Yep, the Galaxy S24 Ultra.Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo
Oh, the irony of the National Security Agency suggests that smartphone users turn off their phones occasionally. But the NSA is right: you do need to restart your phone regularly to rid it of demons. Some phones even let you schedule the restart, so you don’t have to think about it.
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Forbes uncovered a seriously dated NSA document outlining the best practices for keeping your phone safe from bad actors in the digital space. The phones depicted are a 2010s-era iPhone with the original push-button Home button and a Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
Over a dozen tips are included, ranging from “considering using Biometrics” to “only use original charging cords.” It’s all fundamental stuff you’ve seen before, but the advice that’s got everyone’s ears perked up is the NSA’s suggestion to power your device off and back on weekly. It isn’t a failsafe but could help reduce zero-click exploits and malware via spearphishing.
For those of you who are only hearing this for the first time, you can rest easy knowing that this is already a common practice among smartphone wielders.
It’s a simple way to either force a waning software update or clear any background apps and memory leaks that might contribute to a too-hot-too-handle metal phone. I’m a frequent restarter because I have cell signal issues in my area—a quick reboot usually does the trick, though not without my heart beating rapidly as I wait to see those mobile service bars return.
A hefty number of manufacturers have already built in the functionality to restart your phone periodically. This includes Samsung’s Galaxy devices and the latest OnePlus devices. The Google Pixel doesn’t have a scheduled offering, but there is an option you can toggle on to have the device automatically restart once it receives an over-the-air (OTA) software update. iOS users can craft an Automation that will restart the iPhone every few days.
Evil’s Michael Emerson on Working Opposite a Giant, Hairy, Five-Eyed Demon
According to Deadline, Skarsgård will also executive produce the show along with his fellow It film franchise creative team at Warner Bros. The show was inspired by the Stephen King novel It and was developed by the franchise’s director Andy Muschietti with producer Barbara Muschietti. They’re also joined by Chapter Two co-producer Jason Fuchs with the films’ other producers, Roy Lee and Dan Lin. Now with Skarsgård in the mix, we’re excited for more horror in the prequel series. Muschietti is set to direct four episodes out of the nine in the series order.
Recently, Bill Skarsgård starred in Boy Kills World and will be featured as Eric Draven in the upcoming The Crow reboot, while Andy Muschietti remained in the Warner Bros. family with The Flash. Needless to say, we are excited to see them team up again with more world-building and creepy killer clownery in the Stephen King universe. Their take on It has become the quintessential one garnering $1.17 billion worldwide. And in an age with ever-expanding mythologies, characters like Pennywise can keep floating on in horror infamy as long as he wants.
When doctors take money or gifts from pharmaceutical companies they’re required by law to report that to the U.S. government. But did you know there’s a website where you can look up how much money any doctor in the U.S. has taken from healthcare companies? It’s completely free and run by Medicare.
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A new study from JAMA found that 26 of 28 physicians who had given endorsements to healthcare products on the social media platform X had taken at least one payment from the companies making those products, according to news outlet STAT on Thursday. Incredibly, roughly half of the physicians had published no research related to the topics they were endorsing.
But the website for looking up payments to American doctors isn’t just about endorsements. It covers payments involving research, speaking fees, and a host of other areas where doctors receive payment from companies within the healthcare sector. Doctors are supposed to report any kind of compensation, even if it’s just a cup of coffee while the doctor and a drug company representative discuss the latest medications being released.
The website is called Open Payments and is run by the Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services. And you can type in the name of any doctor in the country to see their latest data. For example, you can plug in any celebrity doctor and see which companies might be giving them money.
Screenshot: OpenPaymentsData.cms.gov
Take Dr. Drew, a celebrity doctor whose full name is Drew Pinsky, a man who used to be on mainstream TV all the time with shows like Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew and Dr. Drew on Call. The most recent data for Pinsky is from 2022 and shows that he made a total of $60,000 in five payments that year from Metuchen Pharmaceuticals. Metuchen owns the rights to Stendra, an erectile dysfunction medication, which Pinsky started promoting in a social media-driven campaign, according to a press release from 2022.
