Paul Di’Anno, an English singer who was an early frontman for the popular heavy metal band Iron Maiden in the 1970s and ’80s, has died at his home in Salisbury, England. He was 66.

Conquest Music, a label that represented Mr. Di’Anno, announced his death in a statement on social media on Monday. No additional details were given.

Mr. Di’Anno, whose legal name was Paul Andrews, gained popularity on the heavy metal scene in the late 1970s after he joined Iron Maiden as the band’s lead singer. He performed with the band from 1978 through 1981.

After leaving Iron Maiden, Mr. Di’Anno performed with other bands such as Battlezone and Killers and also played solo. He released his first career retrospective album, “The Book of the Beast,” in September.

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Mr. Di’Anno said in a recent interview with Metal Hammer magazine that he didn’t blame the band for replacing him with Bruce Dickinson, who would go on to lead Iron Maiden during its most successful years.

“In the end I couldn’t give 100 percent to Maiden anymore and it wasn’t fair to the band, the fans or to myself,” he said.

In his autobiography, “The Beast,” which was published in 2010, Mr. Di’Anno wrote that he also thought his band members had grown worried about his partying habits, a topic he wrote openly about.

“That was just the way I was,” he wrote. “I’d let off a bit of steam, have a few drinks and generally act as if I was taking part in a 24-hour party, which I honestly felt I was.”

Mr. Di’Anno suffered from health issues in the past few years, but he continued to perform shows in a wheelchair. He played more than 100 shows since 2023, according to his label.

Paul Andrews was born in Chingford, East London, on May 17, 1958. In “The Beast,” he wrote that he had an interest in music since he was young. He remembered skipping school once to see the band AC/DC, which he described as “just on the verge of becoming really big then.”

Back in 2021, Universal Pictures, Blumhouse Productions, and director Scott Derrickson brought us an adaptation of the Joe Hill short story The Black Phone (check out our review HERE) that appeared to tell a complete story that would stand on its own… but the film was made on a budget of around $16 million and earned over $160 million at the global box office. So, on October 17, 2025, we’ll be getting The Black Phone 2. In a video that was shown to New York Comic Con attendees during the Blumhouse panel there, Derrickson said that he sees the sequel as a high school coming-of-age film.

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Derrickson wrote the screenplay for the first film with C. Robert Cargill, and Derrickson and Cargill have written the screenplay for The Black Phone 2 as well. They’re also producing the sequel with Blumhouse’s Jason Blum and Ryan Turek. The sequel will see the return of Mason Thames (How to Train Your Dragon) as Finney Shaw, Madeleine McGraw (Secrets of Sulphur Springs) as Finney’s sister Gwen, Jeremy Davies (Justified) as their dad Terrence, and Miguel Mora, whose only previous credit is The Black Phone, as Robin, a friend of Finney’s who was killed in the first movie. Ethan Hawke (Moon Knight) will be reprising the role of the child-killer known as The Grabber. One new addition to the cast is Demián Bichir of The Hateful Eight.

Blum told NYCC attendees, “When did movie did well, [I asked the filmmakers], ‘Can we figure out a sequel? Some directors say yes, some directors say no. Scott said, ‘Let me and Cargill think about it.’” Derrickson and Cargill eventually told him they could make a sequel if Hawke and the rest of the original cast could return. Blum said, “And that was music to my ears.“

Derrickson couldn’t make it to the Comic Con because he’s in pre-production on The Black Phone 2 in Toronto, but in a pre-recorded video that was shown, he said, “I didn’t really feel any obligation to do a sequel to The Black Phone, but I got excited by an idea that [author] Joe Hill sent me shortly after the release of the first film. And what I can also tell you is that in the same way that The Black Phone was a middle school coming-of-age film, this is a high school coming-of-age film.” He added that, “I’m hoping to make a film as good as, if not better than, the first one.“

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/20962941

Paranormal researcher Brian J. Cano has been investigating ghosts for 22 years now, visiting locations all across the globe.

Brian started out as a skeptic but now he says he’s a skeptical believer, which means he thinks there’s something out there but is skeptical on how it’s reported. Saying not everything that happens during the night is paranormal activity.

One of those stories talks about Brian’s demonic experience with the circle of fire at the Grand Midway Hotel. Brian says, “When I say off the chart, I mean literally you go down the list: Chris was getting touched, I was hearing things audibly, Lisa Ann was communing directly with spirits… it was the most poignant encounter I ever had.”

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/18963399

When Godzilla Minus One hit theaters, no one could have seen just how big the movie would become. The project ushered in a new era for Toho as the Japanese company took Godzilla back to basics. With director Takashi Yamazaki at the helm, the movie has gone on to become one of the best in Godzilla’s history. Much of its success came on the back of its director, and now, it seems like Yamazaki is interested in revisiting the IP so long as he can remake a classic Godzilla film.

The confession comes from Yamazaki directly as the director appeared at New York Comic Con. It was there guests like Kaiju United got to learn more about movie monsters, and Yamazaki admitted he is interested in remaking Godzilla vs Hedorah.

