Category Archives: Immortality

EXCLUSIVE: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to The Kings Daughter, a family adventure film starring Pierce Brosnan, William Hurt, Kaya Scodelario, Benjamin Walker, Rachel Griffiths, Pablo Schreiber, and Bingbing Fan, which is narrated by Oscar winner Julie Andrews, setting it for a theatrically exclusive release at upwards of 1000 locations across the U.S. and Canada on January 21, 2022.

Sean McNamaras film, shot at the Palace of Versailles, is based on Vonda N. McIntyres 1997 novel The Moon and the Sun. It centers on King Louis XIV (Brosnan), whose quest for immortality leads him to capture a mermaids (Fan) life force, seeing his immovable will challenged when his long-hidden illegitimate daughter (Scodelario) forms a bond with the magical creature.

Barry Berman and James Schamus handled the screenplay adaptation. Veteran family film producers McNamara andDavid Brookwell produced for Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, alongside an international group of producers from Australia to America to France.

Gravitas is proud to bring the magical world of The Kings Daughter to theaters and homes across North America,said Gravitas Ventures Founder and CEO Nolan Gallagher. This is an impressively created film and moving story that families can enjoy together.

Im so excited for the North American audience to see The Kings Daughter in theaters this January, added McNamara. There is only one Julie Andrews and she has blessed audiences around the globe with her lovely voice and amazing story telling. Please join her as she narrates our story of the mythical mermaid who lives in the fountains of Versailles.

Added the director-producer: Romance, adventure, and true love really do exist with Kaya Scodelario (Marie Joseph) and Benjamin Walker (Yves). In fact, after making this movie they fell in love in real life and started a wonderful family. The incomparable Pierce Brosnan as King Louis XIV radiates a vision of immortality that will enchant us all. Get ready to fall in love with the most beautiful mermaid in the world played by the truly talented Fan Bingbing. Enjoy the ride!

The Kings Daughter is the first of eight films Gravitas is planning to bring to more than 1,000 screenings, with significant P&A support, in the coming years.

Recent releases from the distribution company, founded in 2006, include Michael Lembecks Queen Bees; Gabriela Cowperthwaites Our Friend, starring Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson, and Jason Segel; Vanguard, directed by Stanley Tong and starring Jackie Chan; and Andy Tennants The Secret: Dare to Dream, starring Katie Holmes.

Gallagher negotiated the Kings Daughteracquisitiondeal with Ramy Choi.

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The Kings Daughter: Gravitas Ventures Nabs Rights To Fantasy Film Starring Pierce Brosnan & More, With Narration By Julie Andrews - Deadline

Horror as a genre is always a response to the real life culture and social happenings of a particular time and place. Slasher movies in the 80s reflected the conservative surge in the US at the time. The giallo in Italy made the most of a post-fascist loosening of censorship. And horror made in Spain during the regime of Franco had to specifically depict other countries as the source of fear and derision. Cultural context for horror is maybe the most fascinating part of studying those trends, and perhaps none is as fascinating as the Coffin Joe Trilogy, a trio of Brazilian horror movies using the countrys staunch Catholicism to its advantage.

Coffin Joe (Jose Mojica Marins) points at the camera in the 1964 Brazilian horror movie At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul.

N.T.M

Coffin Joe, an English translation of his Portuguese name Z do Caixo, is the creation and persona of Brazilian writer, director, and actor Jos Mojica Marins. The character is an undertaker who terrorizes communities with his penchant for violence and belief that his own bloodline is perfect and must be continued through impregnating the perfect woman to bear him a son. Coffin Joe wears a black suit, cape, and top hat, and has a thick beard and grotesquely long fingernails.

Though he only appeared in three official movies, Marins appeared as Coffin Joe in several other movies, three television series, various music videos, and even had his own comic book series. Hes generally considered Brazils National Boogeyman, which is quite the feat. But what makes Coffin Joe so interesting is not his look, but his attitude. In a country as religious as Brazil, its his Nietzschean and atheist beliefs that make him so terrifying, and its always through Catholicism that he is defeated.

