Skydive With NO Parachute Stunt and SURVIVES!
A STUNTMAN: Gary Connery, 42, from Oxfordshire, England has made aviation history by becoming the first skydiver to land without using a parachute.
He leapt from a helicopter 2,400ft from a helicopter while wearing a specially made “wing suit” and swooped towards a “runway” of 18,600 cardboard boxes in an Oxfordshire field above Henley-on-Thames in southern England.
“It was so comfortable, so soft. My calculations obviously worked out and I’m glad they did,” he said after the jump.
His wife Vivian said she was “relieved it’s all over”.
To prepare for the jump he underwent weeks of intensive training in Switzerland and Italy, leaping from mountains and cliffs to perfect his wing suit glide angle.
As part of the preparations, he studied the flight of kite birds and how they use their tails to control their flight direction.
“Kites steer by twisting their tail one way or another and I’ll be doing the same,” he explained before the jump.
“I was experiencing a lot of bouncing in that flight that I hadn’t experienced before, so it was a little weird. But these suits are amazing. There is so much stability in them.”
Mr Connery made his first parachute jump at 23 after joining the Army. He went on to become a professional stuntman, completing 880 skydives and 450 base jumps. He has acted as a stunt-double for the likes of Gary Oldman, John Hurt and Rowan Atkinson and appeared in films such as The Beach, Die Another Day and Batman Begins.
He also leapt from the Eiffel Tower, Nelson’s Column, Tower Bridge and the London Eye.
Landing a wing suit without a parachute has been a dream of skydivers since the modern wing suit was invented in 1997 by French skydiver and aristocrat Patrick De Gayardon.
The unique design of his suit enabled “pilots” to barrel-roll, swoop and fly in formation.
De Gayardon died a year later in a skydiving accident in Hawaii after a modification to his suit caused his parachute to malfunction.
US skydiver Jeb Corliss planned to become the first to land a wing suit without a parachute but his plans were suspended after he was seriously injured during a recent jump in South Africa
The Avengers Join The Billion Dollar Movie Club
Marvel’s The Avengers, the movie that brings Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk together, has just joined an elite group of its own. The film has become the 12th film in history to cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office.
After breaking the U.S. record for the biggest opening weekend with a $207 million debut, “The Avengers” also scored the highest-grossing second weekend ever with an estimated $103 million. It’s the fastest domestic release to reach the $300 million mark and although it was released in other countries first, it did not set the record for the quickest to cross $1 billion worldwide. That record is still held by the reigning champ, “Avatar,” which did it in 17 days, two days fewer than “Avengers.” And only two films have made more than $2 billion and both of them are from director James Cameron.
The other 11 members of The Billion Dollar Club.
‘Avatar,’ 2009 | $2.78 billion
(20th Century Fox)
The first of the two titles that make James Cameron the undisputed boss of the billion-dollar club, “Avatar” came out in 2009 and broke records worldwide.
‘Titanic,’ 1997 | $2.16 billion
(Paramount Pictures)
Rumored to be wildly over budget and expected to sink at the box office, Cameron’s “Titanic” turned into a juggernaut, taking top dollar and top prizes at the Oscars.
‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2,’ 2011 | $1.33 billion
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
The final installment of the adventures of the boy wizard made magic.
‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon,’ 2011 | $1.12 billion
(Paramount / DreamWorks)
Audiences turned out big for the first two “Transformers” movies in 2007 and 2009, but went supernova for the third iteration in 2011.
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,’ 2003 | $1.12 billion
(New Line Cinema)
Like its “Transformers” cousins, the first two installments of director Peter Jackson’s “LOTR” trilogy were enormous hits, but third time was the charm for entry into the billion-dollar box-office club. One key difference: The “LOTR” sequels, at under $100 million, cost about half what the third “Transformers” cost.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,’ 2006 | $1.07
(Walt Disney Pictures)
The second installment in producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s fabulously successful “Pirates” series beat its three brothers domestically and abroad when it came out in 2006, opening a dead man’s chest of gold for star Johnny Depp and director Gore Verbinski.