“I think that for its time, Hedorah was a very cutting-edge kaiju. Thinking about the type of visual expression we can do with technology and how far it’s come today – I’m imagining how it would move, and I think that would be a really cool remake,” the director shared. And as you can imagine, the Godzilla fandom is now begging for Toho to greenlight such a movie for Yamazaki.

When Godzilla Minus One hit theaters, no one could have seen just how big the movie would become. The project ushered in a new era for Toho as the Japanese company took Godzilla back to basics. With director Takashi Yamazaki at the helm, the movie has gone on to become one of the best in Godzilla’s history. Much of its success came on the back of its director, and now, it seems like Yamazaki is interested in revisiting the IP so long as he can remake a classic Godzilla film.

The confession comes from Yamazaki directly as the director appeared at New York Comic Con. It was there guests like Kaiju United got to learn more about movie monsters, and Yamazaki admitted he is interested in remaking Godzilla vs Hedorah.

“I think that for its time, Hedorah was a very cutting-edge kaiju. Thinking about the type of visual expression we can do with technology and how far it’s come today – I’m imagining how it would move, and I think that would be a really cool remake,” the director shared. And as you can imagine, the Godzilla fandom is now begging for Toho to greenlight such a movie for Yamazaki.

What is the most cherished movie from your early childhood? Probably not The Warriors, Walter Hill’s fierce thriller about New York gang battles. But as Lin-Manuel Miranda says with a grin: “Our friend’s older brother had the VHS …” Which is how four-year-old Miranda found himself watching the film that, 40 years later, the Hamilton composer has turned into a musical concept album with playwright Eisa Davis.

He describes the nefarious mood in the room as the video played. “Here’s something you’re not supposed to be seeing. But let’s watch it. This is what New York is really like at night.” The cult 1979 film follows a Coney Island clan on a hair-raising journey home from the Bronx after being falsely accused of killing the leader of the city’s biggest gang. They encounter “every fear you’re supposed to have as a New Yorker” says Miranda. “Falling into the train tracks. The wrong cop on the wrong night. Stepping into the wrong neighbourhood at the wrong time when some shit that has nothing to do with you pops off.”

The film is propelled by a rock soundtrack with suspenseful synths, as well as songs like Nowhere to Run – played “for all you boppers out there” by an enigmatic DJ. It was adapted from Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel (itself inspired by Xenophon’s ancient epic Anabasis, about a Greek army’s homeward odyssey) and Yurick referenced rock’n’roll, the Beatles and pachanga music throughout his tale.

The album was created in the same mould as Jesus Christ Superstar and the Who’s Tommy, which were both released as LPs before becoming stage musicals. The former was “a north star for us”, says Miranda.

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Miranda’s chief change was to make all the Warriors female, a decision inspired by the Gamergate incident in 2014, which he sums up as “terminally online dudes doxing women who dared to like video games”. That misogynistic behaviour reminded Miranda of the “malignant chaos” in the film that’s caused by Luther shooting Cyrus, the city’s almighty gang leader who was proposing a truce among the tribes; Luther then blames the Warriors. Miranda and Davis’s gang share a sisterly solidarity as they essentially reclaim the night. Cyrus is now female too, played by Lauryn Hill.

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The big question is: will Miranda and Davis’s Warriors get all dressed up and hit the stage? Miranda thinks back to when Hamilton tickets were gold dust. With the album of The Warriors, he says, “you’re not getting the soundtrack to a show you can’t see. You are getting the thing we made. That feels enormously gratifying.” But he admits a theatrical version would be “enormous fun”, and they are open to the idea. All you boppers out there: The Warriors’ journey surely won’t end here.

Background

The balancing point of “cozy Lovecraftian horror” is going to be subjective. It needs to at least work as a weird tale on its own; it needs to be a part of or allude to the Mythos in a way that the readers can recognize and respond to. Jose Cruz’ four elements of Familiarity, Sensuousness, Distance, and Fun are all important—but three of those, at least, are typical of most Mythos stories by default. Readers rarely identify with finding our great-great-great-grandma was a Deep One or Ape Princess, or experience the anxiety of living in the attic room of a witch house and dealing with an extradimensional rodent infestation when they really should be focusing on their finals. The Fun aspect of cozy horror is probably the trickiest and most argumentative aspect of the whole business.

That being said, I believe “On Safari in R’lyeh and Carcosa with Gun and Camera” (2020) by Elizabeth Bear stands out as a very good representation of cozy Lovecraftian horror. The overall shape of the narrative is intensely familiar: how many scions of Innsmouth (never mentioned under that name) have come back home, in how many different variations? Yet the way the story is told is relatively light and novel: a fifty-something female physics professor with tenure and a penchant for sushi. A perfect setup for any number of funny-because-its-true comments about the lives of women in academia.