The first appearance of Z do Caixo came in Marins 1964 movie At Midnight Ill Take Your Soul, the very first horror movie produced in Brazil. The townsfolk hate Coffin Joe for his atheism and violent ways, but they fear him for his strange physical prowess and allure. The movie begins with Joe delivering a monologue directly to camera:

Story continues

What is life? It is the beginning of death.What is death? It is the end of life.What is existence? It is the continuity of blood.What is blood? It is the reason to exist.

This immediately stands in stark contrast to one of the major tenets of Catholic Christianity. Death is not, for Catholics, the end of life. Belief in God is life everlasting. The blood, in Coffin Joes worldview, and specifically perpetuating his superior blood is the key to immortality.

Throughout the movie, he beats, maims, and kills various people and takes women into his grasp as possible vessels for his superior blood. The proper authorities continually attempt to punish him through the laws of man, but he evades prosecution. Eventually, he does meet his end not by angry villagers, but by the apparitions of his victims returning to banish him to Hell.

Coffin Joe stands atop a wall and shouts down to the townsfolk in This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse.

Paranagu Cinematogrfica

Many horror monsters, specifically vampires, use demonic or Satanic imagery, and crosses and holy waterinstruments of Catholic Godare the tools for their destruction. But Coffin Joe is specifically not a disciple of the devil. In the 1967 sequel This Night Ill Possess Your Corpse, Marins presents Joe as an enemy of both God and Satan, equally. Hes an atheist, he doesnt believe in any of that. Catholics believe in the devil and Hell; they are the punishment for wickedness. But Coffin Joe thinks its all ridiculous and simple-minded.

We find out at the beginning of the movie that Coffin Joe did, in fact, not die at the end of the first film. After a lengthy stay in a hospital, he goes back to his wicked ways, even more determined to find the perfect woman to bear him a son. He kidnaps several women and subjects them to horrible torture, looking for the one who will show no fear. Apparently fear is not superior. He feeds the ones who scream to venomous snakes.

A woman screams as tarantulas crawl on her face in the Brazilian horror movie This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse.

Paranagu Cinematogrfica

Eventually, Joe finds a woman, Laura, who shares his belief in continuity of blood and begins an affair with her. He, naturally, kills all of her family who stand in their way. Laura becomes pregnant, but a complication means only one, she or the baby, will live. They both agree that the child should live, but the surgery fails and both Laura and the son die.

Whats particularly fascinating about This Night Ill Possess Your Corpse and its relationship with religion comes about halfway through the movie. Joe learns that one of the women he fed to snakes was pregnant, and he feels guilty. Even a sadist like Coffin Joe knows children are the key to continuity of blood. That night, he has a vivid nightmarein color!of his trip to Hell, where he sees the torture that awaits him. At the end of the movie, after a townsperson shoots him, a priest comes to him and begs him to repent and accept Jesus into his heart, which he does just as he dies.

Even more so than the first movie, the second movie is all about the need for Catholicism and belief. God and the Devil essentially team up to thwart Coffin Joe at the end of the movie. Coffin Joe therefore becomes both the monster and the victim in this instance. Hes a horrible murderer, but even he cowers at the might and majesty of Christian deism.

After a 40-year hiatus, Marins wrote, directed, and starred in the final official Coffin Joe movie, 2008s Embodiment of Evil. It finds Coffin Joe, who again didnt actually die, released from a maximum security asylum through legal kerfuffling. Forty years away from society means Sao Paolo has changed dramatically. More people are atheists, living hedonistic lives. Coffin Joe still wants to find a perfect woman to bear him a son, but now he has many acolytes willing to help him, and many women who want to be his chosen bearer.

Embodiment of Evil is not nearly as good or interesting as the earlier films, in my opinion. Given that its 2008, the Gothic atmosphere of the 60s films are largely gone and we instead have over-the-top gore, copious nudity, and a general heavy metal vibe. Even still, however, Marins reflects the changing attitude of the time. Not only are the ones who oppose him now all the older generations and a militant young priest, but theyre all direct victims of his past crimes. No more is the mere sin of his beliefs enough to damn him. If anything, the perceived piety of those against him is the crime.

