Latest news with #Terror
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Explorer Mark Synnott isn't afraid to be reckless
In 2022, Mark Synnott set sail from his home in Maine to complete the Northwest Passage, the legendary route through the Arctic that connects the Atlantic and Pacific. Synnott wanted to retrace the path of an 1845 expedition led by British explorer Sir John Franklin, who was attempting to chart the sea route over North America and open a valuable trade avenue with East Asia. But along the way Franklin's two ships, Erebus and Terror, became trapped in the ice, stranding the expedition. The crew of 129 men were never seen again and the mystery of what happened to them has spurred 180 years of speculation by scholars and obsessives. Synnott originally planned to explore what happened to the crew as part of a longer voyage with his family down through the South Pacific. But he soon found his 47-foot fiberglass-hulled sailboat, Polar Sun, trapped in circumstances similar to those that proved catastrophic to the Brits. Synnott's new book, Into the Ice, recounts how his boat narrowly escaped its end in the Arctic—as well as what might have happened to the members of the Franklin expedition. We caught up with Synnott as he and his family had resumed their voyage on Polar Sun—just hours before they were due to make their first landfall in the South Pacific—to discuss the allure of expeditions gone wrong and the fine line between adventurousness and hubris. (Read an excerpt from Synnott's book on how he tried to solve the Arctic's biggest mystery.) Can you start by setting the scene for where you are? I checked the GPS link to your boat, Polar Sun, and it looks like we're picking up where your book ends, with your plan to sail the South Pacific with your family. Yes, we're currently on the boat, about 80 miles from our first stop, the island of Hiva Oa, which is part of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. I still can't see land, but we should arrive today, after 20 days at sea. Doing the Northwest Passage was always tied to this larger 20-year plan to sail the South Pacific with my family. My wife Hampton and my youngest son Tommy are onboard right now, and my three older kids plan to visit us along the way. All the other expeditions in my career have been discrete projects that lasted a month or a few months. This one has become a more open-ended, all-encompassing thing, and it's the first one we're doing as a family. It's still a little unknown how far we plan to go but right now we have an agreement that we're going to sail through French Polynesia to the Cook Islands, then Samoa, to Fiji, to New Zealand by the end of 2026. What originally got you interested in sailing the South Pacific? In 2005 I led an expedition to the Pitcairn Islands with Jimmy Chin and a few others for National Geographic. We sailed there from French Polynesia. It was my first time sailing. I didn't know anything about this world we were in, and seeing all those beautiful atolls made me decide right then and there, I need to find a way to get into this. I remember asking so many questions on that trip to learn about sailing. I've always wanted to come back and explore. You're so much freer to do that if you have your own boat because a lot of the islands are very isolated. As you started planning the Northwest Passage specifically, what was about the lost Franklin expedition that drew you into the mystery? The Franklin expedition was 129 guys and not one of them made it out alive to tell the story. Then, on top of that, if you consider the accounts from the Inuit, which have proven highly credible, you've got evidence that there were survivors from the Franklin expedition all the way into the mid-1850s. There's an Inuit testimony about a band of survivors from the expedition on the Melville Peninsula where a bunch of their papers were supposedly buried in a cairn 10 years after they left. It's fascinating to imagine what happened during all that time they were stranded in the Arctic. The Royal Navy officers were trained to keep a record of what happened on their expeditions. And there's a strong possibility that one of the last men standing was Francis Crozier, the second-in-command. He would have definitely been recording what was happening. So the fact that more information could be out there to shed light on this mystery is super intriguing. (In 1845 explorers sought the Northwest Passage—then vanished.) When your boat had a brush with the same fate as the Franklin expedition, getting trapped in the Arctic ice floes, was the writer in you thinking how great that would make bringing the story to life? We were trapped there for 10 days versus 10 years, but I honestly don't think there was ever a moment during that time when I thought, 'Wow, this is going to make a great story.' My whole objective in doing the Northwest Passage was to not get caught in the ice. You really don't want that to happen, especially in a fiberglass boat. Now when I look back, from a safe distance here in the South Pacific, I can see so clearly how it makes the story so much better—and I'm kind of glad it worked out the way that it did, because it was an incredible experience. On these expeditions, how do you decipher that fine line between maintaining an adventurous spirit and outright recklessness? There have definitely been moments when I've crossed that line before. When we were filming the documentary Lost on Everest for Nat Geo [about Sandy Irvine and George Mallory's Everest expedition] I left the fixed ropes at 28,000 feet to try to find Sandy's body. There was eyewitness testimony that a body had been seen in a certain place high up on the mountain, but it wasn't on the standard route, so it required leaving the fixed ropes to get there. I took a lot of shit from different people, including family, because I had stepped over the line in that instance. But I knew in my gut it was something I was supposed to be doing. Whenever I get to the point of feeling that way, I just try to do everything I can to manage the risks to the best of my ability. I also try to remember that it's pretty risky just being alive. For me, all the best, most fun, rewarding, meaningful experiences have tended to be risky. Another thing that comes through in your book is people's enduring obsession with new frontiers, which drove Franklin's exploration. And I wonder if the notion of frontiers drives your own expeditions? I got introduced to the whole world of climbing and exploration through reading as a kid. Prior to 1950, none of the 8,000-meter peaks in the Himalaya and Karakoram had been climbed before, but the subplot to a lot of the books I read as a kid was how that Golden Age of exploration was already over. I think one of the main reasons I became a big-wall climber was realizing that was still its own frontier, and there were giant cliffs people hadn't yet climbed. In a way, I'm still going with that, exploring giant unclimbed cliffs. I've got all my climbing gear here on the boat. There's a big cliff out on this French Polynesian island called Ua Pou, and I think I'm going to try to climb it. Of course, what I've also learned along the way is that the Golden Age is not over at all. There's so much of this planet that remains unexplored. Since you mentioned the upcoming route on your voyage I've been wondering if you see this extending into a trip around the world? That definitely falls into the category of not wanting to overcommit where we might end up. When people sail to some far away place like this, often they'll sell their boat, and I already know I don't want to do that. I see Polar Sun as a member of the family at this point. I want to get back to Maine eventually. For now, I'm just happy to see we've made it this far.