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It is the kind of good, clean fun that you can have when you learn to stop worrying and love the Lovecraft Mythos—and it managed to do it without naming Deep Ones, without running across a copy of the Necronomicon, and only mentioning Miskatonic Univeristy once and in regards to a failed graduate thesis in genetics. If the rules at play seem to owe a little more to the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game than Lovecraft’s original, then at least Bear has the good sense not to recapitulate the entire Mythos, August Derleth style. She gives just enough lore to keep things moving, and no more.

Nick Robinson tripped up over the shadow chancellor’s name on BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme – and hilariously didn’t even realise he’d done it.

The BBC presenter became the latest journalist to make the infamous gaffe on Friday morning, slipping up as he grilled Alison McGovern, the employment minister, on welfare cuts ahead of the Budget.

“The Tories announced £12 billion in welfare cuts, and at the time, the Labour Party condemned that,” he said.

“They said that Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Cunt, had no idea where they get the money.”

Robinson later apologies for the slip-up, saying he repeated what was known as the Jim Naughtie error in his last interview

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Mr Naughtie, a former Today programme presenter, famously made the blunder during an interview with Mr Hunt in 2010, with many others since falling into the foul-mouthed trap

Talk about a blast from gaming’s past, Steve Jackson Games announced that it will be rereleasing the Fighting Fantasy solo adventure series.

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Back in the 80s, Fighting Fantasy did some innovative work in the solo adventure field. And this was before the term “solo RPG” was as widely used as it is today. While there are some elements that might feel familiar, like turning to page 52 if you decide to pick the goblin’s pocket, these books also had their own dice system. Your character had three stats: Skill, Stamina, and Luck, and you’d roll d6s when making certain decisions and pick up an inventory of items along the way.

Funnily enough, the series was launched by Sir Ian Livingstone (of Games Workshop fame) and Steve Jackson—though not the Steve Jackson of SJ Games. Soon, it will also be that Steve Jackson. Here’s what we know.

Steve Jackson Games announced that they have worked out a new deal with Sir Ian Livingstone to bring back the Fighting Fantasy series to the United States. Livingstone and Jackson co-created the solo Choose Your Own Adventure series back in 1982, where players use their own judgment to decide where the story takes them. The series uses a combination of nonlinear narratives with dice-rolling tabletop RPG mechanics to give players multiple paths that will either lead to glory or death. Now, the series will make a return to the U.S. market next year as five new books will be in the works for 2025. We have more info below on the new set from the announcement.

Here’s a look at the announcement from Steve Jackson Games:

“In 1982, British game designers Sir Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson introduced Fighting Fantasy, a revolutionary set of solo adventure books that combined nonlinear narratives with dice-rolling tabletop RPG mechanics. Now, this fantastical, multi-million-selling book series returns to the United States thanks to an historic 50-book publishing collaboration with Steve Jackson Games.”

Fifty books is a lot of books, first of all. But it does look like the whole series is back on the table. Including the Fighting Fantasy books that were written by Steve Jackson of Steve Jackson games. Because the confusion doesn’t stop at just here being two people named Steve Jackson who work in the gaming industry like that.

According to Steve Jackson Games, the first five books are due to be released in early 2025, with five more coming later in the year. That’s ten solo adventures you can tromp off on after the year turns. So get ready to see how many different ways you die, either by your own choice or by the dice falling where they may.

Ian Livingstone has also released a statement:

"To have a new publisher in the USA is a special moment in the history of Fighting Fantasy," said Sir Ian Livingstone. "We have known Steve Jackson for more than 40 years, having distributed Steve Jackson Games in the 1980s when we owned Games Workshop. Steve also wrote three fantastic Fighting Fantasy books, which caused a lot of confusion at the time when people didn't realize there were two Steve Jacksons! We look forward to exciting times ahead in the USA for new and existing Fighting Fantasy fans."

Original press release

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/18923980

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has dismissed suggestions that plans to provide weight loss jabs to unemployed people with obesity are "dystopian".

The UK government is partnering with pharmaceutical giant Lilly who are running a five-year trial in Greater Manchester to test if the weight-loss drug Mounjaro can help get more people back to work and prevent obesity-related diseases to ease the strain on the NHS in England.

The announcement prompted a backlash, with accusations that the government was stigmatising unemployed individuals and reducing people to their economic value.

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Streeting said the jabs were part of a broader healthcare plan, adding that he was "not interested in some dystopian future where I involuntarily jab unemployed people who are overweight".

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has dismissed suggestions that plans to provide weight loss jabs to unemployed people with obesity are "dystopian".

The UK government is partnering with pharmaceutical giant Lilly who are running a five-year trial in Greater Manchester to test if the weight-loss drug Mounjaro can help get more people back to work and prevent obesity-related diseases to ease the strain on the NHS in England.

The announcement prompted a backlash, with accusations that the government was stigmatising unemployed individuals and reducing people to their economic value.

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Streeting said the jabs were part of a broader healthcare plan, adding that he was "not interested in some dystopian future where I involuntarily jab unemployed people who are overweight".