   
CEO Picks - The best that international journalism has to offer!
 S615 Crucial Things to Remember Before 'The Marvels'   The Marvel Cinematic Universe is spinning so many plates it could start a restaurant. Echo and Daredevil are defending New York from new threats, Deadpool is palling around with Wolverine in a time travel adventure, there’s an entirely different world within the Quantum Realm, and several of our heroes are zooming around space. All these different elements make it difficult to know just what you need to focus on before a new Marvel project launches. Thankfully, it’s pretty clear what is and isn’t prerequisite knowledge for The Marvels. Here’s everything you need to remember before watching The Marvels, from the big plot points down to the obscure little details.
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S2Emotional Intelligence Has 12 Elements. Which Do You Need to Work On?  Although there are many models of emotional intelligence, they are often lumped together as “EQ” in the popular vernacular. An alternative term is “EI,” which comprises four domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Within those domains are 12 EI competencies, starting with emotional self-awareness in the self-awareness domain. Emotional self-control, adaptability, achievement orientation, and a positive outlook fall under self-management. Empathy and organizational awareness make up social awareness. Relationship management includes influence, coaching and mentoring, conflict management, teamwork, and inspirational leadership. Leaders need to develop a balance of strengths across these competencies. Assessment tools, like a 360-degree assessment that uses ratings from yourself and those who know you well, can help you determine where your EI needs improvement. To best improve your weak spots, find an expert to coach you.
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S3What It Means to Be a Moral Leader  Dov Seidman makes people think, hard, not just about what they do but about how they do it. He’s so focused on the “how” that he created the HOW Institute for Society, which encourages leaders to pursue a path of moral leadership. He even wrote a book called How: Why How We Do Anything Means Everything. In this episode of our weekly live series “The New World of Work,” Seidman provides insights and inspiration about what good, moral leadership looks like these days — in an era of perpetual disruption. His central message is that the old leadership approach no longer works. He challenged viewers to come up with even one command-and-control-style mayor or big-company CEO or professional coach who has enjoyed success in recent years. He has a point. Our expectations for what we require from our leaders – with the glaring example, perhaps, of national political figures – now include empathy, vulnerability, integrity, and morality.
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S4 Marketing With Generative AI: Harvard Business School's Ayelet Israeli  Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.Our special report on innovation systems will help leaders guide teams that rely on virtual collaboration, explores the potential of new developments, and provides insights on how to manage customer-led innovation.As an assistant professor at Harvard Business School and cofounder of the Customer Intelligence Lab at the school's Digital Data Design Institute, Ayelet Israeli's work is focused on how data and technology can inform marketing strategy, as well as how generative AI can be a useful tool in eliminating algorithmic bias. One of the products of her recent work is a paper she coauthored with two Microsoft economists and researchers on how generative AI could be used to simulate focus groups and surveys to determine customer preferences.
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S5Why Spotify is betting big on the booming audiobooks industry  In recent years, audiobooks have become a multibillion-dollar industry, with dedicated subscription services, from both big conglomerates and independent companies, driving most of this revenue. But their addition to Spotify's streaming selection marks a watershed moment.From 4 October, Spotify Premium subscribers in the UK and Australia have been able to access up to 15 hours of audiobook content per month – from more than 150,000 titles – at no additional cost. The feature is set roll out in the US by the end of 2023. Bestsellers and literary classics are now housed in the same app as music and podcasts: a "seamless one-stop destination for all things audio", according to Spotify's announcement.