The Guardian
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Ian Hamilton Finlay review – under the classical veneer, this artist was an idiot
We all respect a classicist. So it's hard not to be impressed by Ian Hamilton Finlay's learned citing of the Aeneid, Book X, on a stone column in this exhibition marking the centenary of his birth. The poet, artist and creator of Little Sparta – his renowned art garden – revived the neo-classical style at a time when artists were more likely to quote Warhol than Virgil. He appeals to anyone who's sick of illiterate pop culture – a defiantly archaic figure who made no apology for his erudition. Unfortunately, under the marble veneer, Finlay was an idiot. He flirted – more than flirted, claim some critics – with Nazi imagery, apparently fascinated by Panzer tanks and the SS logo. His fans insist it was all very nuanced but the Little Sparta website acknowledges 'letters in which Finlay had made 'anti-semitic' remarks'. (Their quote marks on antisemitic, not mine.) There are no Nazi images in this exhibition but Finlay's interest in extremism and violence is unleashed in a series of bizarre and brutal conceptual artworks about the French Revolution. Marshall McLuhan's maxim 'the medium is the message' is incised on a panel of black slate. At first this looks like a witty transmutation of pop communication theory into engraved stone, but then you see the drawn outline of a guillotine blade: the 'medium' Finlay's celebrating is the slaughter of the Terror during the French Revolution, when first monarchs and aristocrats, then revolutionaries themselves, were decapitated in a bloody production line. This is even more emphatic in a gnarled wooden reproduction of the block where a victim's neck was held in place for the descending blade. It is inscribed 'Le Revolution est un bloc' ('The Revolution is a bloc') – a quote from the politician Georges Clemenceau in 1891, meaning the French Revolution had to be taken as a whole. Finlay, in a visual pun, changes its meaning: the Revolution requires bloodshed, he enthusiastically declares. To the block with them all. What adolescent stuff. Candles on stools commemorate characters from the French Revolution including Robespierre, architect of the Terror. Marble reliefs pay homage to the revolutionary neo-classical artist Jacques-Louis David and his propaganda masterpiece The Death of Marat, a portrait of the revolutionary leader assassinated in his bath. You may agree with Finlay that the Terror was a necessary purging, or an inevitable backlash, to reactionary attacks on the Revolution. The meaning of the French Revolution is still passionately debated, its history still being written. At least Finlay cares about history, a defender might say. So no, I'm not offended by his love of the guillotine. I am just saddened by the shallowness of an artist who, in his latter years, fumed in his garden about the need to wipe out the filthy aristocratic pigs instead of making art with any kind of universal human content. Superficiality is Finlay's real sin. Artfully concealed behind the apparent weightiness of classical plinths and columns, his take on life lacks seriousness or depth. Someone who makes 'provocative' Nazi references without apparently knowing what he meant by them is a fool not an intellectual. Sign up to Art Weekly Your weekly art world round-up, sketching out all the biggest stories, scandals and exhibitions after newsletter promotion These Jacobin artworks were made in the wake of a controversy about his interest in the Third Reich. In the late 1980s Finlay was commissioned to create a sculpture garden at Versailles for the bicentenary of the French Revolution, but stories in the French press about his use of the SS logo, his correspondence with Hitler's architect Albert Speer and the revelation of his apparently antisemitic remarks in letters led to him losing this prestigious job. These artworks about the French Revolution were created in the 1990s in the wake of this humiliation. Perhaps his daft celebration of the guillotine is a longing for revenge. It certainly proves Versailles dodged a bullet, for these works are as crass as they are dry. They are not the art of a deep thinker or true poet. Why does he get in these knots of pseudo-erudition instead of addressing profound themes? Looking at his classical works you might be reminded of the French artist Nicolas Poussin. But in Poussin's most famous painting, Et in Arcadia Ego, shepherds puzzle over an inscription on a stone monument that translates as 'I too am in Arcadia', or maybe 'I was also in Arcadia'. Latin is a richly terse language, the interpretation varies, but however you read it, this refers to death. There is death, even in Arcadia. It is universal. Finlay completely lacks the sobriety and truth of Poussin. We all die, by the guillotine or some other way. Rhetorically raving about the glories of Jacobin violence is the opposite of the melancholy insights of great art. On this evidence, Finlay's works won't last another century. Ian Hamilton Finlay: Fragments is at Victoria Miro Gallery, London, until 24 May.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Much Will Rocket Lab Get From the Space Force?
