Latest news with #StarWars
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
'Star Wars' star Harrison Ford says he has no plans to retire anytime soon - 'They need old people too'
Harrison Ford may be 83, but the Hollywood icon has no plans to retire anytime soon. According to PEOPLE, in recent interview with Variety, the actor opened up about his career, working with younger stars, and his experience filming the hit series Shrinking. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now A complete 'No' When asked if he ever thinks about retirement, Ford, who has starred in over 60 films, gave a clear, simple answer: "No." Ford explained that acting is one of the rare jobs where age can work in your favour. "No. That's one of the things I thought was attractive about the job of an actor: they need old people, too, to play old people's parts," he replied. Ford has played some of the most famous characters in film history, including Han Solo in Star Wars and Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones series. With over 60 films to his name, Ford continues to take on new and challenging roles. The actor also looked back on his experience working with Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to his 1982 sci-fi classic. He recalled an accident on set during a fight scene rehearsal. "[We were rehearsing a fight] and we got too close, and I hit him. I apologised right away. What more could I do? Can't take back a punch. Just take it," Ford shared. "He's a very handsome man. He's still very handsome," he added. On the work front, Ford recently earned his first Emmy nomination for his role in 'Shrinking.'
Daily Mirror
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Harrison Ford, 83, reveals real reason why he will never retire
Indiana Jones and Star Wars actor Harrison Ford explains why he won't stop acting Hollywood legend Harrison Ford says he has no plans to retire — even suggesting he chose the acting profession for that very reason. 'No. That's one of the things I thought was attractive about the job of an actor, was that they need old people, too, to play old people's parts,' the Star Wars actor, 83, said in a new interview. Harrison is celebrating more success and another accolade ticked off and his new chat came a few months after he pulled out of the Oscars due to illness. After decades of making great work playing the likes of Han Solo in Star Wars and Indiana Jones, he finally got his first Emmy nomination this year, for the AppleTV+ show 'Shrinking,' where he plays Dr. Paul Rhoades, a therapist who has Parkinson's disease. He modestly told Variety magazine: 'I don't think there's anything competitive about creativity, and I don't understand the need to compare and contrast one person's work to another's. If you like it, you like it; if you don't like it, look at something else. I'm grateful, but I would have done what I did — and I'll do what I'm doing — regardless of whether it's deemed worthy of mention or not. Because it's what I do. It's what I love doing. I love telling stories. I love pretending to be somebody else.' He had been working with Michael J. Fox in Season 3 which just finished filming, and Harrison's character, Paul, has been diagnosed with Parkinson's. Ford says that it was "essential" to talk to Fox as Paul continues to deal with his disease. 'Michael's courage, his fortitude and his grace, more than anything else, is on full display. He's a very smart, very brave, noble, generous, passionate guy, and an example to all of us, whether we're facing Parkinson's or not. You cannot help but recognise how amazing it is to have such grace. So he gives me both a physical representation of the disease to inform myself with, but more than that, he allows me to believe that Paul could believe that he could be adequate to the challenge. The truth is that we can't be fucking around with this just to make a joke or anything. Parkinson's is not funny. And I want to get it right. It's necessary to be correct with what we do in respect of the challenge that Parkinson's represents, and that we don't use it for its entertainment value.' Ford has overcome his own difficulties which have affected his acting, crashing his plane on a golf course in 2015 in an accident which was described as near-fatal, in March 2015. Harrison said: 'Did it have an impact? I suppose it did. I've been through a couple of big accidents that took a while to heal from. This is not something dismissed lightly, but s**t happens; it was a mechanical issue that was judged to be beyond my control. If I'd been at fault, I would have taken another direction. But I don't think it informs my life on a day-to-day basis now that I've recovered sufficiently from the physical effects.' Harrison also spoke about how America has changed and seems less 'banal and safe' with Trump in charge. He said: 'The pendulum doth swing in both directions, and it's on a healthy swing to the right at the moment. And, as nature dictates, it will swing back. But currently the issue is not who we are, but that we're not who we used to be because we've been purposefully disaggregated into serviceable political units. And that has caused the middle to become frayed and tenuous, and the middle is where we belong. Not because it's banal and safe, but because it's fair. Compromise is fair and honest. 'In politics and in life, you don't always get what you want, but you get what you get and you don't get upset. They teach us that in kindergarten, but they also teach you to fight for what you think is right. Now, because we've been disaggregated in this way, we're having a hard time finding commonality. But if you look at the economy, you'll figure out where the commonality is — it's where it always was: Rich get richer, and poor get poorer. And that ain't exactly right.'