Jose Mojica Marins as Coffin Joe, with his trademark top hat and long, curly fingernails, in the 2008 movie Embodiment of Evil.

20th Century Studios

Its also the only one of the three movies where Coffin Joe succeeds. Yes, he dies (he always dies), but his efforts to continue his bloodline come to fruition. The movie ends with eight of his potentials showing up to his grave, each pregnant. The implication is not that God will smite the wicked, its that the wicked will inherit the Earth.

Jos Mojica Marins passed away in February 2020, at the age of 83. He left behind a truly wild persona and a legacy of horror spanning nearly 60 years. The Coffin Joe Trilogy doesnt represent the most strictly terrifying, nor the best made horror movies ever, but their point of view and iconography are so strong and singular that they deserve a place in horror history.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post The Horror and Catholicism of the Coffin Joe Trilogy appeared first on Nerdist.

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The Horror and Catholicism of the Coffin Joe Trilogy - Yahoo Lifestyle

Many years ago, while lying in a fluish state of fever and delirium, I asked myself if I was so ill I might die. A voice inside me matter-of-factly answered, No.

Who said that? I asked the voice.

Your soul, it replied.

Wow, I said. Hi.

Hi, my soul said back to me.

Now its 2021 and I am reading in the paper about Jalue Dorje, a Tibetan-American Minnesota teenager who was identified at the age of 2 as a reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist monk. Specifically, he is the eighth Terchen Taksham Rinpoche, a Buddhist lama whose line goes back to the 17th century.

No one has ever knocked on my door and told me Im the newest version of a person who has lived many times before. Im not expecting that to happen, but if it did, I hope I get to inherit his or her record collection. In that last sentence, I didnt know which pronoun to use. For Tibetan monks, the reincarnated appear to always come back Tibetan and male. Id hope my soul would want to expand its horizons and come back with a different background. Though I love Maine, I wonder what it would be like to grow up as a girl in a landlocked state like Vermont. Though Im certain I have an immortal soul, Im not so sure I believe in reincarnation. But what does that matter? It is satisfying to know there is something infinite, not finite, about me, and if I dont know what happens to my soul after I die, Im literally, albeit slowly, dying to find out.

I doubt my own ego and personality will carry on. Reincarnated monks do not necessarily have the same personal qualities as those that have come before. And I do think Id like to take a break from myself. I like who I am, but to be this me forever popping up onto the landscape means Ill always prefer not adding ketchup to my scrambled eggs. For one lifetime, Id like to disgust those around me by squirting a big gob of ketchup onto my scrambled eggs and swirling the gloppy yellow and red contents all around the plate.

To my surprise, I know some people do not believe they have a soul and think we all end up as worm meat. All five major religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, do not agree with such pessimistic thinking. Socrates, too, logically concluded our own immortality and swallowed poison to prove his point. Im not willing to die to prove my point. Thats too dramatic.

What I will say is that believing in my immortal soul, my old friend, is as easy for me as believing in the Divine, which I glimpse when I look into the depths of that pink paper plate dahlia now blooming in my garden. What but a wonderfully creative Divine Soul could have created that dahlia? And what else but a wonderfully creative Divine Soul could have created me, eight versions of Terchen Taksham Rinpoche and you?

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Gregory Greenleaf, Harpswell: Getting to know the voice inside - Press Herald

THE WRITING OF THE GODSThe Race to Decode the Rosetta StoneBy Edward Dolnick

On a steamy day in July 1799, a member of a French military work detail at a tumbledown fort in the Nile Delta made an unusual discovery. Amid a pile of rubble being used for a renovation project, he noticed a 4-foot-by-3-foot granite slab, covered on one side with intricate inscriptions. Lt. Pierre-Franois Bouchard, the officer in charge, sensed its significance and turned it over to scholars for analysis.

