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In Remembrance Of The Regal Union Square Theater

Cineworld plans to close 39 Regal locations across the United States, including New York’s grossest theater.

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Cineworld plans to close 39 Regal locations across the United States, including New York's grossest theater.

To be clear, New York City’s Union Square Stadium 14 was a disgusting, tacky, over-priced dump of a movie theater. 

But it was my disgusting, tacky, over-priced dump of a movie theater.

And now it’s yet another thing this cruel decade has taken from me, as Regal has announced plans to 39 locations across the country, including the Sherman Oaks Galleria cinema in Los Angeles.

This shouldn’t have been a shock, of course. Regal Cinema’s parent company Cineworld   (CNNWF)  filed for bankruptcy last year, due to plummeting admission levels. The company had previously reported it had $5 billion in debt, and had secured $200 million in incremental loans. 

The move is expected to save Cineworld $22 million in costs. But can you truly put a price on the magical place where I once saw a theater full of people scream in ecstasy when they saw Ben Affleck in a state of undress near the end of “Gone Girl"?

Tough Times For Movie Theaters

The pandemic was apocalyptic for theater chains, as AMC, Regal hit all-time-low attendance levels, and understandably so.

Even after vaccines became available, it took a while for attendance to perk back up, and usually only for superhero installments such as “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” and that’s just not sustainable.

But even before covid-19, audiences had increasingly become used to the idea of waiting for films to hit the streaming service of their choice, and only venturing out to see the latest big-screen franchise. It’s also been increasingly difficult for nearly any film to cut through the chatter or to win over an audience that now has more options for distraction than ever.

The pandemic now seems like a turning point for the film industry, as global box office likely peaked in 2019 at $42.3 billion, as we recently noted, “that's a number the industry will likely never see again.”

"Taking a look ahead to 2023, Gower Street Analytics is projecting global box office to hit $29 billion, representing a 12% gain on 2022 should this year remain on track for approximately $25.8 billion. The London-based firm estimates 2022 receipts stood at $23.6 billion as of Dec. 10," Deadline reported.

Rest In Peace To a Pigsty 

Are movie theaters about to go the way of print magazines and broadcast television as yet another thing the internet is making obsolete? 

I wish I could give you an authoritative answer, but the only honest response is “I kinda doubt it, but who knows?”

I have to imagine movie theaters will stick around in some formation, as the theatrical experience has been deeply burrowed into American society for decades.

But there will be less of them, and the gigantic stadium-sized theaters with a million screens will become rarer, as these places are being kept alive by franchise installments, and Hollywood simply can’t have a new Marvel, DC, Star Wars or Harry Potter film out every single weekend. 

Smaller chains like Nitehawk and independent theaters, particularly the ones that offer food and fancy cocktails, will likely continue to exist by catering to the artsy crowd and offering an appealing option for date night. But these places tend to have two to three screens, and are usually only located in big cities and college towns, and not every cinephile can afford to live in those places. 

I’m a huge advocate of the theatrical experience, and while I love the convenience of pausing every time I need to use the bathroom, there is something about the immersive nature of the theater, in which you are forced to not check your email every 10 minutes and your cat can’t demand your attention for a spell, that turns a movie into an experience.

Look, I get it. These days, the average price of a movie ticket is commiserate with a Netflix subscription, and that’s before you factor in a babysitter, parking, dinner and whathaveyou. Staying at home is the more budget friendly option, and most adult dramas land on a streaming service within two months of release.

But you know what happens when you stay home? You don’t get to have any of the magical experiences I’ve had at the Union Square Stadium 14, a wonderful place where the nacho cheese instantly cools and congeals, no one ever throws away their soda cups and you don’t want to think about why your shoes are stuck to the ground.

Union Square Stadium 14 is where I once saw a family of five enjoy a multi-course meal of Chinese food that they had smuggled in. It’s where a particularly randy crowd basically catcalled its way through “Call Me by Your Name” and where I once saw an entire theater stand-up and applaud at the end of “The Dark Knight.” 

I once took a mental health day and saw “District 9” and “Inglourious Basterds” on the same day, hooting along with the crowd when Quentin Tarantino’s heroes anachronistically killed Hitler. It’s where the crowd laughed every time McLovin did anything in “Superbad,” cackled every time those filthy royals backstabbed each other in “The Favourite” and where we all cried for 10 minutes at the end of “Call Me By Your Name.”

