Disneyland to reimagine Jungle Cruise ride following years of criticism
(CNN) — Disney has announced that it is rethinking a classic theme park attraction following years of criticism from fans. The Jungle Cruise ride, where a wisecracking skipper ferries guests along a waterway, is one of the last attractions at the theme parks that was personally overseen by Walt Disney himself. The ride is at both of the US theme parks — Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida. However, Jungle Cruise has not aged as gracefully as some other attractions. Although the ride was inspired by nature documentaries, one of the sights along the river route is a scene of “natives,” which depicts them as wild, primitive and threatening. In a press release, Disney confirmed the ride’s upcoming overhaul. Among the changes will be a new animated skipper character. “As Imagineers, it is our responsibility to ensure experiences we create and stories we share reflect the voices and perspective of the world around us,” said Carmen Smith, creative development and inclusion strategies executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, in a statement.
These Are the Star Wars Stamps You’re Looking For
R2-D2 once delivered the Death Star plans to the Rebellion; soon, the plucky astromech — and nine other Star Wars droids — will help your mail reach its destination, too. The U.S. Postal Service announced today a new series of Star Wars stamps, all devoted to our favorite galactic droids. Designed by Greg Breeding with William Gicker serving as art director, the collection will be available on a pane of 20 stamps and feature droids from both film and animation, including IG-11, R2-D2, K-2SO, D-O, L3-37, BB-8, C-3PO, a Gonk droid, 2-1B surgical droid, and Chopper. Look for these droid-tastic stamps to arrive in spring 2021 and check them out below!
Invincible live-action movie will exist separate from Amazon’s animated series
The Invincible movie, revealed in 2017 as an adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s original comics, is still very much alive and kicking. Kirkman confirmed to EW that the big-screen adaptation remains in the “very early going” stages but will be a separate live-action version than the upcoming adult animated series on Amazon Prime Video. “That is still very much in development. That hasn’t changed. We’re just taking a long time,” the comic creator told EW of the film in an interview for the Amazon show. “But we’ve been fortunate enough to have a two-track plan with Invincible. Right now we’ve got the animated series at Amazon, which is now on the cusp of launching, and then we’re also still developing it as a film series with Universal, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg attached. So, those two things are still very much happening concurrently, which is somewhat weird, I guess. But there’ve been Spider-Man animated series and Spider-Man movies at the same time. So, I think we’re in good company.”
U.S. commission cites ‘moral imperative’ to explore AI weapons
(Reuters) – The United States should not agree to ban the use or development of autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI) software, a government-appointed panel said in a draft report for Congress. The panel, led by former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, on Tuesday concluded two days of public discussion about how the world’s biggest military power should consider AI for national security and technological advancement. Its Vice Chairman Robert Work, a former deputy secretary of defense, said autonomous weapons are expected to make fewer mistakes than humans do in battle, leading to reduced casualties or skirmishes caused by target misidentification. “It is a moral imperative to at least pursue this hypothesis,” he said. The discussion waded into a controversial frontier of human rights and warfare. For about eight years, a coalition of non-governmental organizations has pushed for a treaty banning “killer robots,” saying human control is necessary to judge attacks’ proportionality and assign blame for war crimes. Thirty countries including Brazil and Pakistan want a ban, according to the coalition’s website, and a United Nations body has held meetings on the systems since at least 2014.
