Gunman With Grudge Against Pharmacies Allegedly Kills Man in Walgreens

US & Canada

Thirty-year-old Narciso Gallardo Fernandez allegedly drove from Pixley, California, to Madera Monday night and opened fire inside a Walgreens, killing a store employee. He opened fire at approximately 9:30 p.m. Fernandez “was taken into custody outside the store in the parking lot,” ABC 7 noted. KMPH quoted Madera Police Chief Giachino Chiaramonte saying, “He did communicate to…

Unusual mars rock ‘like nothing else seen’ baffles scientists

Science and Health

NASA’s Perseverance rover has captured images of a highly unusual rock – one that seems highly out of place in comparison to the surrounding Martin dust.The rock consists of hundreds of tiny brown blobs, spherical in nature, and has left the team behind the missions both confused and intrigued by its origin.The planet has a rich volcanic history, dating back over 4.5 billion years. It was once covered with thousands of volcanoes which saw ‘super eruptions’, which NASA says is the most powerful type of volcanic blast there is.Images of ‘Araneiforms’ were recently published by the space agency, which are dark cracks in the soil unlike anything on Earth.However, despite these recent advancements in martian discovery, scientists are unable to fully explain what caused the strange texture of the rock discovered this month, saying that they are unsure what ‘quirk of geology’’ could’ve led to such unique formations. One theory is that they could be ‘frothy lava’ that rapidly cooled, put forward by Dr Matthew Chojnacki, a planetary geologist at the Planetary Science Institute.‘But it’s hard to tell without chemistry or mineralogy, especially given it’s a float rock (a piece of rock that is not part of the bedrock),’ he told MailOnline. Another planetary geologist, Dr Joel Davis, hypothesises that they could’ve been formed by water circulating through the ground billions of years ago.Speaking to MailOnline, he said that ‘This was potentially when conditions were too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface’.The rock itself is made up of spherical pebbles (known as spherules), ranging from 0.01mm-4mm in diameter. Most of these spherules are fully globular, but some are more angular in nature. Some also have mysterious tiny holes in them.The discovery comes after several other spherical objects were found on the surface of the red planet over the past twenty years.The Opportunity Rover spotted ‘Martian Blueberries’ near the equator in 2004, which were identified as small and marble-like meteorite remnants.The Curiosity rover spotted more spherules in the rocks of Yellowknife Bay in Gale crater 8 years later.

Group wants certain books banned from Rockford Public Schools library

Arts & Culture, Books

“This is a crime, a felony.”Representing the group Parents and Taxpayers Against Pornography in Rockford Public Schools, Helen Brinkman says the 14 titles they want banned violate state law that prohibits dissemination of harmful pornographic material to minors.“This is an abomination. It’s a sin. They all talk about having sex underage.”But the attorney for Rockford Schools, Steve van Stempvoort, says the books are not part of the sex education curriculum and are not required reading.“A library book is just in the library. Nobody has to check it out. Nobody has to read it if they don’t want.”And while the books may not appeal to everyone,“Each of these books has received a literary award.”A lower court ruled the books are not, as a whole, harmful to minors and dismissed criminal disseminating pornography charges against Rockford administrators. Now the book ban group is asking the state Court of Appeals to reverse that decision.“There is no right under the law for the school to disseminate these books in the library”“They just took little snippets out of the book. You have to analyze the book as a whole and determine if it lacks any serious literary, scientific, educational, political or artistic value.”

Group wants certain books banned from Rockford Public Schools library

Arts & Culture, Books

“This is a crime, a felony.”Representing the group Parents and Taxpayers Against Pornography in Rockford Public Schools, Helen Brinkman says the 14 titles they want banned violate state law that prohibits dissemination of harmful pornographic material to minors.“This is an abomination. It’s a sin. They all talk about having sex underage.”But the attorney for Rockford Schools, Steve van Stempvoort, says the books are not part of the sex education curriculum and are not required reading.“A library book is just in the library. Nobody has to check it out. Nobody has to read it if they don’t want.”And while the books may not appeal to everyone,“Each of these books has received a literary award.”A lower court ruled the books are not, as a whole, harmful to minors and dismissed criminal disseminating pornography charges against Rockford administrators. Now the book ban group is asking the state Court of Appeals to reverse that decision.“There is no right under the law for the school to disseminate these books in the library”“They just took little snippets out of the book. You have to analyze the book as a whole and determine if it lacks any serious literary, scientific, educational, political or artistic value.”

‘Primitive War’ Official Trailer – A Vietnam War Movie Gets Invaded by Dinosaurs!

