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The small Himalayan country of Bhutan, whose policy of measuring happiness has inspired the UN and other countries to include well-being as a development goal, is making quite a stir on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. "The Happiest Place", a documentary film directed by Palo Alto-based independent filmmaker Ben Henretig, explores Gross National Happiness (GNH) in Bhutan through the lens of a human-powered, border-to-border crossing of the country. With less than a week left, the project is the top-funded film campaign live on Kickstarter with over $83,000 raised and 700 supporters - 182% of their original goal.

NASA's Swift satellite recently detected a rising tide of high-energy X-rays from a source toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The outburst, produced by a rare X-ray nova, announced the presence of a previously unknown stellar-mass black hole.

James Ellroy the bestselling author of the noir classics L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, and The Cold Six Thousand, and self-proclaimed Luddite, is turning to technology for the first time with the publication of Shakedown, a novella released today by the digital publisher Byliner. In it, Ellroy is as frenetically depraved as ever, minting an antihero who is a cad for the ages.

The upcoming epic sci-fi thriller, starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt and based on the book All You Need is Kill, will open on March 14, 2014. Being directed by Doug Liman, the film is the first motion picture to be shot at the recently christened Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, and begins principal photography on Monday, October 1.

Days after Stan Lee canceled his upcoming scheduled public appearances, he has released a message through his company POW! Entertainment:

The Beatles' original studio album remasters, released on CD in 2009 and in 2010 for digital download will make their long-awaited stereo vinyl debut on 12th November. Manufactured on 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl with replicated artwork, the 14 albums return to their original glory with details including the poster in The Beatles (The White Album), the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band's cutouts, and special inner bags for some of the titles. Each album will be available individually, and accompanied by a 252-page hardbound book in a boxed edition which is limited to 50,000 copies worldwide.

The recently released novel Slumlords, intended to be a comedic look at ambition gone awry in the apartment business has turned out to be more than it's author Steve O. intended.

The election cycle is ever-more maddening each year - is there any way to find relief? Yes -- thanks to the launch of “Mad Humans Election 2012,” voters can vent their frustrations in this mobile game by (virtually) pummeling the candidates of their choice. There is nothing like the splat of a tomato, the thud of a cabbage, or the whiz of a pizza crust to improve one’s mood.

Famed Christian writer C.S. Lewis has often been regarded as either uninterested in the modern evolution debate or generally supportive of evolutionary theory. But newly discovered notes written by Lewis challenge those views, revealing Lewis's intense interest in the topic of evolution as well as his early skepticism of Darwin.