The nearly one-ton stela, experts determined, had come from a temple dedicated to the Greek-Egyptian King Ptolemy V in 196 B.C. And the three bands of text classical Greek, hieroglyphs and an Egyptian shorthand called Demotic were intended to proclaim the monarchs achievements in multiple tongues to the peoples of the empire. All three were dead languages, but the Greek alphabet was still in use. The discovery of the slab, called the Rosetta Stone after the town in which it was found, reignited the ultimate linguistic challenge: deciphering the symbols of the Pharaohs.

Edward Dolnicks The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone is an engrossing account of the 20-year competition that followed. A former science writer for The Boston Globe and the author of books about Isaac Newton and a Dutch art forger who duped the Nazis, Dolnick here conjures up another intricate intellectual caper. With its thrilling dissection of the decoding process, it calls to mind Margalit Foxs The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code (2013), about three scholars who deciphered Linear B, the 3,400-year-old script excavated from the ruins of Cretes Minoan civilization. Like Fox, Dolnick exuberantly captures the frustrations and triumphs of scholars as they puzzle out the meaning of long-dead runes, seduced by tantalizing clues and then careening into dead ends and losing hope, but then spotting new markers and dashing off jubilantly once more.

From the time of the Roman Empire, linguists had tried, with no success, to figure out what hieroglyphs had to say. The spread of Christianity hastened the disappearance of anything to do with ancient Egypt: In A.D. 391, Theodosius the Great ordered Egyptian temples to be smashed, and the last hieroglyph was carved into a temple on an island in the Nile in 394.

The language quickly fell into oblivion. Horapallo, a fifth-century Egyptian priest, believed that each pictograph had a deep hidden meaning, and he engaged in wild stabs in the dark to figure out what that was. A hawk must symbolize a god, he posited, because birds fly on a slant and only the hawk flies straight upward. A hare connotes open because it seemed never to shut its eyes. Others ventured up similarly blind alleys, stumped by symbols that offered no clues about whether they were to be read phonetically, or stood for ideas. Suppose the last English speaker had died 20 centuries ago, Dolnick writes. How would anyone ever learn that the sounds c-a-t pronounced in quick succession meant furry animal with whiskers?

All that changed with the Rosetta Stone. British forces captured the slab from Napoleons army in Egypt in 1802 and shipped it to the British Museum, initiating a quest by two geniuses to unlock the code. Thomas Young was a British polymath who excelled in both physics and linguistics; Jean-Franois Champollion, who grew up in a provincial French backwater during the revolution, was fixated on all things Egyptian.

The last half of Dolnicks tale focuses on the race between the two, marked by surface cordiality and behind-the-scenes back-stabbing. Young deduced that a sequence of pictographs contained inside an oval frame, or cartouche, spelled Ptolemy. Yet he couldnt make the next leap, recognizing that the writing system was mostly a phonetic alphabet. Champollion drew on his fluency in Coptic descended from ancient Egyptian to tease out letters, syllables and larger meanings.

This was Wheel of Fortune without Vanna White, Dolnick writes with typical breeziness, but with a prize of eternal fame. From that point, the millenniums-long battle was largely won. But Dolnicks stirring account makes it clear that both decoders deserve scholarly immortality.

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The 20-Year Contest to Crack the Code of the Rosetta Stone - The New York Times

Often times, while exploring the final frontier, Starfleet comes across some truly astounding discoveries. Sure, we've all heard of the odd mind-controlling nebula or sentient starship but there are certain things that Starfleet encounters in its travels that should, by all accounts fundamentally change everything about philosophy, life, and our place in the universe.

Only to be immediately forgotten about next week.

Perhaps, when every week you're dealing with some ship-wide catastrophe, it can be hard to keep track of everything you discover. However, Starfleet has a serious problem of finding the perfect solution to many every day problems and then only ever using it once, as well as completely glossing over crucial facts about their history.

There is a nearly endless amount of highly advanced technology and terrifying ethical questions that Starfleet comes across and simply chooses to either ignore or forget about and this list will be counting down the worst offenders. Let's take a look at the ten biggest discoveries in Star Trek that no one cared about!