These weren’t just movies I watched, these were events, memories I will cherish forever, communal experiences I never could have gotten from home. I only could have gotten them from an absolute pigsty of a theater that always overcharged me, that I always felt unclean in, and that I will always miss from the bottom of my heart.

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EtherHiding: Why hackers may prefer Binance’s BNB Smart Chain

According to cybersecurity analysts at 0xScope and CertiK, threat actors may prefer using BNB Smart Chain contracts because it’s cheaper and seen as…

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October 20, 2023

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According to cybersecurity analysts at 0xScope and CertiK, threat actors may prefer using BNB Smart Chain contracts because it’s cheaper and seen as having lower security than Ethereum.

Despite the name “EtherHiding,” the new attack vector that hides malicious code in blockchain smart contracts doesn’t have much to do with Ethereum at all, cybersecurity analysts have revealed.

As reported by Cointelegraph on Oct. 16, EtherHiding has been discovered as a new way for bad actors to hide malicious payloads inside smart contracts — with the ultimate goal of distributing malware to unsuspecting victims.

These cybercriminals tend to prefer using Binance’s BNB Smart Chain, it is understood.

Speaking to Cointelegraph, a security researcher from blockchain security firm CertiK, Joe Green, said most of this is due to BNB Smart Chain’s lower costs.

“The handling fee of BSC is much cheaper than that of ETH, but the network stability and speed are the same because each update of JavaScript Payload is very cheap meaning there’s no financial pressure.”

EtherHiding attacks are initiated by hackers compromising WordPress websites and injecting code that pulls partial payloads buried in Binance smart contracts. The website’s front end is replaced by a fake update browser prompt which when clicked pulls the JavaScript payload from the Binance blockchain.

The actors frequently change the malware payloads and update website domains to evade detection. This allows them to continuously serve users fresh malware downloads disguised as browser updates, Green explained.

Screenshot of malware updates being deployed in BSC smart contract. Source: Certik 

Another reason, according to security researchers at Web3 analytics firm 0xScope, could be because of increased security-related scrutiny on Ethereum.

"While we are unlikely to know the EtherHiding hacker's true motives for using BNB Smart Chain over other blockchains for their scheme, one possible factor is the increased security-related scrutiny on Ethereum.”

Hackers may face higher risks of discovery by injecting their malicious code using Ethereum due to systems such as Infura’s IP address tracking for MetaMask transactions, they said.

Related: Crypto investors under attack by new malware, reveals Cisco Talos

The 0xScope team told Cointelegraph they recently tracked the money flow between hacker addresses on BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum.

Key addresses were linked to NFT marketplace OpenSea users and Copper custody services, it reported.

Payloads were updated daily across 18 identified hacker domains. This sophistication makes EtherHiding hard to detect and stop, the firm concluded.

Magazine: Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably

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‘This will be our last post’ — LBRY throws in towel against the SEC

“Thank you to everyone who fought with us for online freedom,” the LBRY Inc team said.
Blockchain company LBRY Inc. — the creators…

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October 20, 2023

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“Thank you to everyone who fought with us for online freedom,” the LBRY Inc team said.

Blockchain company LBRY Inc. — the creators of the LBRY blockchain — has issued its final message to the crypto, citing “several million dollars” of debts that have now made it impossible for the firm to continue.

“This will be our last post,” said the LBRY Inc. team in an Oct. 20 statement on Odysee, a LBRY-powered video-sharing website, which was also shared on X.

LBRY said several millions of dollars of debt owed to the SEC, its legal team and a private debtor ended up being too big a barrier to overcome.

“LBRY Inc. must die, there is no escaping this. It has lost a judgment to the federal government, has several million dollars in debts, and has pledged to shut down.”

“Thank you to everyone who fought with us for online freedom,” LBRY added in an Oct. 19 X post.

LBRY originally announced it would wind down in July after a final judgment in favor of the SEC on July 11. The SEC originally sought a punishment of $22 million but then downgraded that to $111,000 when it realized the defunct firm couldn’t pay.