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

While 1928’s Steamboat Willie is the clear inspiration for Screamboat, Steven LaMorte’s movie also feels in the spirit of another vintage Walt Disney short: The Mad Doctor. That 1933 cartoon, which shows signs of parody, saw Mickey Mouse endure a series of booby traps and come close to death, all while trying to rescue the beloved Pluto the Dog from a sadistic scientist. Of course, this all turned out to be all part of Mickey’s vivid nightmare. It just goes to show that even before this relatively recent subgenre of public-domain horror came into being, Disney and its creator were fully capable of grotesque and disturbing imagery. Here in Screamboat, LaMorte is, in a way, acting on those impulses.
Although Screamboat is based on a ‘toon that isn’t categorized as horror, it doesn’t lack in weird and somewhat unsettling imagery. Who can forget Mickey playing a mama pig’s nipples accordion style, or swinging a cat by its tail? In general, Mickey was rather aggressive with all the animals there. Nevertheless, that comedic rudeness is intact in LaMorte’s twisted adaptation, only now with the dial cranked up to eleven. It’s cartoonish violence but with actual blood, entrails and death to look upon. It’s enough to make a Disney purist rage and a Disney objector snicker.
Like all of these public-domain movies, Screamboat doesn’t shoot for the moon; it runs with the slasher format because that’s the quickest and easiest way to debase the source material, not to mention draw an audience. The attraction is always that transformation of beloved icons into killing machines. By now, though, the ire over these movies has eased up a bit, due to their general inability to meet expectations — be it low or high ones — and because of the increasing desensitization to the formula. Even Screamboat’s antagonist is following in the footsteps of Winnie-the-Pooh’s dreadful counterpart in the Blood and Honey series; the Willie here (played by the Terrifier franchise’s David Howard Thornton) was pure and kind before mankind’s neglect left him corrupted and homicidal.
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In its favor, though, Screamboat eagerly aims to please and gives its target audience exactly what they wanted. It’s what if Jason Takes Manhattan actually delivered on its setup and kept the carnage to the ideal location of a boat at sea, rather than retreat and leave for shore. And after booking a genuine and non-digital ferry — one owned by Colin Jost and Pete Davidson, by the way — this movie gives its feral star plenty of room to go ape on a sizable crowd of paper-thin yet highly characterized victims. The kills don’t always live up to the most imaginative of the collection, however, LaMorte gets points for enthusiasm and design. If only the rest of the movie had the same sense of precision.
It goes without saying that Screamboat is a very low-budget production; that fact is evident in just about every part of the movie. The gory slaughter understandably gets top priority, and some might find Willie’s bizarre getup to be cheap but charming. Even still, money can’t quite fix the problem that is prevalent with this whole horror niche. Screamboat, much like its ilk, acts on an opportunity first and fills in the gaps later. It’s almost as if they make it all up as they go along. And many times over, reaching the finish line is a drag. David Howard Thornton’s gusto aside, this movie wears itself out long before the third act. Surely a good twenty or so minutes could have also been cut out for an almost equal yet more streamlined experience.
It would be a mistake to overthink Screamboat or overlook its appeal as subversive slapstick, however, like so many comedy bits out there, this movie loses its novelty sooner than later.
Screamboat releases in theaters on April 2, 2025.

Image: Screamboat poster courtesy of DeskPop Entertainment.

‘Primitive War’ Official Trailer – A Vietnam War Movie Gets Invaded by Dinosaurs!

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

They call it “high concept.” In the upcoming Primitive War, soldiers in Vietnam do battle with prehistoric dinosaurs, and the teaser trailer for the action/horror/sci-fi movie has arrived.
Debuted by THR this morning, watch the teaser trailer for Primitive War below! “This ain’t no walk in the park,” the trailer promises, taking a shot at Jurassic Park in the process.
On that note, it’s awesome to see filmmakers outside the Jurassic franchise playing with dinosaurs, as that’s something we haven’t seen enough of over the years. The high concept approach to the material here reminds us a bit of the 2023 movie 65, which saw Adam Driver going up against dinosaurs. And it looks like Primitive War has enough of a budget behind it to make the dinosaur action look pretty damn good, which gives us hope for this one.
Expect Primitive War to stomp our way sometime in Summer 2025.

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The upcoming monster movie from writer/director Luke Sparke (Occupation Rainfall, Bring Him To Me) adapts author Ethan Pettus’ sci-fi military novel, first published in 2017.
Jeremy Piven (“Entourage”), Tricia Helfer (“Battlestar Galactica”, “Lucifer”), Ryan Kwanten (“True Blood,” Glorious) and Nick Wechsler (“The Boys“) headline Primitive War.
Primitive War is described as “An action-packed war film that pits battle hardened soldiers against the greatest predators that ever walked the earth.”
The official synopsis: “Vietnam. 1968. A search and rescue team known as Vulture Squad is sent to an isolated jungle valley to uncover the fate of a missing Green Beret platoon. As they hunt through the primordial depths of the valley, they discover ancient horrors that not only threaten to unravel their minds, but to end their lives as well. Dinosaurs have somehow been unleashed! When the casualties mount, the men of Vulture Squad must abandon their human nature and give in to their savage instincts in order to survive…the Primitive War.”
Anthony Ingruber (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny), Aaron Glenane (Interceptor, Danger Close), Carlos Sanson Jr (Bump, Legacies), Ana Thu Nguyen (Mortal Kombat 2), Adolphus Waylee (Nautilus), Richard Brancatisano (The Messenger), Marcus Johnson (Talk to Me) and Jake Ryan (Savage, Underbelly) also star.
Primitive War is presented by Sparke Films in association with Let it be Entertainment and producers Carly Sparke, Carmel Imrie, Luke Sparke, Geoff Imrie and Alex Becconsall.
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