News

On Monday 16 December 2024, BBC Two broadcasts Mastermind!

Season 22 Episode 17 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Mastermind” on BBC Two promises to be an exciting one, featuring a diverse range of specialist subjects that will test the contestants’ knowledge and quick thinking. This episode will showcase four unique topics, each sure to intrigue fans of literature, nature, and exploration.

One of the specialist subjects is “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin. This series has captivated readers with its intricate plots and rich characters. Contestants will need to demonstrate their understanding of the complex world Martin has created, including key events and character arcs.

Another subject focuses on marine mammals, specifically whales. This topic will allow contestants to dive into the fascinating lives of these majestic creatures. From their behaviors to their habitats, the questions will explore various aspects of these animals that play a crucial role in the ocean ecosystem.

The excitement builds as “Mastermind” returns for Season 22, Episode 17, airing on BBC Two at 8:30 Pm on Monday, December 16, 2024. This episode promises to be a thrilling challenge for the contestants, showcasing their expertise in a range of fascinating subjects.

Viewers can look forward to a deep dive into “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin, a series that has captivated readers with its intricate plots and rich characters. Contestants will need to demonstrate their knowledge of this beloved fantasy world, which is sure to spark discussions among fans.

Additionally, the episode features marine mammals, specifically whales. These majestic creatures have long fascinated people, and the questions will likely cover their biology, behavior, and conservation efforts. Contestants will have to display their understanding of these incredible animals.

The episode also highlights the achievements of Italian climber and explorer Reinhold Messner, known for his daring ascents and adventurous spirit.

Exclusive: Andreas Prochaska has signed on to direct the climbing film White Out for Chockstone Pictures.

The action-adventure pic is based on a story from climbing legend Reinhold Messner. It follows a young man who’s grown up in the shadow of a famous father, known as the world’s greatest mountaineer. In the end, it will take a perilous climb on a sacred Himalayan peak for the pair to finally face each other.

Olivia Hetreed (Girl with a Pearl Earring), Sascha Arango (The Silent Guest) and Don Bohlinger (Elles) wrote the script for White Out. Chockstone partners Steve Schwartz and Paula Mae Schwartz will produce, alongside Boris Schönfelder of Neue Schönhauser Filmproduktion. Reinhold Messner and Andreas Prochaska will exec produce; Simon Messner and Roger Schwartz are also on board as co-producers.

“White Out has every element for an immersive cinematic experience: Epic scale and personal drama,...

Exclusive: Chockstone Pictures has optioned rights to White Out, a story by famed mountaineer Reinhold Messner that will be adapted by Sascha Arango. Chockstone and Arango are already teaming on Arango’s adaptation of his own 2015 bestseller The Truth And Other Lies, a black comedy that just nabbed Brian De Palma as director. The Italy-born Messner is the author of more than 60 books and has had plenty to write about: He made the first solo ascent of Mt Everest without…...

★★★★☆ The flagship restoration of this year's London Film Festival Archive strand, Captain John Noel's The Epic of Everest (1924) is both a spirited log of grand adventure and a sombre testament to the lives lost during a treacherous third attempt to scale the great Himalayan peak. Featuring a new score from Simon Fisher Turner (who also worked on 2011's Great White Silence rejuvenation, again with the BFI), Noel's masterwork is a remarkable feat of filmmaking, shot as it was on specially adapted cameras in the harshest of conditions, but to this day remains both entertaining and surprisingly spiritual.

Having already measured up Everest whilst on leave from his Indian regiment in 1913, Captain Noel was an individual consumed with adoration for the monolithic centrepiece of the Himalayas. It wasn't until 1919, however, Noel first publicly suggested that mountain be scaled, a challenge met in 1920. Though no moving images are known to exist of the first 1921 expedition,...

Chatting with singer/songwriter, pianist and drummer Ben Folds last week was life-affirming and giddiness-inducing, but also an exercise in evaluating irony. When the last Ben Folds Five album, The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, came out in 1999, Folds, Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee didn’t have iPhones to tend to between songs. Twitter obviously didn’t exist yet, so interacting with fans in up to 140 characters would have been incomprehensible. Few people, much less musicians, owned laptops, and no one existed in a bubble of Wi-Fi. Buzzwords like “digital crowdsourcing” and “fan-funding” had not yet pervaded the public’s lexicon....

After 13 years apart, Ben Folds, Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee are finally back together, where they belong. Ben Folds Five has premiered their new track, “Do It Anyway,” the first off their yet-to-be-titled album due out in August.

Instead of working with a traditional label, Ben Folds Five will release the record via PledgeMusic, a crowd funding site.

Folds debuted the unmastered track on his official Facebook page.

“The intensity of the track is typical of the rest of the album, but each song is quite different," wrote Folds. "That always was the way with our records I suppose. We’re nearly done and I think it’s a cracker.”

This will be their first album since 1999′s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner.

Ben Folds Five is also offering up the chance for super fans to be a part of the album. Fans who download “Do It Anyway” from...