Newsweek
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
There's Already a Slur for the AI Taking Peoples' Jobs
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A growing wave of online anger at artificial intelligence has birthed a new term for machines taking over workplaces: Clanker. Borrowed from "Star Wars" lore and repurposed by Gen Z, it has quickly become shorthand for AI systems and robots seen as displacing human workers. Originally a derogatory nickname used by clone troopers for battle droids in "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," the word has found new life in meme culture and labor discourse. TikTok videos now feature users yelling "clanker" at delivery bots on sidewalks, while social feeds buzz with jokes about "anti-clanker sentiment" and "the coming clanker wars." "Everyone just collectively decided, 'yep, this is what we will now call the robots,' and immediately began slandering them," Mashable's Chance Townsend wrote about the trend. On TikTok, the hashtag #clanker has amassed millions of views in just weeks. One viral clip shows a user leaning out of a car window to shout, "Get out of the way, clanker!" at a food delivery robot, racking up over 4.8 million views. Another, captioned "me and twin beating the clanker my daughter brought home," shows a group of streamers pushing around a humanoid robot in a skit equal parts sci-fi dystopia and family comedy. Memes riff on the joke with parody "C-word passes," granting "one use of the word clanker." Others joke about "robot racism" and whether future generations will have to apologize to their AI overlords for their past bigotry. The joke has even reached Washington. Senator Ruben Gallego referenced the term in a post, using "clanker" to promote a bill that would let people bypass automated phone systems, like the ones increasingly taking over corporate customer service lines. "My new bill makes sure you don't have to talk to a clanker if you don't want to," he wrote, sharing a meme that used the word as shorthand for robots. Sick of yelling 'REPRESENTATIVE' into the phone 10 times just to talk to a human being? My new bill makes sure you don't have to talk to a clanker if you don't want to. — Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) July 30, 2025 The AI Labor Disruption Is Here Beneath the gallows humor lies a major economic shift. Gen Z—the demographic fueling the meme—is also the generation most exposed to the AI-driven transformation of work. Born between 1997 and 2012, they are entering a labor market where entry-level roles, traditionally the first rung on the career ladder, are vanishing to automation. Numbers suggest the joke isn't far from reality. Unemployment among recent college graduates has surged to 5.8 percent, a level considered unusually high. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York warned the job market for these workers has "deteriorated noticeably." Appotronik Apollo humanoid robots are working shifts at Mercedes' Berlin factory. Appotronik Apollo humanoid robots are working shifts at Mercedes' Berlin factory. Eileen Falkenberg-Hull/Newsweek An analysis by Revelio Labs found that postings for positions heavily exposed to AI tasks dropped by 31 percent after the release of ChatGPT in 2022, compared to a 25 percent decline in roles with low AI exposure. That sense of inevitability is what gives "clanker" its edge. What began as satire has become shorthand for a generation watching the ground shift beneath their feet. Experts warn of a collapse in entry-level hiring as AI reshapes work. Dario Amodei, Anthropic's CEO, recently predicted AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years. "Entry-level jobs tend to involve routine, well-defined tasks—exactly the kind of work current AI systems are best suited to automate," Daniela Rus, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, told Newsweek. The shift is being embraced by some of the country's most labor-intensive employers. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently told employees that AI is now in "virtually every corner of the company" and predicting "we will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today." "The robots are coming," Adam Dorr, director of research at the think tank RethinkX, told Newsweek. "They're coming for everyone's jobs." 'No Escape' Not everyone is laughing along at the "clanker" memes. Some TikTok users have wondered whether the slur is crossing into darker territory. For Dorr, the memes around "clankers" are an early cultural echo of a larger disruption. In his interview with Newsweek, he warned the changes will come faster than most expect. "Disruptions don't take 50 or 100 years," he said. "They take 15 to 20 years. Sometimes even faster." His research suggests robots will erode jobs task by task rather than replacing them one-to-one. "There is no long-term escape from this. By the 2040s, there will be almost nothing a robot cannot do that a human can," he added. Public opinion on the AI revolution remains split. A June YouGov survey found 47 percent of Americans believe AI's overall impact on society will be negative, but the share who fear it will reduce jobs in their industry has dropped sharply—from 48 percent in 2024 to 31 percent in 2025. Among weekly AI users, optimism outweighs fear: 51 percent believe AI will benefit society, compared to 27 percent who view it negatively. Carter Price, a senior mathematician at the RAND Corporation, took the more optimistic route, suggesting that while AI may eliminate some tasks, it could also create demand for more workers elsewhere. "These tools are more likely to replace tasks than entire jobs," Price told Newsweek. "That might mean you need fewer people to do the work, or it could mean you need more because productivity rises when low-value work is handled by machines." Whether AI-powered robots ultimately replace or augment the bulk human labor remains to be seen, but the rise of "clanker" has already sparked a cultural debate. For those who have added the term to their lexicon, satire and seriousness blur together. It's a joke born of humor but grounded in economic reality. And for Gen Z, the punchline is often the same: if the bots are coming for their jobs, at least they coined the term for it.