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S6An expert's guide to the best pizza in NYC  Whether it's a quick lunch, an after-school snack, a destination dining experience or a late-night soak-up, pizza powers New York City. No city has slice or pie culture quite like it, and no visit is complete without it. A bragging right and backbone of identity born of late 19th- and early 20th-Century Italian immigration, pizza and New York's ties run deep. But all pizza is not created equal. And $1 slices do not epiphanies make. The city's "best pizza" is as important an opinion as it gets around here. Arguably the five boroughs' most famous slice, Joe's, is the baseline. Criteria for judging? A near-equal sauce-to-cheese ratio and a flavourful crust (no "gum line" – undercooked dough between the crust and toppings) with an undercarriage that never fully cracks when folded. Greatpizza can be an adventure and tell a story, but ultimately, the best pizza is one you're thinking about having again before the one you're eating that moment disappears.
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S7How Madras check became a preppy style essential  What connects a lightweight, checked cotton fabric in earthy hues, popular around the world, and a city on the South Indian coast? For centuries, local fishermen and farmers of the sleepy fishing village of Madrasapattinam (later called Madras, and now a major city called Chennai) wore a muslin fabric hand-woven in a rainbow of checks, as lungis (like sarongs) that were suited to the hot and humid weather of South India.The hand-woven fabric had the same pattern on both sides, usually featured primary colours created using vegetable dyes, which would bleed when washed, with the colours gradually blending. It was also used in handkerchiefs. It was an environmentally-friendly and sustainable fabric that was soft, and had a distinctive, slightly bumpy texture. The long process of hand weaving gave the fabric its rustic appeal.
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S8Your biological age predicts dementia and stroke regardless of your actual age - new study  As we journey through life, the risk of developing chronic diseases, including cancer, heart disease and neurological disorders, increases significantly. However, while we all grow older chronologically at the same pace, biologically, our clocks can tick faster or slower. Relying solely on chronological age – the number of years since birth – is inadequate to measure the body’s internal biological age.This discrepancy has prompted scientists to find ways to determine a person’s biological age. One way is to look at “epigenetic clocks” which consider chemical changes that occur in our DNA as we age. Another approach uses information from medical tests, such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels and other physiological measurements.
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S9Ukraine war: stalemate on the battlefield and shaky international support putting pressure on Zelensky  More than 20 months into the war in Ukraine and over five months into Ukraine’s latest counteroffensive, the situation on the front is bleak and no breakthrough imminent, the country’s commander-in-chief admitted in a recent interview with the Economist. With doubts increasing over the sustainability of western aid to Ukraine amid a shift of attention to the war in the Middle East, continuing Russian air strikes across Ukraine as far as the western city of Lviv do not bode well for the winter ahead.
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S10S11S12Higher education can be elusive for asylum-seekers and immigrants  Pursuing higher education is often a pathway to higher income and overall better well-being. College graduates are less likely to rely on public benefits. Therefore, it’s beneficial for education leaders and policymakers to help newcomers – including asylum-seekers and refugees – to access higher education in the U.S., whether it be community college, taking advanced English courses, obtaining a certificate through training programs or going to a four-year university.Despite these clear benefits, we have found that higher education can often be an elusive goal for people who’ve fled their homeland in search of a better life in the U.S.
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S13S14S15Climate change hits indebted businesses hardest, new research suggests  Climate change poses the biggest risks to the most vulnerable people, and the same is true for businesses: Highly leveraged companies – those that have accumulated too much debt – are uniquely susceptible to climate shocks. That’s what we found in a forthcoming study in The Review of Corporate Finance that analyzed data from more than 2,500 U.S. publicly listed companies over 16 years. As professors who study climate finance and corporate governance, we wanted to understand how climate change affects businesses, and how stakeholders – people who have a stake in a firm’s success, such as consumers, employees and investors – respond to it.
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S16S17Why are US politicians so old? And why do they want to stay in office?  When former President Bill Clinton showed up at the White House in early 2023, he was there to join President Joe Biden to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act. It was hard to avoid the fact that it had been three decades since Clinton was in office – yet at 77, he’s somehow three years younger than Biden.Biden, now 80 years old, is the first octogenarian to occupy the Oval Office – and his main rival, former President Donald Trump, is 77. A Monmouth University poll taken in October 2023 showed that roughly three-quarters of voters think Biden is too old for office, and nearly half of voters think Trump is too old to serve.
