Fact2Folks

When it gets dark in a video game, it’s usually not all that dark. The cave you’re in may be  dim . The forest at night might be  shadowy . But video games almost never go pitch black.  Assassin’s Creed Origins  is a welcome exception. 00:00 00:00 I’ve been replaying  Origins  on PC, taking a more methodical approach than I did when I reviewed the game on PS4 last fall. I’m currently in Giza, a region of the map that’s home to a variety of pyramids and their enclosed tombs. Anytime you enter one of those tombs, the game will remind you (incessantly) that you should take out a torch to light dark spaces. Unlike most games, however, it really means it. Origins  isn’t the only game to actually require a light source in dark places, of course. But in so many other games, “dark” actually means “dim.” A cave in  Skyrim  or...

Pongal, celebrated mainly in Tamil Nadu, is a popular harvest festival and marks the auspicious beginning of the sun's northward journey towards the equinox, known as Uttarayan. Pongal celebrates the first harvest of the year. The festival, which is celebrated over four days, coincides with Makar Sankranti and Lohri, which is celebrated in North India. Pongal translates to "spilling over" and the festival derives its name from the tradition of boiling rice in a pot till it starts overflowing. Other popular traditions in the celebration of Pongal include the drawing of rangolis and  cooking of the Pongal dish , which is a Tamil preparation of rice boiled with milk and jaggery. This year, Pongal began on January 13 and ends on January 16. The first day of Pongal is called Bogi, or Bhogi Pongal, and is celebrated in honour of Lord Indra. Lord Indra is considered the God of clouds and rains, and is believed to bring plenty and prosperity to the land. 

It’s a new year, and with that new year we now have another new lawsuit in which someone has accused Ed Sheeran of ripping off their song. Thankfully, he’s not alone this time, as the lawsuit concerns a song he co-wrote for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill—both of whom are also named in the complaint.  This comes from  The Hollywood Reporter , which says Australian songwriters Sean Carey and Beau Golden believe that the McGraw/Hill/Sheeran joint “The Rest Of Our Life” is a “blatant” copy of their 2014 song “When I Found You” that would be “obvious to the ordinary observer.” Carey and Golden are being represented by Richard Busch, the attorney who won the “Blurred Lines” lawsuit for Marvin Gaye’s family and who also recently faced off against Sheeran in a lawsuit over his song “Photograph.” Sheeran ended up settling in that case, with the  THR  story noting that he gave up a “significant share of royalties” as part of the deal. Shortly before agreeing...

I’m quite certain that at the beginning of this year no one on the planet would have predicted that 10 months into 2017, a little family drama from India would have out-grossed nearly every single Hollywood film in China. Or that since its opening day in early May, that only one Hollywood picture,  Transformers: The Last Knight , would have topped  Dangal ’s run, and barely, at that. Dangal  played for 60 days in what turned out to be one of the leggiest runs in global movie history, finishing up with $189 million, a multiple of 80 times its May 5 th  opening day total of $2.35 million, It was the number one movie at the Chinese box office for 16 consecutive days, and it ranked among the top three from the day it opened until June 7 th , a remarkable 34 straight days. The only Hollywood film that has ever come close was the Disney animated feature  Zootopia , which finished up with a then-record multiple of 67 times its opening day collection, and 1...

Andy Murray's powerful desire for his children to one day see him play tennis will help sustain him through the painful weeks recovering from hip surgery. The twice Wimbledon champion underwent an operation on his right hip on Monday after six months out, which he hopes could see him back prior to Wimbledon. But beyond that he wants to prolong his career far enough that daughter Sophia, who is nearly two, will be able to remember the sight of him in action. 'I have spoken to my wife a bit about it,' said Murray. 'One of the things that I would like to do is play until my eldest daughter is able to watch me and have a small understanding of what it is I've done for my living. 'That's one of the things that's motivated me to keep playing. That would be cool if she can come along and watch me hit some balls or practice just to see what it is I do.  'I like seeing a lot of the other (players') kids when they are on tour with their p...

The show is based on the  Big Brother  format developed by John de Mol. A number of contestants (known as “housemates”) lived in a purpose-built house situated in EVP Theme Park isolated from the rest of the world. Each week, the housemates nominated two of their peers for eviction, and the housemates who received the most nominations would face a public vote. Of these, one would eventually leave, having been “evicted” from the House. However, there were exceptions to this process as dictated by  Bigg Boss . In the final week, there are 4-5 housemates remaining, and the public will vote for who they want to win. Unlike other versions of  Big Brother , the Indian version uses celebrities and well-knowns as housemates, not members of the general public

It is official! The music for Dhanush’s Maari 2 will be composed by none other than Yuvan Shankar Raja. While it might be bad news for Anirudh fans, there is much to be excited about as Dhanush and Yuvan are collaborating after ten years. The duo has a brilliant track record — some examples are Thullavatho Ilamai, Kadhal Konden and Pudhupettai. It was expected that Maari 2 will have Anirudh (he scored music for Maari) as both Dhanush and Anirudh had denied rumours of a split. But looks like it is Yuvan who has bagged the film. Tweeting the update, director Balaji Mohan said that it was a privilege to be working with Yuvan Shankar Raja. “Privileged to be working with one of my all time favourite music directors!   Happy to officially announce that Yuvan sir is on board for Maari 2 and music work has started! Dhanush sir & Yuvan sir combo back after 10 years!,” he tweeted. Yuvan, on the other hand, tweeted, “Really happy for this one….thank you for having me onboard.” ...