Newsweek
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Golden's Unique Way of Welcoming Owner Home Goes Viral: 'Retrieved'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A golden retriever has gone viral for completely living up to his breed's name with the way he welcomed his owner home. Wilson the golden is described by his owner as having a "heart of gold and a howl like Chewbacca," the Star Wars character—and both of these traits were on show in a recent video that has captured hearts across the internet. The beloved pet has an entire TikTok account dedicated to clips of him relaxing and playing with his owners, being adorably clingy, and showing off his vocal cords with a grumbling noise that has earned him the Chewbacca nickname. In a particularly popular video posted in July and boasting more than 2.3 million views, Wilson's owner showed how the golden greets her when she arrives home. And in this case, she "didn't even make it to the welcome mat before being retrieved." In the video, the owner opens the front door to find Wilson standing there, tail wagging and him whimpering in excitement to see her home. And before the owner has even said hello, Wilson has gently taken her arm in his mouth, and is full-on retrieving her, leading her into the house. At the same time, he makes the noise that is undoubtedly his Chewbacca howl, only stopping when she is safely inside and he has let go of her arm. Wilson's owner wrote in the caption: "He doesn't just retrieve toys—he retrieves hearts. And limbs." TikTok users were in stitches, awarding the video more than 534,000 likes, as one delighted viewer wrote: "How did you get a domesticated Chewbacca? I WANT ONE." Another posted, "Remain calm! You are being retrieved by your designated golden doggo," while a third commented that Wilson was scolding her: "Where the hell have you been!" And one comment read: "Why is he Chewbacca?" One dog owner shared that their dog does the same thing, suggesting that, when canines have "big feelings, sometimes they need to have something in their mouth to keep them grounded. My dog often chooses my arm as well." And Wilson's owner said that is what Wilson does, calling it "displacement behavior"—and "if he doesn't have a toy then it's always an arm!" Wilson the retriever takes his owner by the arm and leads her inside. Wilson the retriever takes his owner by the arm and leads her inside. TikTok @wags_with_wilson A report on dog trainer website Surrey Canine Corner says that displacement behavior is when a canine does something that seemingly completely out of context, which can ease them when they feel tense. These self-soothing behaviors can range from anything from sniffing the ground, turning their head away, or mouthing a toy or part of their owner's body, even when not teething. Positive reinforcement, creating a safe space, and sticking to a consistent routine can all help a dog feel safe. Newsweek has contacted @wags_with_wilson via TikTok for comment on this story. Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@ with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
Yahoo
18 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
A dragon in the Grand Canyon? Researchers name new fossil for 'Star Wars' creature
The Grand Canyon is known as a world-renowned tourist destination for its breathtaking vistas and outdoor adventures. But within the striated canyon walls, a hidden world of microscopic marvels reveals the region's role as an evolutionary hotbed teeming with prehistoric life. In a study published in July, researchers from the University of Cambridge announced a first-of-its-kind discovery of thousands of microscopic fossils from the Cambrian period unearthed from the Grand Canyon's walls. Researchers collected rock samples from the interior of the Grand Canyon during a 2023 expedition. The rocks were brought back to their Cambridge lab, where they were dissolved with acid and viewed under high-powered microscopes. One fist-sized rock held over a thousand microscopic fossils, including soft-bodied animals that are rarely fossilized. The unique prehistoric conditions of the Grand Canyon created the perfect environment for animal life and fossil preservation, capturing an important period of evolutionary history when life on Earth was developing all kinds of weird and wonderful traits. Known as the Cambrian Explosion, this prehistoric time period occurred around half a billion years ago, when animal life experienced a relatively rapid diversification through evolution. Before this period, most of the world's ecosystems were populated by microorganisms, but during this evolutionary explosion, the fossil record begins to show plants and animals that are more recognizable. The area of the modern-day Canyon was once a prehistoric shoreline, described by researchers as a 'Goldilocks Zone,' where warm, oxygen-rich underwater conditions were perfect for an evolutionary boom. The Grand Canyon, as we know it, would be carved out by the Colorado River hundreds of millions of years later. 'In the middle of the canyon, there was this pretty sweet spot for animal life to become established for a relatively long time and for it to elaborate upon itself in this resource-rich environment,' said Giovanni Mussini, a Cambridge paleontologist who collected rock samples during the expedition and lead author of the study. 'I think the Grand Canyon is the perfect combination of Paleo-environment and accessibility of the rocks that record them.' Among the new discoveries was a species of priapulid, also known as a penis worm or cactus worm, with a long retractable mouth lined with hundreds of spiky teeth. This type of worm, once common during the Cambrian period, would use these teeth as a specialized feeding device, scraping the seafloor or raking debris into its digestive tract. Researchers named the worm Kraytdraco spectatus because of its resemblance to the krayt dragon, a fictional creature from the Star Wars universe. 'When I started finding this wormy-looking animal that came from a canyon, that was full of teeth and looked brownish under the microscope, there were too many points in common with the fictional beast,' said Mussini. 'We thought, this is a great excuse to give this animal a pop culture inspired name.' Along with the worm, rock-scraping mollusks and filter-feeding crustaceans were also discovered. After the initial expedition in 2023, Mussini returned to the Grand Canyon this spring to collect more samples, which he hopes will bear more fossilized discoveries. 'It really is a retracing of our origins, just deeper in time than the study of our immediate ancestors,' said Mussini. 'Thinking about this unfolding in a place like the Grand Canyon, which to this day has this wonderful natural heritage, just adds a lot of depth to it. You think of this place being a library of changes in the Earth's environment going back half a billion years.' John Leos covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to Environmental coverage on and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Researchers uncover tiny fossils in the Grand Canyon Solve the daily Crossword