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S18What's your chronotype? Knowing whether you're a night owl or an early bird could help you do better on tests and avoid scams  Timing is everything. For early risers and late-nighters alike, listening to your internal clock may be the key to success. From the classroom to the courtroom and beyond, people perform best on challenging tasks at a time of day that aligns with their circadian rhythm.Circadian rhythms are powerful internal timekeepers that drive a person’s physiological and intellectual functioning throughout the day. Peaks in these circadian rhythms vary across individuals. Some people, known as larks or morning chronotypes, peak early and feel at their best in the morning. Others, known as owls or evening chronotypes, peak later in the day and perform best in the late afternoon or evening. And some people show neither morning nor evening preferences and are considered neutral chronotypes.
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S19S20Nigeria's women vice-chancellors: I know what it's like to be one, and why there are so few  Nigerian Academy of Science provides support as a hosting partner of The Conversation AFRICA.The secretary-general of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors in Nigeria recently disclosed that only 38 women have been vice-chancellors of universities in Nigeria since 1960, out of more than 720 in total. The Conversation Africa asked Ekanem Braide, the Nigerian Academy of Science president and a former vice-chancellor, why this is so and how the country can have more women as university heads.
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S21My parents are from two different African countries: study shows how this shapes identity  More than a third of migration in sub-Saharan Africa happens within the continent. This mixing of people means that some children have parents of different national origins. Yet not enough is known about the lives of these children: how they form their identity and what impact migration has on them. We are sociologists who study migration and identity and we have seen that studies tend to take the perspective of the parents in the African context. The voices of the children are missing.
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S22S23Planet Earth III: how cookie cutter nature programming could fail to educate and inform audiences  Perhaps nothing embodies the BBC’s values of inform, educate and entertain more than its nature documentaries. Planet Earth III is the latest in a proud tradition going back to the founding of the BBC Natural History Unit in 1957 and has everything devoted fans (myself included) expect. There are sweeping shots, a soaring orchestral soundtrack, and exciting scenes of hunting, courtship and breeding. Tender family relations, desperate chases and amazing survival stories are all narrated in Sir David Attenborough’s signature style. Planet Earth III brings us all the beauty and wonder we know and love – which may be a problem when it tries to sound an urgent warning about the future of our world.
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S24Matthew Perry: the power of celebrities speaking publicly about their addiction  As the outpouring of tributes from celebrities and fans shows, the actor Matthew Perry and his Friends character, Chandler Bing, meant a huge amount to many people. But Perry, who died suddenly at 54, said himself that he did not want to be remembered solely for his role on the sitcom: “When I die I don’t want ‘Friends’ to be the first thing that’s mentioned, I want that [helping people] to be the first thing that’s mentioned. And I’m going to live the rest of my life proving that.”
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S25Narcissism, immorality and lack of empathy: the dark psychology that can poison elites  Sexism, harassment and bullying plague the Red Arrows, the UK Royal Air Force’s display team. This revelation was the outcome of investigations into complaints of bad behaviour in this elite organisation. Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton said that “behaviour that would be classed as unacceptable was widespread and normalised on the squadron”.To me, the Red Arrows have always represented discipline, precision, skill, bravery and professionalism. They are the real-life Top Guns. Now, I’ll never be able to look at red, white and blue trails in the sky in quite the same way.
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S26Fluoride: very high levels in water associated with cognitive impairment in children  Fluoride is one of the more abundant elements naturally found in drinking water, and levels around 0.7mg per litre have been proven to reduce tooth decay. This is why some countries add fluoride to drinking water.However, fluoride in drinking water is a controversial topic. There is concern about the potentially harmful effects of adding fluoride to our water and food. Scientists debate the pros and cons of fluoridation, and for many of us it may be hard to decide what conflicting scientific results mean for our health and that of our families.