As you can see from the screenshot below, the nature of the payment is listed as, “Compensation for services other than consulting, including serving as faculty or as a speaker at a venue other than a continuing education program.” Pinsky didn’t immediately reply to a message sent through his website on Thursday.
Screenshot: OpenPaymentsData.cms.gov
To be clear, it’s not necessarily wrong or shady when doctors get payments from Big Pharma companies. Firms that develop new drugs and introduce new medical devices are doing important work. But it can be tremendously useful to know who’s getting paid by whom in every aspect of life. As soon as we take money or gifts from someone, it can influence even the most ethical person’s behavior in sometimes subtle ways.
It’s not just celebrity doctors with data available on the Open Payments website. Every doctor in the country is theoretically in the database and you can search your own doctor to find out what kind of money they’re taking from Big Pharma. The Open Payments website also has a video explaining what you can learn by using this tool.
Open Payments Program Overview Video
Frustratingly, not every doctor is diligent about reporting payments they’re receiving from healthcare companies. As STAT’s new article explains, almost half of the 28 physicians in that recent study didn’t report the compensation they’d received for social media endorsements.
Doctors received $12.58 billion in compensation from healthcare companies in 2022, according to the Open Payments website. The site has over 80 million records accounting for $68.44 billion dating back several years.
And, again, none of this is necessarily evidence doctors are doing anything wrong by getting paid. However, the U.S. has the highest healthcare costs in the world while maintaining the lowest life expectancy among all large wealthy countries. It’s reasonable to ask if all the money sloshing around in the healthcare industry is really making any of us better off. Because all of the available evidence suggests it’s actually making us sicker.
The Hargreeves clan will return for a final round of end of the world time travel hijinks in season four of The Umbrella Academy, Netflix’s acclaimed series based on the Dark Horse Comics series by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, and adapted for the platform by Jeremy Slater and Steve Blackman. Check out the first trailer!
In season four, it looks like the team is getting ready for at least one more time loop for its final run; as per usual with the Umbrella Academy gang, things set off with more explosive action and sibling superhero shenanigans after last season’s unsettling reset and cliffhanger ending. With only six episodes in the final season—the previous entries have all had 10—the action will have to be more compacted, though from the looks of this trailer there’ll still be time for the weird stuff (three words: Footloose dance battle! Three more words: sentient telekinetic cube!) that makes The Umbrella Academy so fun to watch—this time more tentacles, Santa Claus, Klaus Cults 2: Electric Boogaloo, and Viktor powering up Super-Saiyan style.
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Here’s the official season four description from Netflix: “The Hargreeves siblings have scattered after the climactic showdown at the Hotel Oblivion led to a complete reset of their timeline. Stripped of their powers, each is left to fend for themselves and find a new normal—with wildly varying degrees of success. Yet the trappings of their uncanny new world prove too hard to ignore for very long. Their father Reginald, alive and well, has stepped out of the shadows and into the public eye, overseeing a powerful and nefarious business empire. A mysterious association known as The Keepers holds clandestine meetings believing the reality they’re living in is a lie and a great reckoning is coming. As these strange new forces conspire around them, the Umbrella Academy must come together one last time—and risk upsetting the shaky peace they’ve all endured so much to secure—to finally set things right.
The Umbrella Academy stars Elliot Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin H. Min, and Ritu Arya. You can catch up on seasons one through three of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix before season four premieres August 8.
The Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 in 40mm.Photo: Florence Ion / Gizmodo
Samsung may beat Google to the punch in integrating AI into its wearables. The company has announced upcoming Galaxy AI features for the Galaxy Watch. The update won’t be available until later this year, but we have a preview of what’s to come. If you like what you see and have a compatible Galaxy Watch, you can sign up for the beta beginning in June.
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According to the press release, the AI-infused features range from “comprehensive health insights” to “motivational encouragement,” hopefully better than the push notifications I get now from Samsung Health reminding me to move on the week my body is feeling least likely. Hopefully, the Galaxy Watch 6 will be able to tell those times I’m too tired with the Galaxy AI-infused Energy Score. Like Fitbit’s Daily Readiness score, Samsung’s Energy Score will factor in your abilities based on how well you slept, how much you’ve been sleeping, and whether you’ve been active.
