'Third time in a matter of weeks'

News Citizen of the Galaxy Robert A. Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy Is Getting an Animated Film Adaptation By Molly Templeton | Published on August 22, 2025 Media: Scribner’s/Wikimedia Commons Comment 0 Share New Share Media: Scribner’s/Wikimedia Commons A Robert A. Heinlein book is headed to the silver screen—and this time, it’s not Starship Troopers. Jay Oliva (Twilight of the Gods) is set to direct an animated adaptation of Heinlein’s 1957 novel Citizen of the Galaxy, which has never been adapted before. (To be fair, there are other Heinlein adaptations beyond Starship Troopers, most recently a Japanese take on The Door into Summer, which was released in 2021. But the bugs loom large.) Citizen of the Galaxy feels like an odd choice in this moment. It’s about a young boy named Thorby who is sold as a slave before being adopted by an intelligence agent. He joins a society which gives its members little freedom, joins the military (ditto), and eventually—as Alan Brown explains in a 2019 column—”learns that he is heir to a gigantic fortune—but finds the obligations of his wealth and power to be perhaps the most onerous burden of all.” Brown also described the book as “more preachy and a lot darker than I had remembered.” But the men making this film are an interesting crew. Director Oliva, as The Hollywood Reporter notes, has worked on “projects as disparate as Zack Snyder’s Twilight of the Gods and creating storyboards for Deadpool and Wonder Woman.” Comics writer Luke Lieberman is writing the script; Lieberman’s Instagram bio describes him as “president/rights holder of Red Sonja comic book franchise.” (Lieberman was a producer on the recent Red Sonja film.) Among the producers is Ryan Silbert, who along with Lieberman and Stan Lee is co-creator of the Alliances Universe, which includes the Audible Original Alliances: A Trick of Light. In a statement, Lieberman said, “Thorby has such a compelling character arc on his journey through the stars. He travels every walk of life, treads a mile in many different shoes, set against the biggest canvas possible, and sprung from Robert Heinlein’s wild imagination full of his wisdom and insights. This is a special story, and I can’t wait to share it with a whole new generation.” THR notes that the film is written and visual development is underway; the filmmakers are “discussing casting” and are aiming for a 2027 release.[end-mark] The post Robert A. Heinlein’s <i>Citizen of the Galaxy</i> Is Getting an Animated Film Adaptation appeared first on Reactor.