From April 2 to April 8, the S&P 500 index fell by more than 12% in response to President Donald Trump's imposition of steep "reciprocal tariffs" on imports from nearly every country around the world. The market surged back by 9.5% after Trump temporarily paused some (but not all) of his new tariffs on Wednesday -- but then swung around and gave back half of those gains on Thursday as investors further digested where the looming trade war stood. "Roller coaster" doesn't begin to describe the ride we investors find ourselves on right now. "Tower of Terror" would be more accurate. And yet, if you'll forgive me for switching metaphors, it's during times like these that investors must take care not to miss the forest for the trees. And the forest surrounding space company Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) is looking very, very green right now. Late last month, before tariff news started taking over all the headlines, Rocket Lab announced that the U.S. Space Force had included it in Phase 3, Lane 1 of the National Security Space Launch program, (NSSL3.1). What is NSSL3.1? Basically, it's an umbrella contract under which the government gathers all of the companies that it believes will be capable of launching the kinds of satellites and spacecraft it will want launched over the next five years. The government has set a maximum value for all contracts to be awarded under that umbrella, and all the companies sitting in its shade can bid on the various specific launches that need to be done. (In the industry, this is known as an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) award.) In the specific case of NSSL3.1, the IDIQ is valued at $5.6 billion, meaning that theoretically, Rocket Lab could win up to $5.6 billion worth of contracts from Space Force over a period running from June 2024 through June 2029. In reality, the contracts awarded and money earned under NSSL3.1 will almost certainly be spread across all five companies that have been put under the umbrella -- of which Rocket Lab is only one. So an extremely rough guess might be that Rocket Lab will end up getting 20% or so of the money on offer -- $1.1 billion. Spread over the five years of NSSL3.1, that would amount to additional annual revenues of $220 million for the company. Granted, "$220 million" may not sound as impressive as "$5.6 billion." It's still an amount equal to just over half of all the revenue Rocket Lab raked in last year. Other competitors for NSSL3.1 include Blue Origin, SpaceX, the United Launch Alliance (a Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) joint venture), and also privately held space company Stoke Space. So while Rocket Lab, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin are only a few of the space companies under this umbrella contract, they are the only ones that retail investors can easily invest in. One factor that may work against Rocket Lab in winning specific launches is the fact that, unlike Blue Origin's New Glenn, SpaceX's Falcon 9, or United Launch Alliance's Vulcan, the rocket that Rocket Lab will be offering in its bids on NSSL3.1 contracts, Neutron, has not yet actually flown into orbit. Nor, for that matter, has Stoke's "Nova" rocket, so Stoke is at a similar (hopefully temporary) disadvantage. Investors should anticipate that the first task order contracts awarded under NSSL3.1 will probably go to the companies that already have rockets that are certified and flying: Blue Origin, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance. Whether Rocket Lab can overcome its disadvantages, and how many launch contracts it will end up winning under NSSL3.1, will depend heavily on how soon it's able to conduct its inaugural Neutron rocket launch. Plans for a launch by around mid-year were recently upset, but if all goes well, Rocket Lab could still get its first Neutron into orbit in the second half of 2025. If it succeeds, the company stands a good chance of winning a substantial portion of the NSSL3.1 funds on offer over the next few years. It also, in the opinion of Wall Street analysts, will stand a good chance of turning free-cash-flow positive as early as next year. Before you buy stock in Rocket Lab USA, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Rocket Lab USA wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $495,226!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $679,900!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 796% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 155% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of April 5, 2025 Rich Smith has positions in Rocket Lab USA. The Motley Fool recommends Lockheed Martin and Rocket Lab USA. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. How Much Will Rocket Lab Get From the Space Force? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
See - Sada Elbalad
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
Marvel Hits Pause on "Nova," "Strange Academy," & "Terror, Inc." TV Series