Starfleet has managed to drastically increase the human life expectancy from about 80 Earth years in our time to around 120 years in the time of The Next Generation. However, humans still have to die, along with most other known species in the universe. The thing is, though, they really shouldn't have to.

Throughout the history of Star Trek, humanity has discovered dozens of methods of increasing the human lifespan or just flat-out cheating death, from the Borg nanoprobes used to resurrect Neelix in the Voyager episode Mortal Coil to the transporter accident in the Next Generation episode Rascals which reverts several officers back into children.

The list goes on and on. If you feel like it, you could even pull a "Kirk" and jump inside the next temporal Nexus that comes along and live a hundred years in a psychedelic trance-like state of pure happiness until Picard decides to drag you out into the real world only to die 10 minutes later...

None of these methods are used beyond a couple of instances. You have so many options for immortality in the Star Trek universe but no one ever bothers to look into it. Perhaps the only true way to live forever is to have your name in the intro credits.

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Star Trek: 10 Huge Discoveries That No One Cared About - WhatCulture

The fundamental beliefs of ancient cultures from around the world contain tales of dauntlessness and gallantry. These tales have been passed down to generations to keep the stories of the gods and goddesses alive. While it is true that most gods were known for certain roles, they often performed a variety of interconnected duties. In addition to being gods of war, they might have been associated with strategy, power, wisdom and protection.

Stories narrate that various gods were involved in battles of supremacy, and though immortal, they were still susceptible to injury and defeat. Mythical accounts reveal how the defeated gods and goddesses would be imprisoned or kicked out from the gods province. Despite their power and immortality, defeated gods were seen as powerless and often banished from the divine realm.

Ares is a god of war in Greek mythology and was often referred to as the spirit of war. He was not as popular as the Roman god of war, Mars, and his worship was not extensive. Ares represented distasteful characteristics such as slaughter and brutality. During combat, he was always accompanied by his sister Eris and two sons. Other gods, including his parents, did not like him even though he was an Olympian deity. The only gods who associated themselves with him were Enyalius and Enyo, who had less power than Ares.

The worship of Ares had many interesting local features that were devoid of moral, theological, and social associations. In early times, prisoners of war were sacrificed to him and other unusual sacrificial beings like dogs. During his worship at Geronthrae, women were forbidden from entering the sacred grove, while in Tegea, extraordinary womens sacrifices were allowed.

Montu, otherwise known as Mentu or Monthu, was an ancient Egyptian god worshipped by the 4th Upper Egyptian province. His sacrificial animals included bulls and falcons and were presented as a man in a falcons head. It is believed that Montu also symbolized the Kingship for Upper Egypt and his counterpart Atum the Lower Egypt. He was initially viewed as an extension or part of the sun god, and at times, he was associated with Hor.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, he represented the scorching effect of the sun. From this characteristic, he was named the god of war and a mighty warrior. Egyptians believed that he fought against enemies of the cosmic order and inspired other warriors amongst his people.

One of the most famous gods among the Japanese was Hachiman, the patron god of the Minamoto clan and all warriors. Hachiman was frequently referred to as the god of war and the adoration of the 15th Japanese emperor. He is rarely worshiped alone as most of the shrines dedicated to him are also used to worship two other gods; Jingo, his mother, and the goddess Hime-gami. The most ancient shrine used in his worship was built in 725 A.D and is among the few single shrines. Hachiman is vastly popular all over Japan, explaining why half of the Shinto shrines are dedicated to him. Additionally, Hachiman was the first Japanese god to be entitled Daibosatsu, meaning a great Buddha to be. He signifies the blending and working together of foreign and indigenous elements.

Hachiman is also worshipped as the divine protector of the Japanese, Japan and the Imperial house. As a result, he is still actively worshipped today in most parts of Japan. He is considered among the most ancient, most trusted and most loved Emperors of Japan (Ojin).