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S27Why term-time holidays can be a lifeline for children and young people with attachment needs  The holidays are over, and children are back in school – apart from the ones going on a term-time vacation. The combination of the cost of living crisis and the fact that holidays can be significantly cheaper in term time makes taking children out of school for a holiday tempting for parents and carers. It has been reported that unauthorised holidays in term time accounted for over five million lost school days in England in the 2021-22 academic year.
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S28S29Wildcats lived alongside domestic cats for 2,000 years but only started interbreeding 60 years ago - new study  You are unlikely to have seen one, but wildcats are still clinging on by a claw in Scotland. Most of the cats living in the wild in Scotland are hybrid cats with a mix of wildcat and domestic cat ancestry or feral domestic cats. But my team’s new study showed they lived alongside domestic cats for almost 2,000 years before interbreeding. One of our rarest and most elusive mammal species, European wildcats have been in decline across across Europe and Britain for the past few hundred years. Wildcats were lost completely from England and Wales by the end of the 19th century and today are only found in the Scottish Highlands.
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S30S31How the pandemic permanently altered college towns  Universities are more than just halls of learning; they are vibrant ecosystems and often the beating heart of the towns they reside in. Their reach goes beyond academia and plays a significant role in shaping the local economies of North American college towns. However, the COVID-19 pandemic affected college towns profoundly. In doing so, the pandemic highlighted the complex relationship between universities and their host communities.
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S32S33S34Sarah Jama's censure: Making people feel uncomfortable is part of the job  Sarah Jama, a member of the Ontario legislature for Hamilton Centre, recently faced censure from Doug Ford’s Conservative government. She was also removed from the Ontario NDP caucus by her own party.The NDP’s disciplinary response and the removal of her from caucus cannot be separated from the current climate. It is right in the middle of a nationwide Islamophobic backlash, where scores of others are also experiencing a wide range of institutional discipline.
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S35S36S37King's speech: what is it and why does it matter?  Today, King Charles will give his first speech from the throne as monarch. He delivered the queen’s speech once as Prince of Wales, deputising in May 2022 for his mother, who could not attend. This is the first speech by a king since 1951, though on that occasion King George VI was too ill to attend and the speech was read out by the Lord Chancellor.The king’s speech is the central part of the ceremony marking the state opening of parliament.
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S38Lee Miller's Surrealist Lunch  Lee Miller is known as one of the great models, muses, and photographers of the twentieth century, a status soon to be affirmed by the movie "Lee," starring Kate Winslet, and a major show at Gagosian, "Seeing Is Believing: Lee Miller and Friends," which will hang her work alongside that of Man Ray, Max Ernst, and more. But after the Second World War, shattered by what she'd witnessed as a combat photographer, Miller hid her photos in the attic of Farley Farmâthe centuries-old house in Sussex where she lived with her last husband, the Surrealist artist and curator Roland Penroseâand suppressed her undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder in an orgy of entertaining and cooking. Some sample dishes: Cauliflower Breasts (cauliflower heads in pink mayonnaise and caviar), Gold Chicken (a bird covered with gold leaf), and Penroses (mushrooms topped with pale-pink foie-gras blossoms). Vogue once termed her food "Surrealist cuisine."The other day, three people held a Zoom meeting to discuss the opening party for the Gagosian show, which will re-create one of Miller's farmhouse lunches in a Fifth Avenue mansion. Michael Moore, the gallery's global-events director, joined Alice Garretti, of Acquolina Catering, and Ami Bouhassane, Miller's granddaughter, who was beaming in from her Farley Farm office, formerly a guest room where her grandparents had put up friends like Picasso.
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S39The Agony of Waiting for a Ceasefire That Never Comes  When the war in Gaza started, my family fled to the Jabalia refugee camp. Then Israel started bombing the camp.It is 6:20 P.M. on Friday, October 27th. My children are playing in the house where we have taken refuge, in the Jabalia refugee camp. “I’m getting hungry,” my wife, Maram, whispers to me. “Let’s eat some snacks.” We sneak into the next room and sit on the stairs, where our children are less likely to see us. We miss these private moments, when we could spend time together and joke.
