Category Archives: Immortality

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is fast approaching, and the sheer number of TV spots being released by Disney and LucasFilm is becoming slightly overwhelming. While we still have little idea of what's going to actually happen in Episode 9 the final instalment in the Skywalker saga there are numerous clues that fans have picked up on. One of them concerns a certain dagger.

At around the 13-second point in the above footage, Rey can be spotted holding up a blade, affectionately known as the "Sith Dagger" by fans. We've actually seen this before in a Rise of Skywalker trailer, though only those who analysed every frame would have actually picked up on the weapon being present. In the final trailer, when Rey and Kylo smash a statue of a Darth Vader-looking person, the dagger can be seen in Rey's left hand.

So, why all the fuss about a dagger? Well, turns out Star Wars fans may have seen the weapon before. In the Clone Wars animated series, the Dagger of Mortis is introduced. The item was used by a character known as the Father, a powerful Force user, as a means to control his own children and make them immortal. In the series, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker come to fight the Father's own son, and it all ends with the Father being killed by the dagger, thus ending his children's immortality. The blade, as well as the planet it's housed on, Mortis, then disappeared.

Could the powerful dagger have been found again? Perhaps by the Knights of Ren, for Kylo's use? Or by Palpatine, to grant himself immortality? Then how would it have ended up with Rey? Unless this is all part of Palpatine's evil plan, nine movies in the making? Maybe that's not even the same dagger and we're clutching at straws? Perhaps there's more than one mystical dagger in the galaxy far, far away? Maybe Rey will kill Palpatine once and for all with the dagger?

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker director J.J. Abrams recently hinted that we'll see new uses for the Force in the upcoming movie. It was really important that we not just redo the things youve seen, but add new elementswhich we knew will infuriate some people and thrill others," he told Vanity Fair. Could Abrams be alluding to one of the characters using the dagger? Becoming immortal? So. Many. Questions. Luckily, we don't have too long to wait, as Rise of Skywalker reaches UK cinemas 19 December and Us theatres 20 December.

For more on Star Wars, check out our deep-dive into theStar Wars timelineand our article onhow to watch the Star Wars movies in order including seven different ways!

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New Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker TV spot teases what fans have dubbed the "Sith Dagger" - GamesRadar+

Maiken Nedergaard considers herself a pragmatic woman. Shes got kids, a career, and she knows she feels better after a solid night of shut-eye. Shes also a neuroscientist at the forefront of research showing the biological value of sleep. In studies she coauthored in 2013 and 2019, she documented how during sleep, fluid washes over our brains, clearing out toxins like beta amyloid, which is linked to neurodegenerative diseases.

Suddenly sleep became a tonic: an Alzheimers wonder drug available, for free, every evening. For Nedergaard, the results made her anxious about her own bedtime priorities. Now, she says, I take sleep very seriously.

For the rest of us, who dont have labs full of equipment to study the inner workings of the brain, theres a growing suite of gadgets offering the illusion of science: nightly reports full of numbers and charts purporting to show just how well were performing while conked out. Fitbit kicked off this trend when it released the first tracker in 2009.

Little more than a glorified pedometer at the time, the Fitbit couldnt monitor your heart rate, pay for anything, or even tell you the time. (It even shorted a WIRED reviewers run by 0.6 mile: Not cool!) But it did include a sleep tracker that measured the duration and quality of your slumber, producing a sleep efficiency score. Since then, obsession with sleep optimization has only grown. The global sleep-tracking market topped $1 billion in 2016. Its expected to increase by another 18 percent by 2024.

Sleep, once no more glamorous than taking a shower, is now perched at the pinnacle of the well-being-as-a-lifestyle trend. The irony is that by agonizing over sleep, its also turning into a source of anxietythe kind of thing that keeps people up at night. Fears over bad sleep are getting the TED treatment and topping best-seller lists.