News What to Watch What to Watch and Read This Weekend: What Octavia Butler, John Wick, and Hermit Crabs Have in Common By Molly Templeton | Published on August 22, 2025 Media: Nikolas Coukouma/Wikimedia Commons, Lionsgate Films, Yulia Kolosova/Wikimedia Commons Comment 0 Share New Share Media: Nikolas Coukouma/Wikimedia Commons, Lionsgate Films, Yulia Kolosova/Wikimedia Commons There are only two weekends remaining before, somehow, September returns. Some people may feel this is an appropriate time to urge everyone to make the most of it! Get outside! Do things!—well, that feels bossy, and also tiring. If you wish to do things, by all means, please do them! If it is supposed to be one hundred degrees (or bothersomely weathery in some other way) where you live, then don’t do things. Perhaps settle in with some nice reading material or a violent film instead? And don’t forget to call your reps! Read Octavia Butler, and Read About Octavia Butler At the top of my book-shopping list this week is a title I only learned about a few weeks ago: Susana M. Morris’s Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler. I love reading Butler (slowly, since there are a finite number of books) and I love reading about Butler, as I learned a few years ago when E. Alex Jung had a fantastic, in-depth piece in New York magazine. (That piece was one in a quartet, and you should read them all.) Morris’s biography comes with a pile of glowing quotes, including this great one from Kiese Laymon: “It’s not simply that Positive Obsession brilliantly explores the threads of the life of Octavia Butler; it’s the way Susana Morris artfully unwinds this life, creating a kind of almost gothic, futuristic mystery as much as it is biography. I thought I knew Butler and her work. Morris showed me, in the most profound ways, that I knew neither.” And yet this is no massive, all-encompassing tome, but clocks in at less than 300 pages. Morris told Bookpage she wanted to write “a kind of cultural, intellectual biography,” and notes that she hopes other writers pick up other threads from Butler’s life: “Her life was so interesting and rich that there is room for all.” A series of biographies? Please. Yes. Let us have this. For now, you can start small, with this excerpt from Morris’s book at LitHub. John Wick, But You Can Skip the Scene Where the Dog Dies Important news for me, personally, and possibly also for you: All the John Wick movies are now on Hulu. (No, not counting Ballerina, that’s a spinoff.) Speaking from experience, you can absolutely skip the scene where the bad thing happens to the perfect pup. (Reddit can help you do this pretty precisely.) Look, I know it’s not logical, but my brain insists that the humans are stunt people and know what they’re doing, but the animals should be left alone and not have to be involved even when nothing bad is going to happen to them, okay? (I blame elementary school showings of The Man from Snowy River for my weaknesses about animals in films.) The point is, if you would like to watch Keanu Reeves do a lot of very violent things, you can do that, thanks to Hulu. For hours. We Are Terribly Ignorant About Hermit Crabs “Virtually everything we know about the needs of captive hermit crabs has come from the efforts of passionate hobbyists,” writes Melissa Scott Sinclair at Slate. “Formal science is not invested in the inner life of the pet crab the way it is with dogs, or even hamsters.” Sinclair’s piece, “Consider the Hermit Crab,” is the kind of thing that I want to just throw at people, except that it’s very hard to throw a website. Sinclair writes with curiosity, kindness, and real respect for this misunderstood creature—and the people who are trying to change the way hermit crabs are sold and mistreated (if often out of ignorance more than anything else). The story is, I will warn you, somewhat upsetting, in that people really, truly don’t know that hermit crabs are not “easy” pets, and a lot of them meet premature fates. But this kind of work can help change that. And also, you’ve gotta watch them swap shells. The world is in a terrible state; may this video bring you a bright brief respite, as it did for me. Possession and Debates About Dark Academia Novels Charlie Jane Anders is often right about things (and I’m not just saying that as an obvious reference to Our Opinions Are Correct, the podcast she has with Annalee Newitz). This week, she’s specifically right about A.S. Byatt’s brilliant 1990 novel Possession. This book is a lot of things (including a book club selection that will guarantee arguments among book club members; ask me how I know). It’s a romance, it’s a literary history, it’s a mystery, it’s a gorgeous and sweeping work of literary fiction—and, yes, it is totally a core piece of the dark academia canon. It’s all about being obsessed with books and stories and their writers! And also class! There’s poetry! Anders writes, “I came to realize that Possession might not fit the strictest definition of the ultra-popular dark academic genre, because it’s missing key elements such as opulent secret societies and hidden violence. That said, Byatt does have a lot to say about privilege and money, and the lengths to which people will go to get ahead in academia. And maybe the fact that our dominant narrative about higher education has no room for a book like Possession says something pretty dark about our attitude to learning.” There are books that, while not technically science fiction or fantasy, somehow lean into the same spaces these genres occupy. I’ve never been able to put my finger on what makes a book one of these books. I don’t mean the novels published as literary fiction that have magic or are set in the “near future” where fascism rules and the planet is cooking. (Ha, the future. Right.) I mean something else, something nebulous, sometimes bookish, sometimes just about obsession and curiosity and the way people move through the world. Possession is one of those. Maybe it’s a perfect late summer read, too? [end-mark] The post What to Watch and Read This Weekend: What Octavia Butler, John Wick, and Hermit Crabs Have in Common appeared first on Reactor.

BREAKING: Danged If the FBI Didn't Go Bustin' Through John Bolton's Door This Morning