Samsung said its sleep algorithms will also improve through this AI edification. The Galaxy Watch promises to offer better Sleep Insights, including metrics on how often you move during your rest and the sustained heart rate overnight.
For the fitness-minded with a Galaxy smartwatch, stats will be offered for “more tailored training.” This includes details on your Aerobic Threshold (AT) / Anaerobic Threshold (AnT) heart rate and a Functional Threshold Power (FTP) metric for bikers. For other workouts, Samsung will compile a Workout Routine using AI as your workout coach, while the Race option helps you train for more endurance on the next scheduled marathon.
Samsung notes this is “just the beginning” of AI features coming to the Galaxy portfolio. Unfortunately, there is nothing to paw at, but the beta will arrive next month for compatible Galaxy Watches. It’ll be available for the Galaxy Watch 4 and above releases.
It’s safe to assume that, like Fitbit Premium, which is required to unlock the Daily Readiness Score on the Google Pixel Watch, the Galaxy AI features will need a subscription down the line. In the fine print, Samsung states that the Galaxy AI features are free until 2025.
Based on the popular video game franchise, the first live-action Silent Hill film—released in 2006 and starring Radha Mitchell as desperate mother Rose—vanishes into a supernatural dimension, or at least departs Netflix, on May 31. Watch on Netflix.
In “No Pain,” the third episode of Interview With the Vampire season two, Armand (Assad Zaman) shares the story of the Theatre des Vampires as Louis (Jacob Anderson) expresses reluctance to join—something that doesn’t stop Claudia (Delainey Hayles) from eagerly wanting to be a part of it.
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This week we bite into the history of Paris’ vampire coven and Lestat’s (Sam Reid) role in its founding, as well as vampire rules, dark gifts, and more immortal romance. Levan Akin directs “No Pain” from a script by Heather Bellson in Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe of vampire lore, airing Sundays on AMC and AMC+.
Taking a break from the isolating room at Louis and Armand’s penthouse, Molloy (Eric Bogosian) gets a real meal at a posh sushi restaurant in Dubai. There he’s accosted by a man who goes by Raglan James (Justin Kirk), who represents another mysterious party tracking vampires that knows more than Molloy is being told by Louis and Armand. Book fans definitely geeked out a bit here at the character’s introduction and little foreshadowing lines from James thoughout (if you know you know). Molloy thinks he’s not exposed, but after James advises him to be open to communication, he ends up getting hacked by the mysterious figure anyway when he gets back into the penthouse. Talk about a poor firewall, friend! Daniel is immediately sent files of more vampire information that he ever imagined in relation to his interview subjects and himself.
Molloy tries to play it cool and hide James’ helpful info dump via chat box, as Armand arrives before Louis to share an on-the-record history lesson about the Paris Coven’s origins. The soft-spoken Armand is very old, despite his perpetually angelic-looking appearance: in 1556, the Roman Coven he was a part of sent him to Paris to head up its enclave, which lived in squalor deep in the shadows underground. They were run by sects driven through ancient religious laws and gods to keep them in eternal damnation mode under Satan. It got old very quickly for Armand; by the 18th century, when Lestat began to run amok in the city above, flaunting his alluring menace on the unsuspecting living, it drove most of the Paris Coven crazy to see such heretical behavior. But it intrigued Armand.
In order to exert dominance as the Paris Coven’s maitre, Armand reveals himself to the fledgling Lestat and informs him he’s his new master as he exists in their domain and must follow vampire law. So of course Lestat blows him off, with the swish of his cape and his blond bouncy hair, because he does not want to be an obedient, poor, peasant vampire. The rejection only makes the brat Frenchman more hot to Armand, who’s never faced a challenge. Naturally, the coven wants severe punishment for Lestat as they see him break so many more rules including taking a mortal lover. That’s the breaks for letting Lestat run his showman lifestyle—and Armand uses his ancient powers to literally drop his ass and drag him into cooperating with a show of power that switches Lestat’s view on Armand.