‘Toy Story 3,’ 2010 | $1.06 billion
(Pixar / Disney)
More than a decade passed between parts 2 and 3 of the continuing CGI adventures of Woody and Buzz, in the Pixar series started by John Lasseter in 1995. It was also the only one Lasseter didn’t direct.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,’ 2011 | $1.04 billion
(Peter Mountain / Disney)
Penelope Cruz came aboard as Capt. Jack Sparrow’s enamorata, and “Chicago” director Rob Marshall took the helm, in this fourth installment of the successful series. Critics hated it, but audiences made it the No. 3 movie of 2011 — after the releases of the year’s “Harry Potter” and “Transformers” films — and the eighth-biggest-grossing of all time.
‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,’ 1999 | $1.03 billion
(Lucasfilm)
Like “Jaws,” the 1977 original created a new template for the wide, national releases that define the modern-day blockbuster. But it was this fourth movie in the long-running series that went hyperspace.
‘Alice in Wonderland,’ 2010 | $1.02 billion
(Disney Enterprises)
Tim Burton’s 2010 retelling of the fairy tale classic makes Johnny Depp the only billion-dollar box-office club acting three-peater.
‘The Dark Knight,’ 2008 | $1 billion
(Warner Bros.)
Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine returned, and Heath Ledger (pictured) joined in, to topline this 2008 sequel to “Batman Begins.”
The Avengers Trailer:
Is Rita Ora The New Rihanna?
She’s new to the music scene and she’s only 21-years-old. She’s already taken the music world by storm and her song “R.I.P.” just hit the top of the UK singles chart this week.
Rita herself has commented on the comparisons to Rihanna saying: “It’s a compliment to be compared to someone like her. She’s so successful and an amazing woman. I’d rather be compared to her than someone not as successful, so it’s good. I’ll take that!”
With her music career taking off in a big way, check out her single below.
Exclusive: Top Cat [The Movie Trailer]
As you can see from the first full length trailer, classic 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon ‘Top Cat’ has got a big screen makeover.
Produced by a Mexican animation house Anima Studios, it sees T.C., Benny the Ball, Fancy Fancy, Choo Choo, Spook and Brains return for a feature length adventure, where one again the gang are still at war with Police Chief Strickland.
The animation style is mixed 2D animation and CGI, and it’s already broken box-office records in Mexico. It became the highest grossing Mexican-produced film ever. So when will it be out in the US?
Foxconn Chief: We’re Preparing To Build Apple TV
Foxconn chief Terry Gou let slip that his company is getting ready to start producing an Apple television.
According to China Daily, Gou today held a news conference in Shanghai about his company’s plans for the future. During that conversation, he mentioned that Foxconn is currently preparing its facilities to start producing Apple’s long-rumored television, though “development or manufacturing has yet to begin,” the China Daily report said.
Gou’s comments are notable for coming from a prominent executive who could be expected to have knowledge of Apple’s plans. The vast majority of reports surrounding the development of the television have come from unidentified sources and analysts claiming insight into Apple’s plans. For its part, Apple has stayed tight-lipped on any possibility that it might be working on a television.
Still, the rumors keep coming, and they’re suggesting, among other things, that Apple’s television could be equipped with support for the company’s virtual personal assistant Siri, a built-in camera for FaceTime, and access to the App Store.
Analysts have said for years that Apple is planning to launch a television, but it became a huge topic last year when Steve Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson revealed that the company’s co-founder had “cracked” the code for developing a user-friendly television.
“I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,” Jobs told Isaacson. “It would be seamlessly synched with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”
AMAZING: All Of MCA’s Opening Rhymes From Every Beastie Boys Song
Here’s all of Adam “MCA” Yauch’s opening lines from EVERY Beastie Boys song. #SWEET #RIPMCA #BeastieBoys