In his semi-pop-science distillation of research, Why We Sleep, UC Berkeley psychologist Matthew Walker warns that sleep loss is an epidemic that could have dire consequences. Our chronically overtired brains make our bodies more susceptible to diabetes, cancer, and other diseases, he argued. Getting a good 40 winks, on the other hand, would improve memory and mood, and even make us feel and look younger. Sleep is a nonnegotiable biological necessity, Walker proclaimed in his 2019 TED talk. It is your life support system. And it is Mother Natures best attempt at immortality.

Who among us would scoff at immortality?

And so weve slipped Oura rings onto fingers and wrapped Fitbits and Apple Watches around wrists. Beneath sheets and mattresses weve concealed Beddits and Emfits, sensors that promise to monitor heart rates and sleep cycles from their discreet hiding places. We track our REM and non-REM cycles, scrutinizing the length, quality, and depth of our rest on Reddit forums like r/sleep and r/Biohackers, where users write about the benefits of cold showers and question the need for pillows.

All this measuring, rating, tracking, and comparing now amounts to a new sleep disorder that some scientists are calling orthosomnia. A coinage of Greek origin that merges "straight" or "correct" with "sleep," orthosomnia is a condition where anxiety over proper sleep metrics actually induces insomnia.

The patients' inferred correlation between sleep tracker data and daytime fatigue may become a perfectionistic quest, wrote the researchers from Northwestern and Rush universities who came up with the term after observing three cases of people who relied more on their sleep-tracking data than on the advice of experts. In one case, a 27-year-old woman insisted she wasnt getting enough deep sleep and underwent a full examination in the lab. The test concluded she slept normally, but she remained unconvinced. Then why does my Fitbit say I am sleeping poorly? she asked.

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Stop Obsessing Over SleepYour Brain Will Thank You - WIRED

2019 hasnt been the best year at the movies for Amazon Studios. Their big, splashy Sundance acquisitions the Mindy Kaling vehicle Late Night, Scott Z. Burns The Report, and Brittany Runs a Marathon all flopped in one way or another, so much so that the distributor is shortening the theatrical windows for their titles from now on. One of these casualties is Bert and Berties Troop Zero, which we saw back at Sundance and didnt care much for, but figured it would see a big ol theatrical release given how broadly it appealed to audiences. Sadly, thats not really the case anymore, and Amazon has largely been pretty silent about its release prospects in the intervening months. That changed on Thursday when the distributor finally dropped a trailer for the movie. Your mileage may vary, but a whole lot of you might find it cute.

Take a look:

So, yeah. Youre either going to be with that or not, despite having a cast with the likes of Viola Davis and Allison Janney in it.

But here is what we think will be this movies defining legacy: The fact that it has the single longest synopsis from a distributor that weve ever seen in a press release. Just look at this thing, its massive!

In a tiny Georgia town in 1977, a motherless girl dreams of life beyond the confines of her trailer-park home in Troop Zero. When her quest for connection leads her to reach for the stars in a competition to be included on NASAs landmark Golden Record, it becomes clear she will have to depend on some new friends to take her the last mile.

Every night, Christmas Flint (Mckenna Grace) sits under a starry sky with a flashlight, signaling to extraterrestrial visitors that never arrive. Sensitive, imaginative and deeply lonely, Christmas and her equally eccentric best friend Joseph are the ultimate misfits in their rural hometown of Wiggly, Georgia. When Christmas learns that the winners of the annual Birdie Scout Jamboree talent contest will be included on a recording to be sent into space for posterity, her mission in life becomes to join the Scouts and win Jamboree.

When she is blackballed by the snobbish local Birdie Scout troop and their uptight leader Miss Massey (Allison Janney), Christmas rallies a group of elementary-school outliers to start their own chapter. With grudging help from her dads irascible office manager, Miss Rayleen (Viola Davis), Christmas and her crew have to bypass every roadblock Miss Massey can find in the fine print of the Birdie bylaws in order to reach the Jamboree and their chance at immortality.

From Christmas solitary late-night vigils to a final show-stopping musical performance, Troop Zero is an endearing and magical tale set against a backdrop of beloved hits of the 70s, as Christmas forges friendships that will change her life and help her find a real family.