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S40Why a State Department Official Lost Hope in Israel  For more than a decade, Josh Paul helped send American weapons overseas. After the Hamas attack, he resigned in protest of arming the Israeli response.On October 17th, ten days after Hamas launched its attack on southern Israel, a State Department official named Josh Paul quit his job and posted the resignation letter on LinkedIn. In Washington, sympathy with Israel was near-ubiquitous, and President Joe Biden’s vigorous support for the Israeli government had few public dissenters within the national-security state. This had the effect of drawing extra attention to Paul, who said he was resigning both because he disagreed with what the U.S. had already done to back Israel and because he feared what would likely come next. “I believe to the core of my soul,” Paul wrote, “that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support for both that response, and for the status quo of the occupation will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and Palestinian people—and is not in the long-term American interest.”
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S41Unchosen: Eleven Signs That You're a Former Gifted Kid  Let's face it, your twenties are hard. Being launched into the "real world" without a safety net is one of the scariest journeys you've had to make. And, if you've read a blog or scrolled through Twitter lately, you know that it's especially hard for F.G.K.sâformer gifted kids. Chances are, you know a former gifted kid. Heck, you may even be one yourself! If you're not sure, don't worry. We'll break it down for you with eleven signs that you're a former gifted kid. (No. 4 will shock you!)Peaking early is common among former gifted kids. Feeling like your best days are behind you can lead to anxiety and stress. It's not your fault you crushed fourth grade!
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S42How the Film Distributor Zeitgeist Made History  The film business is notoriously unstable, and the path is especially hazardous for any company that dares to think of cinema as an art as well as a business. So it’s a cause for celebration that Zeitgeist Films, one of the most eminent art-house film distributors, has just reached its thirty-fifth anniversary, and Metrograph is aptly celebrating with a monthlong series of in-theatre and online offerings, spotlighting some of Zeitgeist’s most significant releases. Even before I was a critic, when I paid little attention to the business side of film, I’ve been honoring Zeitgeist from afar. As it happens, the company was co-founded by a friend of mine from high school, Emily Russo, together with Nancy Gerstman, and I’ve always taken special vicarious pleasure in the company’s successes releasing independent and international films that might otherwise have gone entirely unseen in the United States.Zeitgeist’s influential releases are too numerous and varied to do justice to in a brief column. One could point to its release of Todd Haynes’s first feature, “Poison,” from 1991, which not only put that director on the map but helped launch the New Queer Cinema movement. Or one could note its line of ingenious docu-fictions, including Tony Buba’s “Lightning Over Braddock,” Agnès Varda’s “The Gleaners and I,” and Yvonne Rainer’s “Privilege.” Or one could recall that, with Jia Zhangke’s “The World,” Zeitgeist distributed one of the best films of the twenty-first century. But, in my view, no achievement has been greater than the vital role the company has played in bringing to the attention of American viewers one of the greatest of all filmmakers, Abbas Kiarostami, with the release of the 1997 film “Taste of Cherry” (which, now, is streaming on the Criterion Channel and Max).
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S43Donald Trump's Contentious Day on the Witness Stand  Just after 10 A.M. on Monday morning, Donald Trump was sworn in at his civil trial, where he has already been found guilty of fraudulently inflating the value of his assets, and where the court is now considering other charges and penalties, which could include a fine of up to two hundred and fifty million dollars and a permanent ban on him running businesses in New York. As sunlight streamed into the packed courtroom, Trump looked the same way he always does: hefty, unnaturally tanned, and ready to do battle.Kevin Wallace, a lawyer from the New York attorney general's office, started off the questioning gently, but it didn't take long for Trump to go off track and start making political speeches. He complained about prosecutorsâ"all Democrats, all Trump haters"âwho he said were coming at him from "fifteen different directions. . . . weaponization, they call it." Wallace tried to guide him back to the issue at hand: the annual Statements of Financial Condition, put together by the Trump Organization, that included the inflated asset values that Judge Arthur F. Engoron, who is presiding over the case, has already ruled fraudulent. Trump sought to downplay the significance of the statements, saying that neither he nor the banks that lent him money paid very much attention to them.