The boy wants power and he immediately plans to get it, so he shows up to the coven’s hovel with Christ on a cross (literally) to dismantle the old ways, which is what Armand wanted but knew he couldn’t get away with. He pisses on their rules and old god worship, because to Lestat they’re not there to stop them from being gods themselves. The coven breaks loose into the night; some end up taking to the sun to escape meaningless existence, while others jump into power. Knowing they need to be reeled in, because careless killing endangers all of them, Lestat encourages Armand to begin the coven anew through the Theatre des Vampires, a show where they perform their true identity and take their prey while the living laugh at the fiction they think they’re seeing.
Lestat’s reformation leads to a new age of the vampire, giving Armand the freedom he sought, and he tells Lestat he loves him while Lestat being Lestat only covets Armand’s dark gifts. As soon as he learns them from the maitre, Lestat abandons him and the coven but leaves them the means to continue without him. Lestat’s ghosting and lover melodrama is something Louis is aware of and helps provide insight on when he sits with Armand and Molloy. It would take Armand 150 years to tell someone else he loved them, and you can deduce it’s Louis—oh, the piping hot tea!
Molloy resumes Claudia’s Paris diaries, as she campaigns to join the coven that Louis wants no part of except to see her happy (and also he’s sweet on its maitre). She takes on the tasks of cleaning the theater house as she learns more about the coven, particularly Santiago. The acting troupe’s lead inspires her with his performances and dark gift of making people accept death before killing, and with her Daddy Lestat’s ambitious streak, she wants that power too. So Santiago takes her under his wing because he was also orphaned by a terrible maker, but of course he doesn’t know hers was Lestat—just some rando vamp named “Bruce.”
Lestat’s presence is also felt in Louis’ motivations; like his former lover, there’s an independent streak that prevents him from having any interest in the coven, and that makes him attractive to Armand. The Paris Coven resents that even though all Louis does is enjoy Parisian culture and take up photography, with sporadic human meals, Armand begins to join him on his late-night wandering throughout the city. They fall in love over discourse about good vs. evil and enjoying music at jazz clubs—even with the occasional mental projection of Lestat showing up in Louis’ mind. Last season’s “Come to Me” song reappears in a fun scene as a diss track with Lestat on piano singing to Louis, “You little whore, you only want him because you’re feeling blue,” which disrupts the romantic evening—and Armand reveals he knows his maker is Lestat. Foolishly, Louis tells Armand everything and the maitre reprimands him over breaking so many rules he needs to enforce punishments for. Honestly, the expectation that Lestat would even teach Louis any rules is ridiculous, so when he says Lestat told him “shit” the frustration is understandable. Thankfully, Armand is stupidly sprung on Louis too, so he doesn’t kill him or Claudia immediately as was probably expected.
Louis, of course, does not tell Claudia that his new boyfriend knows the truth; he continues to build a fake story around their history with “Bruce” and bond with her over their shared Lestat trauma. It really mirrors the complex PTSD that survivors of emotional and physical abuse can carry on from loved ones—even after making it out of the situation, it can haunt you, and in Louis’ case this presents as that manifestation of Lestat always following him. In anger, Louis kills a random person imagining them as Lestat and carelessly leaves the body behind. Within the coven, Santiago points out that his own maker was killed for less.
Tensions begin to rise as the coven wants Louis dealt with, even as they embrace Claudia. As they begin to induct her into the coven by reciting the rules every vampire should follow (not knowing she’s broken a few of them), Armand takes Louis through the sewers to finally kill him. Louis is ready for it and asks for Armand to take care of Claudia, but the maitre reveals her being in such a young body will break her in time. Louis doesn’t accept that and begs for the coven to give her a chance, but Armand insists he’s seen it before; over the centuries, vampires in children’s bodies are not able to evolve past their physical limitations. Louis defends her, insisting she’s strong and it wouldn’t break her—perhaps blinded by her love for her. Seeing the damage Lestat has caused, Armand asks if Lestat broke him and Louis says no, but he carries him. The trauma bonding brings them together as do the life and death stakes here. The tension is too much and they kiss, starting a tryst and avoiding all the punishment talk for now.
Everyone knows the magic of George Miller is his practical effects. The Max Max filmmaker loves to do actual stunts and capture them in-camera, and the results are masterful. But what maybe not everyone knows is that Miller’s films, in particular Mad Max: Fury Road and the new Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, have a ton of visual effects. Like, a lot.More than you can possibly imagine. He just doesn’t use them only in obvious ways.