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3 brutal gods of war from cultures around the world - We Are The Mighty

Deaths Gambit: Afterlife Review

Sometimes, when a game doesnt make quite as big a splash as it could have, the developers just shrug and move on with their lives. Other times, they take criticism as a challenge and come up with a DLC or expanded version specifically to address those issues. Deaths Gambit: Afterlife is publisher White Rabbits response to criticisms of the original release of Deaths Gambit, and through that lens, its quite the triumph. The developers use mechanical overhauls, an expanded world, and a wealth of towering foes to tell the tale of Siradona story of decay, corruption, and the terrible cost of immortality.

Deaths Gambit: Afterlife takes heavy inspiration from Dark Souls and From Softwares other Soulsborne titles in terms of story as well as mechanics. It tells the tale of Sorun, a knight of Vados sent to claim the secret of immortality from Siradon. After the whole expedition was wiped out without even setting foot in the city of Aldwynn, Death himself makes a deal with Sorun: Sorun will revive endlessly, just as his immortal foes do, but in exchange, Sorun must agree to destroy the source of immortality outright. How will Sorun achieve his goal? A lot of trial and error, mostly, and you know what that means. Time to die, die again.

Story breadcrumbs are delivered through conversations with NPCs and foes as well as environmental design, item descriptions, and Journals of the Immortals dedicated to each boss. I really enjoyed how the Journals play out: as you explore an area, you find books filled with ominous lore about that locations boss. The Journals provide information about the bosss backstory and move set as well as providing some stat bonuses against it. The backstories are as tragic or horrifying as the lush but grotesque pixel art boss designs, and they help set the mood for a given area. On the other hand, the stat bonuses and descriptions of the move sets are very useful when planning your assault on a boss.

As I advanced deeper and deeper into the citadel, I found myself increasingly impressed with its melancholy mood. The pixel art graphics combine with some really beautiful spritework to build a mood that ranges from dream-like to nightmarish, especially once the true horrors permitted by this games take on immortality become clear. Just about everyone in this game may be immortal, but that only means there is no escape from what their world has become. Excellent voice acting sets the mood for a grim fantasy adventure, and a gorgeous orchestral soundtrack made the pain and struggle feel more than worth it. This isnt the kind of dark fantasy youll find in grittier games like Dragons Age. Deaths Gambit: Afterlife presents its players with a more poetic brand of grimness. In some ways, it feels almost like a fairy tale, albeit a fairy tale twisted in on itself.

Deaths Gambit: Afterlife is every bit as hard and grueling as youd expect a Soulslike to be, but the added Metroidvania elements serve to expand its reach and impact, especially now that the movement mechanics have been expanded and revamped. After the initial introductory level, Sorun can wander in pretty much any direction from the hub area of Sanctuary, encountering new threats and puzzles as he goes. Mastering the combat system will allow you to access new areas and unlock previously sealed doors. This may sound like simple Metroidvania, but trust me, the stakes are much higher when even basic enemies could kill you in about four hits if you let your guard down.

Pretty much every aspect of the game was overhauled according to player feedback and it really shows. The result is an expanded world full of lush detail and packed full of mini-bosses. Depending on your class and skill level, the game will range from slow-moving and strategic to a fast-paced hack and slash experience. I kept encountering new mechanics and tips well into my first run, which made it feel like the game was constantly changing and expanding to keep up with my progress. That said, Im not a big fan of the fast travel mechanic being linked to a consumable item. It may fit the games oppressive and melancholy mood, but Im the type who hoards consumables, which meant I did a lot of walking.

Deaths Gambit: Afterlife puts as much focus on exploration and finding new ways to traverse levels as it does on combat and difficult boss fights. There are also a number of environmental threats to deal with, ranging from basic spikes and poisonous plants to fire-breathing dragons and background towers that shoot lasers at you. I found myself having more trouble with these environmental threats than I did some boss fights: it took me two tries to get past The Bulwark of Aldwynn and about four to sprint across one very specific stretch of rooftop.

All in all, Deaths Gambit: Afterlife is a tough but rewarding exploration of a grim fantasy world populated by ruthless immortals, mindless constructs, and weary civilians whose lives have been horrifically twisted by forces beyond their control. The revamped movement options made traversing the expanded world a treat, though I wouldve liked a fast travel system that didnt clash with my hoarding instincts. If you like Metroidvanias and Soulslikes and always wanted to know what it would be like if the two genres fused, then Deaths Gambit: Afterlife is for you.