Jesus Christ, right? Thats practically a fucking novel!

Troop Zero hits Prime Video on January 17.

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Prepare to die from cuteness over this 'Troop Zero' trailer - Vanyaland

In 1997, The Onion published the article, World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100 Percent.

While immortality is a quest for lots of fictional characters like Voldemort and the Cullens from Twilight and a few Silicon Valley eliteslike Jeff Bezos, that headline from The Onion still holds true more than two decades later.

Duh. Everybody dies.

But a lingering taboo around death in the U.S. makes it hard to talk about. People in and around the funeral industry are hoping to change that.

Talking about sex is not going to get you pregnant, and talking about death is not going to kill you, said Darren Crouch, founder and president of Passages International Inc.

Not only are we not talking about death, were also trying not to think about it. Only 1 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds plan their own funeral before experiencing the death of a loved one. That number jumps to nearly 20 percent following the death of a loved one, according to CJP Field.

The Green Burial Councils Holly Chan, 24, thinks its time for everyone to start talking about and planning for the inevitable.

At the end of October, shes hosting a talk called Death over Dim Sum at the Reimagine End of Life festival in San Francisco thats bringing together end-of-life experts and Asian Americans of all ages.

Age doesnt really change how much contact you have with death, she said. We could die at any time.

Family members arent any better off not having discussed the wishes of a deceased loved one, she said. Instead, theyre often left with uncertainty and an expensive funeral.

I think this conversation is relevant at any time, she said, adding that its OK to change your idea of what your funeral might look like as your life changes.

Caitlin Doughty runs the YouTube account Ask A Mortician, which has more than 900,000 subscribers. She vlogs about topics like budget-friendly funeral options, new types of caskets and scams within the funeral industry. She also talks about death positivity.

Do not beat yourself up over where you are in your journey to accept death, Doughty said in a video called 7 Habits of Highly Effective Death Positive People.

Yeah, theres a lot about death that sucks, she continued. Its OK to feel bad about death.

But death is a journey that isnt going away. Its time to get comfy with it, she says.

Death doulas are trying to spread the same message by posting about their work on Instagram.

A doula is traditionally someone trained to support and comfort pregnant people and their partners during the pregnancy and birth process. Now, the same idea is being used in end-of-life care.

Chan has found comfort in the growing number of people on Instagram talking about the job of a death doula. She hopes it will bring more attention to the topic of death and dying and spark conversation.

Social media is already shifting some long-held taboos around death, said intergenerational expertHenry RoseLee.

Social media has removed many taboos about what can be seen, shared and discussed, she said.

Younger generations are trying to confront topics that have been impolite to talk about in the past.

Millennials dont want to die any more than any other generation, Lee said. Theyre just embracing the need to discuss quite tough subjects, like death.

[ICYMI: We Asked a Mortician About the Death-Positive Movement, and This is What She Said]

As more people talk about death, more people are moving away from the traditional funeral the kind with a funeral home, casket and everyone standing around in black.

In the same way people are personalizing their wedding ceremonies more and more, people are wanting the same for their funerals, Lee said.

I have even talked to some millennials who are planning a band or performers of some kind, she said. Many see the funeral as a chance to celebrate.

Chan has heard people planning on an end of life celebration before they die, withfirework displays, motorcycles and games.

Lee points out that all this can be done in addition to any traditions, religious or otherwise, you want to include.

Religion does still have an impact on decisions about funerals and death, she said.

However, nearly four in 10 adults ages 18 to 29 are religiously unaffiliated. And they are four times more likely as those a generation ago to identify that way, according to a study by the Public Religion Research Institute.

Due to that shift, it is likely that, in the decades to come, millennials may move away from some of the older traditions, Lee said. Time will tell.

One of the biggest movements in the funeral industry is green funerals, including more environmentally friendly burial options.

In 2018, nearly 54 percent of Americans were considering a green burial, according to a survey released by the National Funeral Directors Association.