Marvel Television has paused development on three projects: "Nova," "Strange Academy", and "Terror, Inc." Sources said that these projects were never officially greenlit, and may still come to fruition at some point. The studio has simply shifted its priorities at the moment. The decision is also reflective of a new model for producing television that's emerged at Marvel in recent years. Marvel initially approached series development in much the same way it handled features: a slate was announced, and what was teased was more or less what got made. A couple of years ago, senior leadership decided to retool the development process, as they were also revamping their new Daredevil series, Born Again. Marvel's new approach to TV development is more traditional, with many more projects being developed than will ultimately be made, and showrunners being brought in to oversee each. Shifting to a more typical greenlight process made sense, as the studio looked to maintain audience engagement amid new realities facing the industry. In addition to the prospect of superhero fatigue and content oversaturation, there was the reality of a market contraction, which led the studio to pull back significantly on the amount of projects released each year. Marvel has spoken publicly about the overhaul of its development strategy, as in a Screen Rant interview published last August with Brad Winderbaum, Marvel Studios' Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation. 'We're developing more than we make now, so we're actually have a few different things brewing that we might see through to at least a pilot script to see if we want to make it,' said Winderbaum. 'But, there's a lot of opportunity out there, it's hard to choose favorites… We're really being careful about what we choose to do next.' Originally, Marvel turned to Sabir Pirzada to pen an adaptation of "Nova", as we revealed in 2022. Boasting multiple aliases — the original and most famous being Richard Rider — Nova is a character created by Marv Wolfman and John Romita Sr., a cosmic-powered hero and last survivor of the intergalactic military and police force known as the Nova Corps, who wields the Nova Force to protect the universe. The character first appeared in Nova #1 in 1976. Marvel was active on the project as recently as this past December, announcing then that Criminal Minds alum Ed Bernero had been hired as the writer and showrunner for the series, replacing Pirzada. If Nova was the most concrete of the three projects put on pause, "Strange Academy", and "Terror, Inc." were also rumored for some time to be in development as a series for Disney+. "Strange Academy" would have been an adaptation of the eponymous comic book series, created by Skottie Young and artist Humberto Ramos, which debuted in March 2020. Set in New Orleans, it centers on a school founded by Doctor Strange to educate young individuals with magical abilities. The show was expected to focus on Wong, portrayed by Benedict Wong, and his leadership of the school. Amy Rardin, who wrote on Echo, was working on the show. Launched in 1992, the comic book series "Terror, Inc." centers on an antihero by the name of Terror, who possesses the ability to incorporate the body parts of others into his form, gaining their memories and abilities. Created by Dan Chichester, Margaret Clark, and Klaus Janson, the character first appeared under the name Shreck in St. George #2 in August 1988 before being reintroduced as Terror in the 1992 series. No word on who was involved with development. Up next for Marvel Television is "Daredevil: Born Again" on March 4. Elsewhere, live-action series coming up for release this year include "Ironheart", on June 24, and "Wonder Man", which is expected to debut this December. On the film side, the studio launched "Captain America: Brave New World" on Valentine's Day and has so far seen the film pull in over $204M globally. "Thunderbolts" is next up on May 2, with "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" following on July 25.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Nova, Strange Academy, & More No Longer a Priority for Marvel Television
, Strange Academy, and Terror, Inc. are no longer a priority for Marvel Television. According to a recent report from Deadline, Marvel Television has paused development on Nova, Strange Academy, and Terror, Inc. at this time. 'Sources stressed to Deadline that these projects were never officially greenlit, and may still come to fruition at some point,' the article reads. 'The studio has simply shifted its priorities at the moment.' Nova was seemingly the furthest along in the development phase, as it was announced in December 2024 that Ed Bernero had been hired as the MCU series' writer and showrunner. Strange Academy and Terror, Inc., meanwhile, were both rumored to be in the works for some time; however, there was never any kind of official announcement made on either project. 'We're told the decision is also reflective of a new model for producing television that's emerged at Marvel in recent years,' Deadline's article further notes. 'Originally, Marvel approached series development in much the same way it handled features: a slate was announced, and what was teased was more or less what got made. A couple of years ago, senior leadership decided to retool the development process, as they were also revamping their new Daredevil series, Born Again.' Marvel Studios' new approach is to develop more projects than will actually be made. The general idea is to hire individuals to develop potential series to the point where they have a pilot script, at which point the company can then decide whether or not they want to move forward with the project. 'In addition to the prospect of superhero fatigue and content oversaturation, there was the reality of a market contraction, which led the studio to pull back significantly on the amount of projects released each year,' Deadline's article also states. Daredevil: Born Again is scheduled to premiere in March 2025, while Ironheart is set for June 2025. Shows such as Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Zombies, and Wonder Man are also expected to premiere in 2025. Source: Deadline