POLL: What was the worst media take of the week? (Vote below)     NOMINEES:    1. Joy Reid Rants: “Trump Is the Physical Embodiment of All of America’s Sins” “People try to say God put him [Donald Trump] in the White House. I don’t believe God is that cruel. But in a way, I’m thinking the way you could justify saying that: Donald Trump is the physical embodiment of all of America’s sins….He’s a terrible businessman and a failure who gets to fake success because he’s white, so banks keep lending him money even when he’s failing….Everything about him is a lie. He’s not a Christian, but Christians love him. But he embodies the greed, the shamelessness, the lasciviousness of capitalism.”— Former MSNBC host Joy Reid on The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali podcast, August 15.    2. Bakari Sellers: Trump “Does Not Have the Intellect” to Match Up with World Leaders “Donald Trump cannot perform on the world stage because he simply does not have the intellect to match up with these world leaders. He’s not Barack Obama, he’s not Hillary Clinton. He’s not even George Bush when it comes to being able to maneuver in these environments. And so what you saw was Vladimir Putin come and get what he wanted. I mean, the winner of this is Vladimir Putin. I don’t know why we’re trying to hide the ball.”— CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers on CNN’s State of the Union, August 17.   3. Jim Acosta: Thanks to Trump, Washington D.C. Is “Living Under an Occupation” “I take my hat off, kudos to the people of Washington, D.C. for showing not just bravery and courage but patience and restraint in the face of what is, and I’m just gonna go out here and say it, an occupation. People of Washington, D.C. are living under an occupation.”— Former CNN host Jim Acosta on The Jim Acosta Show podcast, August 19.    Loading… Funded by James P. Jimirro

A Kentucky judge was gunned down in his own chambers last year allegedly by his longtime sheriff pal. Now accusations have emerged that the slain judge was involved in a sex ring. As Blaze News reported almost a year ago, 54-year-old Letcher County District Judge Kevin R. Mullins was shot to death in his chambers. 'It's like they were running a brothel out of that courtroom.'Chilling surveillance footage allegedly caught the moment that a sheriff walked into Mullins' office and fired several shots at the judge.Former Letcher County Sheriff Shawn “Mickey” Stines, 43, turned himself in after the shooting and resigned from the force days later. Stines pleaded not guilty to a first-degree murder charge; he was being held in an Eastern Kentucky jail without bond, according to ABC News.Stines and Mullins had been friends for decades, and the pair were seen having lunch at a restaurant just hours before the shooting.RELATED: 'Worst of the worst': Cops bust 24-hour immigrant-run brothel in NYC's notorious 'Market of Sweethearts' Kentucky State Police Trooper Matt Gayheart was asked in September 2024 if a "sex scandal" was a possible motive in the fatal shooting of the judge.“Absolutely. We are not ruling out anything as a possible motive," Gayheart stated. In December 2024, NewsNation said it obtained audio recordings that "could tie a now-dead Kentucky judge to a sex-for-favors scandal one week after the suspect, a former sheriff, pleaded not guilty to killing him."Alleged victim Sabrina Adkins claimed that former Letcher County Deputy Sheriff Ben Fields coerced her into performing sexual favors inside Mullins' chambers in exchange for her being able to stay under house arrest.Fields pleaded guilty to rape, sodomy, perjury, and tampering with a prisoner monitoring device. He was sentenced to six months in jail and then six and a half years of probation.Adkins also accused Judge Mullins of being involved in the long-standing sextortion racket: "He does have some videotapes of some stuff in the judge’s chambers … just with girls, sexual and stuff."Ned Pillersdorf, Adkins’ attorney, told NewsNation, "It's like they were running a brothel out of that courtroom."On Monday, a new accusation emerged that Mullins was involved in a sex ring.Another alleged victim, Tya Adams, said in an interview with NewsNation's “Banfield” that Mullins introduced her to his friends.RELATED: Using a tracking app, mother busts NC teacher having sex with her son in parked car: Prosecutors "And we would do sex parties and perform shows and have sex with them for money, things like that," Adams claimed to the outlet.Adams also told NewsNation she didn't feel as though she could decline Mullins' demands for fear that the legal system and Child Protective Services would destroy her."They would make sure to make you feel as small and degraded and belittled as possible to take your power away,” Adams told the outlet, adding that while "it was consensual ... we were so young, and then they used it against us and to destroy our lives later.”Adams added to NewsNation that Mullins and others said she should keep quiet about what was allegedly happening — even though she said "the whole town" was participating in the alleged sexual encounters: "They’re all swingers. It’s all a big party to them. It was just so normal.”What's more, Sarah Davis — a former deputy jailer at Letcher County Jail — added to NewsNation that while she didn't see anyone initiating sex, she heard "nasty and sickening" stories.RELATED: Florida teacher arrested for alleged classroom sex with student, making him jealous by saying she had sex with other students “Pretty much everybody in the county knows," Davis told the outlet. “But it was confirmed to me after working in the county jail, especially after being invited to a party myself.”Davis also claimed to NewsNation that Mullins invited her to a sex party, but she declined: "I was raised better than that."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