Green burial is for everybody, said Lee Webster of the Green Burial Council.

Traditional burial methods like being embalmed and buried in a metal casket take a toll on the environment. Green burial uses biodegradable plain wooden caskets, shrouds, tree pods or coral reefs.And the options are expanding.

One family Crouch talked to put a family members remains in a biodegradable turtle-shaped urn. They dropped the urn into the sea. A real-life turtle swam up next to it, he said.

Its very, very powerful, he said. That family is never going to forget that service.

Though millennials are carrying on the push for greener funerals, boomers actually originated the idea. They were concerned about the land, what we were putting in it and how to conserve it, Webster said. It wasnt a climate change issue then but now it is.

People are living greener and it would be an obvious extension that they may expect to die greener, Crouch said. The problem is the industry has been very slow to change.

But millennials are normalizing the conversation around green burials, and then everybody follows, Webstersaid.

The gap between what people want and what funeral homes currently offer means a persons funeral might not line up with how they lived their life.

The industry is so used to doing the cookie-cutter funeral, Crouch said. Even though they may have driven a hybrid vehicle, maybe they were avid gardeners, maybe they were environmentalists, its not uncommon for that person to be embalmed and buried in a metal casket.

Webster literally wrote the textbook on potential solutions to this problem. Now mortuary school students are learning about environmentally friendly burials.

Its in the best interest of funeral homes to start adapting to what people want, Crouch said.As more and more options become available, think about how youd want to be celebrated and buried.

Washington just became the first state to allow human composting as a burial method. Who knows what could be next.

There are a lot of unique things on the horizon, Crouch said. Some of them may or may not be practical.

But, he said, the modern funeral director should listen to what was important to the person in life and present the family with all their options not just whats been done in the past.

Heather Morrison is a freelance reporter based in Los Angeles. She reports on religion and disability rights. Follow her onFacebook,TwitterandInstagramfor photos of her dog.

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Millennials Arent Killing the Funeral Industry But It is Changing - Rewire.org

The year 2019 had its ups and downs: TikTok went viral worldwide, Miley and Liam broke up, Meghan and Harry welcomed baby Archie. But nothing captures the zeitgeist of 2019 quite like what we listened to across the world.

In case you haven't heard, music streaming service Spotify does annual roundups of the most-streamed artists, songs and albums of the year, plus personalized roundups showing who you've been loving in 2019.

But Spotify's also lumped in a bonus this time around. This year's roundup happens to be on the eve of the roaring twenties, which means that you also get to see who's topped the Spotify charts for this decade.

Spotify has over 248 million active users monthly across 79 countries according to its investor relations website, making this a pretty good picture of what the world listens to. Here's what Spotify's data shows:

Post Malone, a man of Beerbongs, Bentleys and now, Spotify immortality, tops this list for the first time. This comes just 12 weeks after the release of his third album, "Hollywood's Bleeding". Honorable mentions go to breakout star Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande, who came second and third respectively after the success of their albums "WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?" and "thank u, next."

Let's all think about the fact that Billie Eilish is 17 years old and has two Grammy nominations and a RIAA-certified 2x Platinum album to her name. To add to her list of accolades, "WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?" also took the title for the top-streamed album of 2019.

Congratulations to Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello for taking over the radio (and our hearts) with their steamy collaboration "Seorita." The song has over one billion (yes, with a b) streams on Spotify, meaning that literally one-seventh of the world has listened to it.

Billie Eilish and Post Malone take second and third spots with "bad guy" and Swae Lee collab "Sunflower" respectively.

Lil Nas X, Lizzo and Lunay share this award this year for storming the scenes with their work on "Old Town Road," "Juice" and "pico" respectively.

The genre for the year was comedy, and the three most-streamed podcasts were "The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory & Mal," "My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark," and "Gemischtes Hack."

We apologize in advance for getting these songs stuck in your head all over again.

Open up your Spotify app, hit the home button, and it should be at the top of your screen! If you're on your computer, go to this link to find your personalized Spotify Wrapped list when you hit the "2019 Wrapped" image.