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S44The Line Between Gaza and America  Last week, an Israeli air strike killed Mohammed Abu Hatab, a television journalist, along with eleven members of his family, in his home in southern Gaza. He was the thirty-sixth confirmed member of the media to die in the current conflict, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That number steadily ticks upward. An overwhelming majority have been local Gazans trying to cover the crisis amid continual bombardment. Until recently, no new foreign journalists or independent organizations have been allowed in to witness what is happening.Since early October, I’ve tried to capture fragments of life in Gaza from afar, largely through WhatsApp conversations with people there and with Palestinian Americans. It seemed that every other person knew someone who had died.
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S45Lena Headey's New Show Could Be the Sci-Fi Sleeper Hit of 2023  Science fiction is one of the few genres that can really support a sleeper hit. No matter how low-budget, how strange the direction, or how poorly it aged, if there’s a strong idea, any sci-fi story can stand the test of time — just look at the 60-year run of shows like Doctor Who. Because of that, it’s no wonder streaming services just starting out often look toward sci-fi to build off of: Netflix has Stranger Things, Disney+ has The Mandalorian, and Apple TV+ especially found success with For All Mankind, Severance, and, recently, Silo. Now, MGM+ (formerly known as Epix) is looking to make its own flagship sci-fi show to replicate Silo’s success — and comes incredibly close.
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S46You Need to Watch the Greatest Corporate Thriller of the Century on Netflix ASAP  Making a film about the modern world is no easy task. The present has always proven to be an elusive subject for filmmakers, and that’s perhaps never been truer than it is today. Few films have managed to offer a satisfying portrait of our age, one defined by overwhelming exposure to misinformation, ceaseless technological advancements, and toxic, arrogant disruptors.The Social Network, however, provided a compelling look at how we got to our post-Silicon Valley era. The David Fincher-directed film is a masterful corporate thriller, one of the most well-crafted and effortlessly engaging American dramas of the century. It is simultaneously immense and sleek, titanic yet digestible, and now it’s streaming on Netflix.
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S47Xbox Game Pass Just Quietly Released the Best Anti-Hero RPG  Fate is a four-letter word. It’s equal parts prison and hallucinogen, used to trap people into thinking there’s something special going on and that you, yes YOU, are a part of it. Our modern era has largely rejected the notion of fate (astrology notwithstanding) in favor of science, free will, and hedonism. Our video games? Not so much. Fated and fabled heroes still populate many of our favorite tales, and while the escapism is nice, the trope has long since worn out its welcome. Especially in RPGs. So where do you go if you’re looking for an “Oops! All Side Quests” vibe? Enter Wartales. The latest offering from Shiro Games, which just dropped on Game Pass, gives you all the adventure with none of the celestial pressure. Your hardy band of travelers isn’t on some world-saving sojourn or Hail Mary scheme to vanquish a once-in-an-epoch-level evil. You’re just people trying to find work and not starve in a world that is challenging and indifferent. Relatable.