In September, the community was delighted after it seemingly backtracked on the decision by filing a notice of appeal against the regulator.

In its latest statement, however, the firm revealed it will no longer continue its appeal against the SEC.

LBRY says they won’t pursue their appeal against the SEC. Source: Odysee

The firm also noted that LBRY Inc.’s executives, employees, and board members have resigned and are now only engaged in satisfying any outstanding legal requirements.

“It wasn't a happy ending, but it was a happy journey,” the now-former CEO Jeremy Kauffman explained in an Oct. 19 X post, reflecting on LBRY’s eight-year tenure in the cryptocurrency industry.

Crypto community salutes

The announcement saw members of the crypto community come out to give their final words of support to the LBRY team.

One X user, “Steve,” thanked LBRY for putting up a “good fight” — presumably against the SEC, while another, “archerships” suggested LBRY’s network was one of the most useful blockchain-based platforms on the market.

In the comments section of LBRY’s post on Odysee, community members expressed a willingness to keep supporting Odysee up and running.

Comments from LBRY’s Oct. 19 post on Odysee. Source: Odysee

Related: The aftermath of LBRY: Consequences of crypto’s ongoing regulatory process

As LBRY’s blockchain is open-sourced and decentralized, it will continue to operate so long as blocks continue to be mined, the team noted on Odysee.

Odysee served 5.3 million unique users on a monthly basis between January and April this year, more than any other decentralized social media platform in the market, according to CoinGecko.

Magazine: Crypto regulation — Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

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Safely removing nanoplastics from water using ‘Prussian blue’, a pigment used to dye jeans

Plastic waste breaks down over time into microplastics (

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October 20, 2023

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Plastic waste breaks down over time into microplastics (

Credit: Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Plastic waste breaks down over time into microplastics (

Dr. Jae-Woo Choi of the Center for Water Cycle Research at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) has developed an eco-friendly metal-organic skeleton-based solid flocculant that can effectively aggregate nanoplastics under visible light irradiation.

Prussian blue, a metal-organic frameworks-based substance made by adding iron (III) chloride to a potassium ferrocyanide solution, is the first synthetic pigment used to dye jeans a deep blue color and has recently been used to adsorb cesium, a radioactive element, from Japanese nuclear plant wastewater. While conducting experiments on the removal of radioactive materials from water using Prussian blue, the KIST research team discovered that Prussian blue effectively aggregates microplastics under visible light irradiation.

The research team developed a material that can effectively remove microplastics by adjusting the crystal structure to maximize the aggregation efficiency of Prussian blue. When the developed material is irradiated with visible light, microplastics with a diameter of about 0.15 μm (150 nm), which are difficult to remove using conventional filtration technology, can be agglomerated to a size about 4,100 times larger, making them easier to remove. In experiments, the researchers found that they were able to remove up to 99% of microplastics from water. The developed material is also capable of flocculating microplastics more than three times its own weight, outperforming the flocculation efficiency of conventional flocculants using iron or aluminum by about 250 times.

The material not only uses Prussian blue, which is harmless to the human body, but is also a solid flocculant, making it easy to recover residues in water. It also uses natural light as an energy source, enabling a low-energy process.

“This technology has a high potential for commercialization as a candidate material that can be applied to general rivers, wastewater treatment facilities, and water purification plants,” said Dr. Choi of KIST. “The developed material can be utilized not only for nanoplastics in water, but also to clean up radioactive cesium, thus providing safe water.” Meanwhile, Dr. Youngkyun Jung, the first author of the paper, said, “The principle of this material can be utilized to remove not only microplastics, but also a variety of contaminants in water systems.”

 

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KIST was established in 1966 as the first government-funded research institute in Korea. KIST now strives to solve national and social challenges and secure growth engines through leading and innovative research. For more information, please visit KIST’s website at https://eng.kist.re.kr/

The research, which was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lee Jong-ho) through the Material Innovation Leading Project (2020M3H4A3106366) and the KIST Institutional Project (2E32442), was published on October 1 in the international journal Water Research.

Journal

Water Research

DOI

10.1016/j.watres.2023.120543

Article Title

Visible-light-induced Self-propelled Nanobots Against Nanoplastics

Article Publication Date

1-Oct-2023

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