View Photo Gallery Getty All the Can't Miss Moments from the 2019 American Music Awards

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Who Was the Most Streamed Artist on Spotify in 2019? - TooFab

Marshall University unveiled the newly renovated Memorial Student Center Dec. 5.

Students, faculty and community members gathered to unveil the newly renovated Marshall University Memorial Student Center Thursday morning.

Opened in 1971, the building had not had a facelift since the 1990s. As the center of student life, the MSC was ready for some updates, according to William Tootie Carter, the MSC director of business operations.

The Student Center serves as a hub of campus; we like to call it the living room sometimes, and as you all know when you have a living room, you got to update it, Carter said. And it needed it. The last time we actually did a renovation, if you want to call it that, (was) back in the 90s. It was basically new flooring, light fixtures and that kind of thing.

Carter walked attendees at the unveiling through the space while sharing the new pieces of the room, including a new memorial piece.

Several updates from the stairs, the glass banisters, the flex space, the new flooring, the fireplace, you name it, Carter said. The football team memorial. A student came up with the idea to make it more interactive. Kyle Powers is a student and came up with a great idea to make it interactive. Its a touch screen. For instance, you can touch a player, a coach and it gives a little bio about them.

Along with the renovations to the student center, Carter spoke of the updates made to the bookstore and food court.

Marshall President Jerry Gilbert expressed thanks and recognition to all involved in the renovations to the building, as well as his feelings about the transformation.

This is a truly beautiful renovation, Gilbert said. Its so bright and modern. It is all that I had hoped it would be. We went from the Flintstones to the Jetsons.

Gilbert also included the meaning behind the MSC and the impact it has on not only those connected with Marshall, but to the community as well. He explained that the building serves as a memorial to those who died in the Nov. 14, 1970 plane crash, just like the fountain, and has similar meaning.

Harry Bertoia, the designer of the fountain, wanted to commemorate the waters of life. Rising, renewing, reaching to express upward growth, immortality and eternality, Gilbert said. On any given day, the student center does the exact same things. It is full of life and activity, and it is the main hub for students, staff and faculty on this campus. For the surrounding community, this building holds celebrations, banquets, parties, reunions and weddings. The Memorial Student Center has been the heart of many wonderful memories of Marshall sons and daughters for the past 48 years.

Following the ribbon cutting, a reception took place for guests to mingle and explore the new MSC.

Special thanks were given to all of those who worked to make the remodeling possible, including the Marshall University Board of Governors, Ed Tucker Architects Inc., E.P. Leach & Sons Inc., Follett Higher Education Group, Sodexo Inc., RossTarrant Architects and SWOPE Construction Co.

Brittany Hively can be contacted at [emailprotected].

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Newly renovated Memorial Student Center unveiled during Grand Re-Opening - MU The Parthenon

BAKERSFIELD AND OAKLAND, Calif. (KGET) The holiday season is in full swing, and what better way to celebrate than with a peppermint mocha?

Also this week, KGET staffers ate acai bowls from a new restaurant in east Bakersfield, and burgers from an Oakland establishment with a number of classic burger options as well as specialty selections.

Gorilla Bowl, Brazilian Muscle Bowls, 2509 Mt. Vernon Ave.

There are all sorts of claims that acai berries are a miracle food with properties that can fight aging, help weight loss and do everything but bestow immortality.

I dont know about the health benefits, but the ubiquitous bowls featuring what is essentially an acai smoothie at their center are certainly delicious.

One of the more recent acai shops to open is Brazilian Muscle Bowls on Mt. Vernon Avenue, which shares a strip mall with a Mexican restaurant, check cashing business and nail salon.

I ordered a medium-sized Gorilla Bowl which also has strawberries, bananas, granola and almond butter. It was plenty to fill me up for breakfast.

Filling AND healthy? I can get behind that.

Brazilian Muscle Bowls also serves pancakes, juices, lean burritos and other items.