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S48'Loki' Theory Reveals How the Season 2 Finale Could Blow Up MCU Canon  In the penultimate episode of Loki Season 2, the show’s eponymous trickster god (Tom Hiddleston) finally learns how to control his time-slipping problem. After witnessing all of his friends, including Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) and Mobius (Owen Wilson), get turned into spaghetti in front of him, Loki manages to travel back in time to moments before their deaths. Declaring that he knows how to “rewrite the story,” he goes into the past again — transporting himself back to the Time Variance Authority’s lower control room just minutes before the explosion of its Temporal Loom.The episode, in other words, ends on a decidedly more rousing note than its predecessor. By giving Loki the ability to travel back to any point throughout his existence, the Disney+ series has also opened the door for it to revisit some of its greatest moments. That is, in fact, exactly what some fans believe Loki will do in its Season 2 finale this week, which could see Tom Hiddleston’s cosmic outcast not only rewrite the show’s story, but undo it altogether.
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S49'Like a Dragon Gaiden' Review: Kiryu's Back, but at What Cost?  I have always wanted to be the type of person who enjoyed Yakuza games. Everybody I know keeps telling me to check out the series, now renamed Like a Dragon. I wanted to give these games a chance, but I’ve just never actually played any of them because there was always something more interesting I wanted to spend my limited time playing. I took the opportunity to review Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name as a way to force myself to actually play one of these games.After playing Like a Dragon Gaiden, I still wish I was the type of person who enjoyed this series – I just know I’m never going to be that type of person.
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S50Apple's Stealthy Space Black MacBook Pro Could Finally Bring Gaming to macOS  As I type these words, I have spent less than 72 hours with Apple's new 16-inch MacBook Pro equipped with its top-shelf M3 Max chip. (Yes, it's in “Space Black”.) Not long enough for a thorough review, but I do have some early thoughts on the laptop.How black is the "Space Black" color and does it live up to the black polycarbonate MacBook that was discontinued over a decade ago? Does the black-anodized aluminum really reduce fingerprints? How much faster is the M3 Max chip compared to the M2 Max chip? What's it like to play console-quality games? Read on for my first impressions.
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S51Elon Musk Is Making an Edgy AI Chatbot Called Grok and We Already Hate It  The AI is called Grok and it will learn from the darkest depths of X. What could possibly go wrong?You can get some pretty illicit responses from AI chatbots if you know how to trick them. What about an AI chatbot that scrapes from the unhinged corners of X (formerly known as Twitter)? Well, that’s going to inherently lead to some wild responses.
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S527 Years Later, Star Wars Finally Acknowledged Its Dumbest Plot Hole  Recent Star Wars shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have sometimes felt less interested in entertaining us and more intent on filling in plot holes from the sequel trilogy. The Force Awakens reintroduced us to a galaxy caught in a battle against a new Empire, which nullified the work Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and the Galactic Rebellion did in the original trilogy. It didn’t help that the First Order apparently came out of nowhere, rising to prominence within a few years after only decades of supposed peace. Novels like Bloodline confirmed the threat of a new Empire was relatively new, which made the sudden transition all the more jarring. While The Mandalorian and Ahsoka have been working to answer questions the sequels raised, there’s still a disparity between the galaxy as it is and the future that awaits it. Rumors of an Imperial “deep state” are compelling, and we’ve seen how negligent the new regime has been in addressing the here-and-now threat of Imperial warlords. But how have the likes of Moff Gideon slipped under the New Republic’s nose so easily? We may finally have an answer thanks to, of all things, a new visual guidebook.
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S53Amazon's Bloodiest Superhero Spinoff Repeats a Marvel Mistake  A spinoff can try a few different strategies to be successful. They can be a carbon copy of the original in a new setting, like Saved By The Bell: The College Years. They can introduce a tonal shift by focusing on one character, like Frasier. Or you can use the old “backdoor pilot” strategy to debut a completely off-the-wall premise (Mork & Mindy, as we all know, was spawned from an episode of Happy Days). Gen V, the younger-skewing spinoff of Prime Video’s massively successful superhero series The Boys, seemed to have the perfect premise. After The Boys introduced the superpower-granting Compound V, a new generation of Supes attended Godolkin University and discovered a conspiracy lurking underneath the school. But in its last moments, Gen V threw away its unique perspective by stumbling into the same massive franchise trap Marvel has blundered into time and time again.
