s wealthy friends weren’t very keen,” he says. “They had spent a lot of money getting some beautifully painted models and they were laying them out on a table with landscapes. And what I brought in was basically a square piece of paper. .”

Although Severn has graduated from being a model soldier, he still plays Warhammer. “I still don’t like drawing.”

For Lucy, 41, Excel proved useful in a long-distance relationship when her partner moved from London to Macclesfield in 2010.

“I love Excel,” she says. “I devised a spreadsheet to track trains and fares. I lived in London and traveled every weekend in shifts for 18 months. We split the cost so that higher income earners pay proportionately more.”

Lucy admits how “unromantic” this sounds. But “this is very convenient and we are more inclined to share money. Now we have children and we have bought a house. Excel is working with the administrator on this matter. They supported me.”

Excel played a role in helping London civil servant Luke name his two sons. “My wife and I were talking about baby names, and at one point we pasted the list of names into a spreadsheet called Names for Baby V.1.xlsx.”

He shared the spreadsheet with his office in hopes that his colleagues would find inspiration. “I remember there was a good push for Frederick and Maximilian, and Optimus Prime and Herodotus were also added,” he says. “The Russian wife liked Igor and Ivan.''

Luke and his wife ultimately did not accept his colleague’s idea at all. But I created a separate spreadsheet for my younger son. “His name came from a suggestion from a colleague I met at a drinking party at work. But it also tested very well with Names for Baby V.2.xlsx,” he added.

Nick Owen of Lincoln took that enthusiasm a step further by featuring Excel as the centerpiece of his 2019 wedding.

“We wanted to get as many friends together as possible and we managed to get 250 people together,” says Owen, 68. Since there were so many guests, he decided to appoint seven talented men to help plan the day.




Nick Owen wedding t-shirt. His spreadsheet is printed on the back. Photo: Guardian Community

“I call them the ‘Magnificent Seven,’ and they each had a different role.” These jobs include rings, meals, speeches, and drinks. “I diligently created a spreadsheet of what everyone had done that day with little crosses in cells for each hour.I went through all of this with them the night before. “There was some resistance,” he says.

“It was April in Cumbria and the weather was poor for a few weeks leading up to the wedding day. But miraculously the clouds parted, the sun shone and my wedding spreadsheet worked. ”

To remember that day, Owen printed T-shirts for his men. “They had a picture of Yul Brynner.” [from the Magnificent Seven film] It has a photo of my spreadsheet on the front and on the back. ”

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Enduring Legacy of Destiny: A Timeless Game That Will Stand the Test of Time

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isEvangelion was released 10 years ago, an eternity in the world of video games. It's also one of the most compelling games of the decade, and sometimes it's not. On the surface, it's a gorgeous online progressive rock space shooter made by Bungie, the creators of the Xbox classic Halo. Gather up with some friends, deploy somewhere in the shimmering landscapes of a future solar system, and shoot people, aliens, and robots to earn better loot.

None of this is unprecedented, and maybe that's the point. You could say that Destiny's touchstones are Halo with its gunplay, World of Warcraft with its persistent online space, and (admittedly, this is a bit odd) the immortal British retailer Marks & Spencer. This last point is especially true because Destiny is a game of fluctuating destiny that seems to fascinate everyone involved in video games, whether they actually play Destiny or not. Just as many in the UK secretly know if M&S is currently trending up or down (there is no middle ground), everyone in the games industry knows if Destiny is doing well or not. Is it doing better than it has in many years? Or is it in a state of decline that is not comparable to where it was two, five, or seven years ago? Destiny is always an uneasy conversation topic for us.

Amazingly, this has been the case from the very beginning. in front The beginning. Fate met with great misfortune. Revealed as a company Long before it was announced as a fictional universe, the game was announced as SKUs and Q1 financial forecasts, not as a fun gunfighting world dreamed up by the best combat designers in the industry. When the first game finally arrived, it was seen as a beautiful epicenter of action surrounded by something that felt somewhat hastily produced. It was an early star where dust and gas hadn't yet fully solidified. Sure, if you had the right shotgun, you'd go into battle and the whole world would sing with you, but the story and lore were scattered across the game's surface as a series of trading cards, as if Homer had unleashed the Iliad on a collection of beer mugs and hidden them across various battlefields.