Peppermint mocha, Cafe Smitten, 909 18th St. Bakersfield

Tis the season for peppermint mochas! wrote Producer Raquel Vega of this holiday special.

Cafe Smitten added a great touch with crushed candy cane on the saucer.

The Broadway Burger, Pattys & Buns Burgers, 2852 Mountain Blvd., Oakland

For Producer Raphael Stroud, all the worlds a stage. Thats probably why he chose the Broadway Burger during a recent trip to Oaklands Pattys & Buns Burgers.

With triple pepper ranch sauce, sauted mushrooms, caramelized onions, pickles, tomato and Swiss cheese on a toasted sesame seed bun, this burgers a show-stopper.

Excerpt from:

Best Eats This Week: Acai bowl, peppermint mocha and the Broadway Burger - KGET 17

This column is written as a special for Pittsburgh Soccer Now, by guest contributor Robert Bell.

The city has had its fair share of sporting heroes in the past. From tough as teak footballer players to legendary baseball stars, Pittsburgh has given us memorable moments from unforgettable personalities.

Soccer in the city hasnt yet produced a hero to match other sports.

Megan Klingenberg with the World Cup trophy...

It is true that Meghan Klingenberg has had a terrific career and that current players such as Robbie Mertz are sure to give us some highlights in the years to come, though.

To inspire them, we bring up some of the most incredible athletes we ever saw in this city of Pennsylvania.

So, what stars from the past do they need to live up to?

Bill Mazeroski

Few athletes have gone down in history for a single shot like Mazeroski has. He was born in Wheeling, West Virginia and raised in Ohio, but it was while wearing the colors of the Pittsburgh Pirates that he achieved baseball immortality.

In truth, his greatest strength was in defensive play at second base. Yet, he is best remembered for hitting the historic home run in game seven of the 1960 World Series against the New York Yankees. His game-winning home run is arguably the finest moment in Pittsburghs proud sporting history.

Jack Lambert

Born in Ohio, it was a stellar 11-year career with the Steelers that turned him into a football icon. Lambert was arguably the toughest linebacker of all time, and a key part of the famously mean defense that drove the team to a string of famous victories and made them into Super Bowl winners.

He originally wanted to study to become a vet, but never looked back after joining the Steelers in the 1974 NFL Draft. Despite largely staying out of the public eye since retiring in 1985, he made an appearance earlier in 2019 to sign memorabilia.

Willie Stargell

Stargell is another hugely popular player who wasnt born in the city but played here for his entire career. He joined the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1962 and stayed there for 21 memorable seasons. Among his claims to fame is that he hit no fewer than seven of the 18 balls that have sailed over the 86-foot tall stands at Forbes Fields.

His glittering career included seven All-Star appearances and a monumental 1979 season where his MVP performance inspired the Pirates to fight back against the Baltimore Orioles to win the World Series. This is a Pittsburgh sporting hero that wont ever be forgotten.

Mario Lemieux

Canadian-born Lemieux played for the Pittsburgh Penguins during 17 seasons. During that time, he came to be regarded as one of the best players to ever take to the ice. Known as The Magnificent One, he is an NHL legend thanks to his speed and skill.

His tremendous record with the Penguins includes several Stanley Cup triumphs, both as a player and later as the owner of the team. Remarkably, all of this was despite the fact that he suffered from numerous chronic health problems. The debate over whether he was better than Wayne Gretzkyremains one of the sports most fascinating subjects.

Robert Clemente

Clemente was born in Puerto Rico but become a hero in Pittsburgh during 18 seasons with the Pirates. He was the first Latin American/Caribbean player to enter the National Baseball Hall of Fame, following his tragic death in 1972.

His list of achievements is hugely impressive, with 12 Golden Glove Awards, 12 All-Star appearances, and 3,000 career hits. However, he is also fondly remembered now for his charity work and wonderful personality. It was while flying to help earthquake relief in Nicaragua that he died in a plane crash.

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Who is the best-loved sports personality in Pittsburgh? - Pittsburgh Soccer Now

Contains spoilers from The Flash Season 6, Episode 8.