Spoilers of the Week: August 12th
“In Fury Road, in [Furiosa], there are hardly any shots that haven’t been manipulated digitally,” Miller told io9. “For instance, changing the sky. When Steven Spielberg shot Jaws, the sea was changing all the time. If you look at that film one moment it’s choppy, one moment it’s flat. You don’t need to do that anymore.”
So basically every shot in both Fury Road and Furiosa has some kind of digital changes to it. But, for the most part, it’s subtle stuff. The Furiosa scene Miller pointed to was “The Stowaway,” one of the film’s middle chapters and also its longest, most sprawling action sequence. In it, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) tries to escape the Citadel but instead finds herself in an epic battle versus a group of Wasteland pirates.
“When you’re doing extended sequences like ‘The Stowaway’ sequence, that was shot over 78 days. It’s a 15-minute sequence but the skies are consistent,” Miller said. “So we took what we thought was a good sky and we can reproduce that sky right through the story. So some shots have the real sky because the real sky looked really good. But in the next shot, it might have been where it was a completely different sky so we were able to match that. You can do that.”
The film clearly has other digital effects too but Miller is mostly a fan of the ones that are invisible and keep everything smooth and cohesive. It’s a huge game-changer. “If you were shooting Jaws again today, the sea would be consistent,” He said. “Even meticulous filmmakers, guys like David Lean when they shot Lawrence of Arabia—obsessively, meticulous with their camera and lighting and so on—you can see where they shot different times of day and so on. You can avoid it now to some degree. It’s a much smoother experience.”
‘It’s Visual Music’ Director George Miller on His Filmmaking Style
‘It’s Visual Music’ Director George Miller on His Filmmaking Style
Visually, Furiosa might be a smooth experience but the experience overall is anything but, in the best possible way. It’s now in theaters.
Sadly, people aren’t always as nice as they could be, and that’s where you need to turn to the various blocking and reporting features on the digital platforms you frequent. Overall, these features work well and effectively put up barriers between you and those you don’t want to hear from.
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But what happens when you want to unblock someone? Maybe you’ve had a change of heart—perhaps enough water has gone under enough bridges to make you ready to think again. Or maybe you think you might have accidentally blocked someone you didn’t mean to. Whatever the reason, it’s worth reviewing your block lists once in a while.
This is quite a significant undertaking, considering all the different accounts you’re probably signed up to, but it only takes a few minutes each time—and you don’t need to do it all that frequently.
Social apps
Blocked contacts on Instagram.Screenshot: Instagram
On the Facebook website and inside the Facebook mobile app, you can click your profile picture (top right), then Settings & privacy, Settings, and Blocking. You can view and edit lists of people you’ve blocked outright or just asked to see less of in the news feed.
Instagram
When it comes to Instagram, in the app, tap your profile picture (bottom right), then the three horizontal lines (top right), then Blocked. If you’re using Instagram on the web, click More (bottom left), then Settings and Blocked.
Twitter/X
On the social network formerly known as Twitter (now called X), if you load up the website, you can click the three dots on the left, then Settings and Privacy, Privacy and Safety, Mute and Block, and Blocked Accounts. In the mobile app, tap your profile picture (top left), then Settings & Support to get to Settings and Privacy.
Snapchat
Head into the mobile app, and tap your profile picture (top left): Then it’s the gear icon (top right), then Blocked users. While there is an official Snapchat interface on the web you can access with your account, it does have its limitations—and you can’t access your blocked Snapchat contacts from a web browser.
Tiktok
In the mobile app, tap Profile, then the three horizontal lines (top right), then Settings and Privacy, Privacy, and Blocked accounts. As with Snapchat, while you can get at your TikTok account on the web and access a limited number of settings, you can’t see a list of people you’ve blocked in a browser.
Messaging apps
Finding blocked contacts on WhatsApp.Screenshot: WhatsApp
iPhone and iPad
If you’re on an iPhone or iPad, it’s the same block list for the Phone app, Messages, and FaceTime. