Director Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman solo movie is a standalone adventure for Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince – one that goes back in time in the DC Extended Universe, to explore Diana’s experiences during World War 1. The trailer footage for Wonder Woman released so far has combined more fantastical elements with historical set pieces ands settings, suggesting that as far as the aesthetic of Jenkins’ movie goes, Wonder Woman is a far cry from Batman V Superman; the film in which Gadot made her screen debut as the iconic Amazonian warrior.
The final Wonder Woman trailerlanded recently, highlighting more of Diana’s mystical background on her home island of Themyscira. This sets the stage for the appearance of more mythical figures in Jenkins’ film, chief among being the villainous Ares, God of War. Of course, Ares is not the only member of the Greek pantheon to be joining the DCEU during Wonder Woman
Jenkins took to Twitter to confirm the identity of one particular Wonder Woman supporting cast member: American boxer Ann Wolfe. It turns out Wolfe is costarring in the film as Artemis, crossbow-wielding ally of Diana, as the following Tweet from Jenkins confirms:
Wolfe’s Wonder Woman role was first teased back in April of 2016, via a photo that showed her with Gadot and Connie Nelson, the latter of whom plays Diana’s mother in the movie. The retired boxer’s role has been unconfirmed until now, but casting the multi-title winning athlete in this fearsome role could be a masterstroke. Wolfe transitioning from fighter to actor moves her into an increasingly-expanding bracket of fighters-turned actors; one that also includes Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano, as recent additions.
It remains to be seen how much screen time Wolfe gets in Wonder Woman, as a good portion of the film takes place off the shores of Themyscira. There’s at least one battle set on the beaches of Themyscira however, which is where Artemis may come into her stride alongside her fellow Amazonians. With Robin Wright as General Antiope shown firing three arrows from a bow simultaneously in the Wonder Woman trailers, Jenkins now has us wondering what Wolfe’s version of Artemis is capable of.
Either way, Wolfe not only fits the bill for the Artemis character, but also the direction for the Wonder Woman movie itself. The film showcases a host of female talent in strong physical roles, once again raising the question as to whether or not women are the future of the DCEU.
Those looking for a different type of superhero movie, away from the films of either the Marvel Cinematic Universe or DC Extended Universe, can find solace in the fact that an international Russian film studio is hoping to launch a very unique superhero franchise of their own. Guardians is the launch pad for that franchise, with Armenian filmmaker Sarik Andreasyan directing this story about a team of Soviet Union-era superheroes that were previously forced to keep their identities a secret.
Alina Lanina, Anton Pampushnyy, Sanzhar Madiyev, Sebastien Sisak and Valeriya Shkirando make up Guardians‘ lead cast, while Andrey Gavrilov wrote the screenplay. If robotic mercenaries, bad-ass fighting scenes and a huge bear with six pack abs is your kind of thing, then Guardians looks set to tick all of your boxes. The two previously-released trailers for the film showcase some of the incredible action scenes we’ll see throughout the film upon its release – and now a final trailer has arrived, showing off more of the most chaotic and even amusing visuals from the movie.
It’s very easy to see where the creators of Guardians got their inspiration in the new footage featured above, but that doesn’t make this release any less exciting. Marvel and DC shouldn’t hold the monopoly when it comes to releasing good superhero movies, so Andreasyan’s film – despite borrowing heavily from the themes and tropes/elements that have been featured prominently throughout the films of the MCU and DCEU thus far – is nonetheless a welcome addition to the larger universe of superhero movies.
Whether or not Guardians will have the pulling power to draw in big crowds remains to be seen. While it would be nice to live in a world where we all give chances to new franchises despite our love for those that have already been well cemented, that’s not how most people operate, especially in the modern-day. That Guardians is non-English film won’t help its prospects stateside, either.
In saying that, a large following has already amassed and circulated around Guardians ahead of its release. It’s fair to say that the buzz and hype surrounding the movie is as high right now as one could reasonably expect – and so with its Russian theatrical release of the movie just around the corner, Guardians may wind up posting some impressive numbers at its native box office before dropping in other countries across the globe over the year ahead.
Guardians is expected to be released in the U.S. at some point this year, following its Russian theatrical debut on February 23rd, 2017.
Imagine learning about ancient Egypt and then being able to construct your own pyramid that is accurately scaled. Or, imagine reading Charlotte’s Web and recreating the barnyard to explore on your own.
This is the reality for the 75,000 educators and students around the world who are using Minecraft: Education Edition in their classrooms. These educators aren’t just playing around in the many worlds of Minecraft, but rather are shaping the classroom edition itself.
“We’ve been working really closely with educators who are already using Minecraft in their classroom, educators who are using other games, and educators who haven’t used games at all,” says Deirdre Quarnstrom, Microsoft’s director of Minecraft Education. “They help us understand some of the challenges in bringing a game into the classroom.”
Quarnstrom says this is where features like classroom mode were introduced. Classroom mode allows teachers to see where all students are in the game and gives them the power to bring them all to one location.
Thanks to new teacher-approved features, adding Minecraft to your class has gotten even easier.
Educator-Shaped Updates and Lessons Expand Utility, Creativity
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced some new Minecraft: Education Edition features: Global Pause, a way to take a quick break or transition to another activity; text-to-speech options for in-game chat to boost accessibility; and a new user interface that makes it easier for teachers and students to manage settings.
In January, Microsoft also expanded its Minecraft Mentor team — a group the company works with regularly to improve the game — to 60 educators in 18 different countries.
These mentors offer advice on their favorite activities and are important thought leaders in the Minecraft community.
Since the launch of the education edition in November 2016, Quarnstrom says teachers have been overwhelmingly supportive of one another and more than 100 lesson plan starters have been submitted— some from Minecraft Mentors.
“Minecraft is a game used in education, not an educational game,” says Quarnstrom. “All of the objectives and quests come from educators.”
The pages of lesson plans available on the Minecraft: Education Edition website range from age 3 to over 18 and cover a wide range of topics.
One innovative Language Arts lesson has students creating a kingdom of words where students create buildings that reflect the parts of speech.
“All buildings and places should be designed to reflect the parts of speech they represent,” writes lesson creator Jon Greenberg. “The size and shape of each part of speech should announce their role in crafting a sentence.”
Quarnstrom said she’s continually blown away by how educators have their students use Minecraft for storytelling and sees it as a celebration of the versatility of the tool.
“We’ve intentionally kept it really open and have seen broad implications across K–12,” says Quarnstrom. “We’re really looking forward to seeing how school and teachers continue to utilize it.”
Minecraft enthusiasts that play the game on Microsoft’s Xbox One console have received a small update recently. Many of them probably unknowingly, have been subjected to a small update which pushed some important fixes into the game. The Minecraft developer also came out with a changelog list which was barely worth calling a list. That being said, the fixes are still very much appreciated and will increase the gameplay value of the game by taking care of some rather annoying problems.
Let’s take a look at what players can expect to see or feel differently in the game, if they haven’t gotten a chance to check out the change log:
Prior to the fix, the UI tended to mess up the icons for items which weren’t blocks by displaying the wrong LOD. That has now been fixed and will occur no longer in-game.
Players also reported that nether portals would sometimes take them to places they had no interest in arriving in, but that has been taken care of in update 40.
When jumping in a tight place, players would often times find themselves falling through the block that they were on. This was especially frustrating but the developers fixed this issue in the latest update.
Just to clear up any confusion, these changes have been made for the Xbox One version of the game. Anyone playing the game on another platform should not have to worry about this update, as it was solely meant for Microsoft’s console.
While the patch is rather small, it does a great job in impacting the game and taking care of some really annoying issues. This once again proves that the smallest issues are the ones causing the most problems. No further information has been disclosed to any potential future updates for the game.
If there was a Kids’ Choice Award for Best Reason for Attending the Kids’ Choice Awards, 8-year-old Juanita would have it in the bag.
The cancer survivor made headlines Saturday evening at the annual slime-infused Nickelodeon event in Los Angeles, hitting the red carpet to photograph some of the night’s biggest stars (including Gwen Stefani, above, and Nickelodeon favorites Kira Kosarin and Mace Coronel, below).
Juanita was sent to the event on behalf of the Pablove Foundation, whose mission is to help fund pediatric cancer research, educate affected families and provide opportunities in the arts for children living with the disease.
Juanita is part of the Pablove Shutterbugs program which, according to the organization’s website, “teach[es] children living with cancer to develop their creative voice through the art of photography.”
This isn’t the first time Juanita taken the red carpet at a glitzy, celeb-filled event by storm: In January, she attended the 2017 Golden Globes, snapping photos of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
According to E! News, Juanita is in remission after battling cancer for almost three years. She’s now back in school attending third-grade classes. She loves taking photos of her dog Charlie, recently learned to ride a bike and spent time last summer taking photography workshops at the Pablove Shutterbugs Alumni Summer Camp.