Ben Folds Five is the latest '90s band to hit the reunion trail.  Best known for their 1997 album "Whatever and Ever Amen," which featured the minor hit "Brick," the band released three full-lengths in the '90s before splitting up amicably in 2000. Folds kept busy, releasing solo albums and colaborating with the likes of "High Fidelity" author Nick Hornby and spoken word guru William Shatner.  Reunion rumors came true in 2008, when the three members reunited onstage in their native Chapel Hill, N.C., performing their final album, 1999's "The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner," in its entirety. They recorded three songs...

It's been 13 years since their last album, 1999's The Autobiography of Reinhold Messner so it's time for your inner high school student to rejoice, twentysomethings – Ben Fold Five is reuniting!

Folds tweeted a photo of himself with his one-time (and we guess current) bandmates in the studio recording, saying, "It's happening fo sho - Day 1 in studio with Robert and Darren through March #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord."

Asked by a fan when the group expects to release their new record, Folds simply tweeted, "spring release."

Ben Folds, Twitter

Are you excited for a new Ben Folds Five record? Let us know in the comments below...

Ben Folds Five have confirmed their reunion with a post on Twitter showing the band together in the studio. The group broke up in 2000 before frontman Folds embarked on a solo career, but he hinted last September that the group may record a follow-up to 1999's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner In a post on Twitter, Folds said: "It's happening fo sho - Day 1 in studio with Robert and Darren through March #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord." He then posted a photograph of himself (more)...

Ben Folds Five is back in the studio. The singer and pianist announced on Twitter that he and bandmates Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee are currently working on a fourth Ben Folds Five album, and that fans can expect a spring release. “It’s happening fo sho – Day 1 in studio with Robert and Darren through March,” the musician wrote, adding the hashtag: #NewBenFoldsFiveRecord. The album will be the group’s first since 1999’s The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, their third studio album. Shortly following its release, the trio announced a split in 2000. Following the band’s breakup, Folds

read more...

Ben Folds has revealed that his band the Ben Folds Five may reunite for a new album later this year. The 'Rockin' the Suburbs' singer said that he and his bandmates Robert Sledge and Darren Jessee will "probably get together" in the winter to record new material. Ben Folds Five's last full album was 1999's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner. They recorded three tracks together for Folds's album The Best Imitation of Myself: A Retrospective, which will be released on October 11. Folds teased that he would be interested in recording some (more)...

"American Idol" still hasn't named a replacement for Simon Cowell, but wouldn't Ben Folds make for a great fill-in? As he has proven through over 15 years of music, Folds is both a talented songwriter and articulate in his opinions and judgments. (He was great on the short-lived NBC series "The Sing Off.") Plus, he can be totally angry when he needs to be (just check the awesome, cutting bitterness of some of his solo work). Since it doesn't seem like Folds can get a job on "The Tonight Show," he should totally score the big chair on "Idol."

If nothing else, Folds has certainly created an incredible body of work — a winning streak that began on this day in 1997, when his former band Ben Folds Five released Whatever and Ever Amen. Initially absorbed as a group that was heavy on quirk (they jettisoned guitars in favor of Folds' grand piano,...

• Movie tells of 70s ascent of treacherous Pakistan peak

• Portrayal of sibling's death false, say team members

A film retelling mountaineer Reinhold Messner's legendary ascent of Nanga Parbat, in which his younger brother was killed, has reignited a bitter mountaineering row and prompted fellow climbers to attack as "false" the version of events being portrayed on the screen.

A group of climbers who accompanied Messner, now 65, and his brother Günther on the 1970 expedition have criticised the makers of Nanga Parbat for telling only one side of the story – and have threatened legal action.

The film, by the director Josef Vilsmaier, is being advertised under the slogan "two brothers, one mountain, their fate" and promises to reconstruct the events when Günther disappeared after apparently following Reinhold down Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, the ninth highest mountain in the world and one of the most treacherous to climb. From the start the film,...

There are a few key things you should know about NBC's a capella singing competition show "The Sing-Off," which premiered Monday night (December 14). First, it's not very good. Unless you're one of those people who are super-enthusiastic about the Whiffenpoofs, singing groups get pretty grating after a few minutes — even the good ones. On the bright side, the talent assembled to judge the competition is a top-shelf group of folks who could use the work. Plus, it's hosted by the always-charming Nick Lachey, who should really have his own talk show (or perhaps some sort of outward-bound experience type of thing — like "Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations").

The judges include Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men and former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, but the highlight of Monday night's episode was Ben Folds, the manic piano player and former frontman of the Ben Folds Five. Folds is one of the most underrated songwriters of his generation,...

By Michael Atkinson

At first blush, Samuel Fuller's "White Dog" (1982) seems to come packing a certain degree of high-hat critic hype -- the encomiums have rained down upon it since it finally overcame film maudit-hood and got released to theaters in 1991 -- from the sagest voices in the English-speaking critical community. But a "huh?" factor is not uncommon when eager cinephiles sit down and see it for the first time: all that cheap '80s lighting, those clumsy lines of dialogue, those graceless expository compositions, those overemphatic reaction shots, etc. Fuller himself is something of an acquired taste; what makes him tick (usually lauded as "sensationalist," a term otherwise employed as a slam) is not what you'd recognize as dynamic filmmaking in other directors' work. I sympathize -- I often wish as I watch a Fuller film (even something as lovably outlandish as "The Naked Kiss") for more nuance,...