Barry Allen may have spent this season of The Flash convincing everyone around him that he was processing the news of his imminent death well and that we should all be focused on helping his Team Flash friends and colleagues come to terms with it instead, but it appears that this isn't all that true after all.

Yes, last week's installment, 'The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 1', delved deep into the Scarlet Speedster's psyche - a result of him becoming infected with Bloodwork's disease - and highlighted just how desperate he is to live. And while nobody could surely blame him for feeling that way, this desperation led him down a surprisingly dark path.

But that was only the beginning for what we're now calling Dark Flash because this week's offering, the predictably titled 'The Last Temptation of Barry Allen, Pt. 2', highlighted the impact of Barry's moment of weakness and how, in spite of his newfound immortality, he has somewhat died inside. The urgency of his rampage made for a thrilling edge-of-seat adventure that successfully managed to set the stage for Crisis On Infinite Earths.

First, the negative...

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The Flash Season 6 Review: 6 Ups & 1 Down From 'The Last Temptation Of Barry Allen, Pt. 2' - WhatCulture

Still, thats an oversimplification of the process, which took about 500 artists and two years to perfect. When it comes to de-aging, visual-effects artists aim not to re-create or copy the image of an actors younger self, but to interpret the character being played. In Smiths case, his clone in Gemini Man was trained as an assassin, so he couldnt have the lanky build of Smith from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. On top of that, effects of this caliber require compromise: As much as dark lighting, long takes, and clever costuming help hide flaws in Juniors presentation, the film couldnt conceivably be told under such circumstances in every scene.

Lee admitted that the end result isnt perfectthe final, daylight-drenched scene looked goofy, he told mebut the film operated almost like a guinea pig for the cutting-edge technology he wanted to implement. As a director, Lee often pushes filmmaking boundaries, so the idea of furthering de-aging by building a full digital human sounded appealing. We are in a digital era, he explained, so to me its only logical to [de-age an actor] right in front of your eyes through digital effort.

Indeed, de-aging actors digitally is becoming the new normal in Hollywood. Though the practice of manipulating an actors look rather than casting age-appropriate performers has been around since the mid-2000sThe Curious Case of Benjamin Button being a prime examplevisual-effects artists have worked overtime on it this year. In March, the 90s-set Captain Marvel toyed with Samuel L. Jacksons appearance, erasing decades off his face. Marvel deployed the technique again in April, incorporating an estimated 200 aging and de-aging shots of various actors throughout Avengers: Endgame. Five months later, the horror sequel It Chapter Two de-aged its young cast members so that they would match their preteen looks from the first film. (Thanks, puberty!) And Martin Scorseses gangster epic The Irishman, released at the end of November, dialed back the ages of its stars, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesciall in their 70sto portray the lives of mobsters across entire lifetimes.

At a time when Hollywoods population of box-office-busting movie stars is dwindling, de-aging allows existing ones to be rebornor, at the very least, to ensure their longevity. For an industry that relies on rebooting franchises, its only logical that filmmakers would want to do the same to its bold-faced names. Consider the news that James Dean could be digitally resurrected to star in a new movie; taken to its bleakest, most Black Mirroresque extreme, the notion of re-creating deceased actors via visual-effects has implications that could pave the way for a new era of moviemaking.

Its a form of immortality, if you think about it, Olcun Tan, a visual-effects supervisor based in Los Angeles, told me. He pointed to Mickey Mouse as the optimal version of a movie star with staying power, a type of fictional character turned brand. To achieve everlasting fame, stars would go through the reverse, from being a household name to becoming a digitally reusable character, another tool in a filmmakers toolbox. Im not saying this is what the future will bring, because this is a little dark, but if you can imagine it, there is a likelihood it can happen, Tan said. Because if the film industry is trying to reverse current actors ages because it makes them money, you have to consider there is a likelihood theyll license their appearance at some point, even after those people are gone.

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How Hollywood Became Obsessed With De-aging Its Stars - The Atlantic