A great action game… Destiny was shown on a curved screen at E3 in Los Angeles in June 2014. Photo: Michael Nelson/EPA

But here's the thing: people just couldn't stop playing Destiny. From the start, nights spent online with friends couldn't have been more fun: join in, blow up stuff, win stuff, and compare your gains. Leveling up felt like something meaningful here. New loot had real personality. Set pieces unfolded beneath skyboxes so vast and intense they reminded us that, spaceships aside, Bungie's soul has always been deeply romantic.

Part of the game's enduring appeal is a series of striking images: the funereal hulk of the Traveler, an artificial moon, floating in the sky above the world's last city. Claw-like eruptions of Martian rock illuminated by sunlight turned into a barium haze through the airborne dust. But from the beginning, Bungie's games also seeped into the real world: players could view their builds outside the game, millions of raid-party WhatsApp groups sprung up overnight, and websites and YouTube channels were devoted to everything from leveling tips to reconstructing the story of a Frankenstein-style soap opera.

So for the last decade, playing Destiny has meant arguing about the game, getting annoyed and uninstalling it, then reinstalling it and spending the night engrossed in the game again. The existence of conspiracy theories means that the game means something to people. Caves with easy loot The in-game economy nearly collapsed within the first few months. Was this a bug or an intentional design flaw? Raid area with cheese spots A place where players can dish out massive amounts of damage without putting themselves in danger. Is this the sign of an unstable map, or a sign of a savvy developer generating a different kind of buzz?

Inevitably, people were nostalgic for even the Grimoire lore cards by the time Destiny 2 came out in 2017. Since then, there have been ups and downs. Death of a major character Everyone was talking about it The price of the expansion is the samePeople get tired of the drudgery, they think the raids are unfair, they understandably complain about the store, but they also understandably buy Destiny: The Official Cookbook. Complicating things is the fact that Destiny has been steeped in nostalgia from the get-go. Another final point of connection to M&S is that Destiny is an institution.

Few would argue that Destiny is a great action game, and always has been. At its heart is a core of charismatic gunplay, and what radiates outwards from there is an evocative and unforgettable twist of sci-fi, combined with Bungie's long-standing talent for sad, flashy naming conventions. This is the studio that brought us Halo levels “Pillar of Autumn” and “Silent Cartographer.” It's no wonder that the game “Destiny Weapon Name or Roxy Music Deep Cut?” remains a reliable drinking game. (It goes both ways; it's easy to imagine Bungie releasing Sentimental Fool and Mother of Pearl SMGs.)

Striking image…Destiny 2. Photo: Activision

Still, there are fluctuations. The latest expansion was hailed as one of the best in a while, but player numbers haven't increased significantly since then. Over time, Bungie has gone from questions about the cost of cosmetics to serious allegations about its internal culture; the studio has changed owners and recently suffered layoffs. Last week, Destiny 2 Steam player numbers hit all-time low.

Still, we talk about the games that are always in the news (Includes bungeeannounced that it would be publishing a developer blog tonight discussing the future of the game. Many of us still feel nostalgia for a game that was born out of nostalgia. And these two things create a powerful allure. I remember when I first played Destiny 2, long after everyone I knew had cooled off from their obsession with the game. I found a game that kept me entertained for a few minutes, but those minutes could easily turn into hours. I also found a world that felt as if it was covered in blue plaques that told of a painter from long ago who once vacationed here.

After all, Destiny as a game benefits greatly from its dialogue fallbacks. For example, when I first met Devrim Kay, Destiny's gentlemanly sniper, in person, I knew so much about him I could have been his biographer. I felt like I was in the presence of a celebrity, even though he was just another quest giver.

Source: www.theguardian.com