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S546 Years Later, 'Doctor Who' Is Giving Fans What They Want -- But There's a Catch  Previously, Doctor Who fans believed three new adventures would be hitting screens in 2023, but now, there’s confirmation of a fourth! For the first time in six years, Doctor Who will drop a Christmas Special episode, and, it seems this episode will be the first full adventure starring Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor. There’s just one strange detail. The subsequent 2024 Who season won’t be considered Season 14. Instead, the new season following this year’s Christmas special will be considered “Season 1.” Here’s what (we think) it all means.
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S55Everything Coming in 'Honkai: Star Rail' Version 1.5 Banner Update  Honkai: Star Rail’s main story has been chugging along like the Astral Express since the game launched in April, with each major update adding more content to enjoy. The latest patch, version 1.5, titled “The Crepuzcule Zone,” is just around the corner. Like past updates, it will bring new characters, quests, and limited-time events. Here’s everything we know about Honkai: Star Rail version 1.5.Honkai: Star Rail version 1.5 is set to release on Wednesday, November 15. This follows the pattern of Genshin Impact and previous Honkai: Star Rail updates, launching roughly every six weeks.
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S56'Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred' Release Date, Trailer, Setting, and Leaks  Diablo 4 launched back in June, with its main selling point being a return to the darker tone and aesthetic of Diablo 2. It was met with a mixed response, as fans praised its early character customization and compelling gameplay loop, but criticized its campaign and endgame. Now, Diablo 4 has its first big chance to fix its mistakes, with the Vessel of Hatred expansion Blizzard announced last weekend.
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S57Silent Hill 2 Remake Rumor Reveals a Worrisome Change  The last few years have seen some of the most beloved games of all time receive massive remakes, from Resident Evil 4 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake to Super Mario RPG. Konami is just the latest to join the trend of reimagining industry-defining titles with Silent Hill 2.We know very little about the Bloober Team-developed remake, but a new listing on Best Buy Canada gives us a small glimpse of what to expect, including a potential origin story for the iconic Pyramid Head — an idea that feels horribly misguided at best, and just about the worst thing this remake could do.
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S58This Wild Quest 3 Demo Turns Your House into a Flying Helicopter  We’ve been consistently impressed with the creative community behind the Quest 3, pumping out incredibly clever designs like this Super Mario 64 demo or a fully immersive movie-watching experience. If you’re more into flying around a city with your house as your personal aircraft, there’s a demo for that too.This mod takes advantage of the Quest 3’s upgraded color passthrough capabilities and swaps out the real world just beyond your apartment with a virtual one set in the skies.
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S59'World of Warcraft' Reveals Its Massive 20th Anniversary Update  World of Warcraft has been around since 2004, but if the MMORPG’s 2023 BlizzCon presentation is anything to go by, Blizzard has plenty of ideas left for the future of Azeroth. With its 20th anniversary kicking off next year, World of Warcraft is set to start a bold new chapter with the Worldsoul Saga. At the same time, World of Warcraft Classic will add another old-school expansion that will change the game forever.Here’s everything you need to know about the World of Warcraft’s Worldsoul Saga and WoW Classic’s next update.
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S60'Genshin Impact' Version 4.2 Release Date, Furina and Charlotte Banners, and Events  It seems like only yesterday that Genshin Impact players were first exploring the watery new region of Fontaine and the story of the Hydro Archon, but now the fate of Fontaine is about to be decided. Genshin Impact version 4.2 will mark the end of the Fontaine Archon Quest and, if the trailer is anything to go by, it looks like the story will go out with a bang. Like past updates, it will also include new and returning character banners, world bosses, and a plethora of limited-time events. Genshin Impact version 4.2 is set to be released on Wednesday, November 8. This follows the pattern of Genshin Impact and previous Honkai: Star Rail updates, launching roughly every six weeks.
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