***PC game code provided by the publisher***

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Death's Gambit: Afterlife Review - The High Cost of Immortal Living - COGconnected

I say: who wants to live forever? You say ...

Who dares to love forever, ooh, when love must die ... My favourite Queen song, after Under Pressure.

Wrong answer. It's Jeff Bezos. The Amazon boss has invested heavily in research to reverse the ageing process.

Or Google cofounder Larry Page, who funds a "longevity lab".

Or Larry Ellison, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg and multiple Silicon Valley billionaires throwing coin at life-extending studies.

Unless "achieve immortality" is on your to-do list, you're no tech tycoon.

The rich and powerful have attempted to dodge death since time began.

And as none of them are still around, we know how that always ends.

True, but we might at least be able to extend our longevity.

No time to die, hey? Very right-now, very Bond. What's the buzz?

A new French study has revealed we stop ageing after we reach 105 years old.

Of course we do. It's called dying.

Not for everyone. The researchers studied 10,000 people aged over 105 and concluded our risk of death becomes fixed after that age.

These "supercentenarians" have effectively stopped the clock.

I'd be more excited if we stopped it half a century earlier, when my pores were still tight.

That's the goal. Immortality believers see ageing as a curable illness.

And the search for remedies is leading down a maze of rabbit holes: parabiosis, the creepily vampiric theory of youthful blood's rejuvenating effects; switching on genes to create new stem cells, and the secrets of long-lived animals.

For example, did you know that clams don't age?

You could eat a clam predating your great, great grandmother.

Suddenly the idea of chowder seems obscene. Is that why they say "happy as a clam?"

Aha! There's the existential question: would immortality actually be fun?

Maybe only if you're Jeff Bezos, with enough money for a few millennia. It's all about quality of life, right?

That's where the supercentenarians come in.

These golden oldies enjoy astonishingly rude health.

Jeanne Calment, who lived to 122, took up fencing at 85, was still cycling at 100 and finally quit smoking at a sprightly 117.

Scientists believe there's something extra-resilient about the supercentenarian immune system that might hold the key to an enhanced "healthspan" as well as lifespan.

Coming soon on Amazon Prime, no doubt.

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Searching for the elusive key to eternal life - Northern Beaches Review

Disneys 1997 animated feature, Hercules, is arguably one of the entertainment giants most underrated movies. The film tells the tale of the half-mortal Greek god Hercules. Born as a god, Hercules loses his power thanks to Zeus evil brother, Hades, who commissions his minions Pain and Panic to kill Hercules so that he may gain control of Mount Olympus.

The two henchmen fail, but although Hercules doesnt die, he loses his immortality. Zeus tells his son he must perform a true act of heroism to restore his godhood. After engaging in various heroic deeds, Hercules still doesnt regain immortality until he selflessly jumps into the River Styx to save the Theban princess Megaras soul.

The movie fell short of box office expectations but remains a favorite among diehard Disney fans. The star-studded cast has undoubtedly helped the film retain its following. So, who are the voices behind the characters in Disneys Hercules?

Donovan is known for his roles in Friends, Mister Sterling, and No Ordinary Family. When he voiced Hercules for Disney in the 90s, the actor hadnt done any voice work. The films supervising director liked Donovans charming and innocent personality and thought he was the best person to voice the strong yet naive character, IMDb reports.

Actor Josh Keaton (Voltron: Legendary Defender) voiced the teenage Hercules, and Roger Bart (The Stepford Wives) provided the title characters singing voice.

DeVitos character, Phil, trains Hercules to help him find his inner strength to regain his godhood. When creating the character, animators took inspiration from Snow Whites Grumpy and Fantasias Bacchus and used DeVitos different mouth shapes to bring Phil to life.

DeVito is best known for his role on the late-70s/early-80s TV show Taxi, which earned him a Golden Globe and several nominations. He has also appeared in several movies, such as Jumanji and Matilda, and currently plays Frank Reynolds in the sitcom Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

When Disney Imagineers were creating Hades, they envisioned a villain who spoke menacingly slow. However, when Hollywood star James Woods stepped into the scene, his fast-paced talking style stole hearts, and producers changed Hades into a car salesman-like villain.

Woods boasts an extensive career that spans decades. He has appeared in various hit projects, including The Virgin Suicides, True Crime, Salvador, and Promise. He also played himself in the animated TV series The Simpsons and Family Guy

Megara is the beautiful, sarcastic damsel commissioned to help kill Hercules but ends up falling in love with the strong god. The two form a close bond, and through her death, Hercules regains his immortality.

Actor Susan Egan has an extensive body of work on Broadway, where she has played Disney princesses such as Belle in the stage production of Beauty and the Beast.

Eggar and Torn lent their voices for the roles of Hercules immortal parents, Hera and Zeus.

Eggar has appeared in The Collector, The Walking Stick, and Walk, Dont Run. And Torn is famous for playing the Boss in Men in Black, OCP CEO in Robocop, and the naval officer in Down Periscope.

Hades henchmen Pain and Panic were played respectively by Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer.

Goldthwait is known for his stand-up comedy. He also appeared in One Crazy Summer and Burglar. And Frewer is best known for his roles in the films Honey I Shrunk The Kids and Watchmen and the 80s TV show Max Headroom.

Carole Shelley (Cabaret), Amanda Plummer (Pulp Fiction), and Paddy Edwards (Ghostbusters) played the three Fates Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos. They predicted Hades failure in conquering Mount Olympus.

And last, Hal Holbrook (That Certain Summer) and Barbara Barrie (The Crucible) voiced Hercules parents, Amphitryon and Alcmene.

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The Maha Sashti day in the Hindu month of Ashwin marks the beginning of Durga Puja celebrations in large parts of India, especially West Bengal. Whilst the festivities begin when the Goddess descends on earth on Mahalaya, which was on October 6 this year, Durga Puja, or Pujo as its known in Bengal starts today. Beautiful idols of the goddess adorned with jewellery and colourful sarees are installed in pandals and worshipped with devotion and fervour. Idols often take a topical flavour with sculptors exhibiting their creativity as they create idols of Maa Durga.

The story goes that the demon Mahishasura had gained the boon of immortality from Lord Brahma, that no man or God could kill him. He then started harassing all the three worlds. The demigods all raced to the Trimurti of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh, who combined their energies to manifest the Goddess Durga gifted her their individual weapons to slay Mahishasura. Metaphorically, Mahishasura represents the tamas, or sloth and the other shadow aspects that all of us have to deal with and overcome to make spiritual progress in life.

The ceremonies begin with Bodhon Puja, which is the invocation of the Goddess, and the original Bodhon Puja was supposed to have been performed by Lord Rama before crossing over to Lanka. The Saptami day sees the Nabapatrika Snan, in which the leaves from 8 other trees are tied to a banana leaf, signifying the wife of Lord Ganesha, who is taken to a nearby pond or river for a bath, in a grand procession. On the Ashtami, Kumari Puja is performed, which involves worshipping a young girl as a form of the goddess.

At the end of Ashtami, the Sandhi Puja is also performed by lightning 108 lamps to mark the emergence of the goddess ferocious Chamunda form, which she assumed to kill the demons, Chanda and Munda. The famous Dhunuchi Nach, which combines skill and beauty, as dancers hold clay pots filled with burning charcoal, coconut husks and camphor, is usually performed after the aarti on the Ashtami and Navami.

The celebration reaches a crescendo on the Dashami day, or Bijoya, when Ma Durga slayed Mahishasura, earning her the moniker Mahishasuramardini. As the goddess begins her journey back home to Mount Kailash, she is sent off with great pomp and glory before visarjan (immersion) in the holy Ganges. Married women usually indulge in the sindur khela, a riot of colour, where they apply vermillion to each other and exchange sweets and greetings for a joyous year ahead until it is time to welcome the goddess once again!

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The essence of Durga Puja and its rituals - Free Press Journal