In "The Merchant of Venice," Shakespeare stages a courtroom scene where justice and mercy collide. Antonio, unable to repay his debt, faces Shylock’s demand for a pound of flesh. Into this standoff steps Portia, disguised as a lawyer, who reminds Shylock that “the quality of mercy is not strain’d.”Mercy, she argues, “blesseth him that gives and him that takes” — elevating both the giver and the recipient. Strict justice, without compassion, destroys. True justice, tempered with mercy, redeems.Judge Caprio’s courtroom became a global stage not because the cases were extraordinary, but because his responses were.Judge Frank Caprio, who died Wednesday at 88, understood this better than most. His courtroom in Providence, Rhode Island, became a stage for the same lesson Portia taught: that the law is meant not just to enforce rules, but to serve people. Again and again, he showed that the most just outcome is sometimes also the most merciful.'Your case is dismissed'One of Caprio's most memorable rulings came when a 96-year-old man stood before him for speeding. The man explained that he was rushing his handicapped son to a medical appointment. Rather than levy a fine, Caprio praised him as a devoted father and dismissed the case — an act of justice that, in Portia’s words, blessed both the man who received mercy and the judge who gave it.In another instance, Caprio invited a 6-year-old girl to decide her mother’s penalty for an unpaid parking ticket. When the child shyly reduced the fine, Caprio went farther, suggesting that her mother use the money saved to buy breakfast for her kids. What could have been just another transaction became instead a lasting lesson in generosity — a glimpse of how mercy, when freely given, transforms everyone involved.Deep and abiding faithFrank Caprio’s sense of justice was rooted in the story of his own life. Born in Providence in 1936, the son of an immigrant fruit peddler and milkman, Caprio grew up working odd jobs and learning the value of perseverance. He taught high school while putting himself through Suffolk Law School at night, served in the Rhode Island Army National Guard, and went on to a career in public service — first as a Providence city councilman, later as chief judge of the municipal court, a position he held for nearly four decades.What might have been an unremarkable local post became something extraordinary once cameras entered his courtroom. "Caught in Providence," the reality series that began on local public access TV in 1988, turned Caprio into a household name when it was nationally syndicated in 2018. Millions of viewers tuned in not for high-stakes drama, but for the quiet power of his empathy. Clips of his cases spread across social media, reaching hundreds of millions worldwide. He became known, simply, as “the nicest judge in the world.”But Caprio himself never saw this as performance. “I have a deep and abiding faith in the Catholic Church, in Jesus, in the power of prayer,” he told EWTN reporter Colm Flynn in February. That faith informed his approach to the bench.A final lessonIn Caprio's final months, battling pancreatic cancer, he recorded a simple video asking his followers not for tributes but for prayers — a moment of humility that spoke volumes about how he carried his belief. And in a commencement address at his alma mater just weeks before his death, he explained his philosophy plainly: “Although I wore a robe like most judges, I wasn’t a traditional judge, because under my robe, I didn’t wear a badge. I wore a heart.”Judge Caprio’s courtroom became a global stage not because the cases were extraordinary, but because his responses were. In an era when social media often rewards outrage and spectacle, his viral videos offered a glimpse of justice at its most human.He taught us that the measure of justice is not only how faithfully we enforce the rules, but how carefully we weigh the people to whom they apply. To the single parent struggling to pay fines, to the elderly man caring for a sick child, to the student with little more than a smile to offer, Caprio extended dignity. And in doing so, he showed the world that mercy can be both deeply personal and profoundly public.That is the legacy Judge Frank Caprio leaves behind. His rulings will live on in viral clips, yes — but, more importantly, in the quiet shift of conscience they inspired in those who watched. He reminded us that justice, at its best, is not cold or mechanical. It is humane. And it is only complete when joined with mercy.

Four classic albums are coming from the late Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and pianist. The post Ray Charles Out-of-Print Tangerine Records LPs Get Reissues appeared first on Best Classic Bands.

The president is still playing with fire.

It's Called Karma and It's Spelled HA HA HA: WATCH When a Giddy John Bolton SQUEE'd Over Mar-A-Lago Raid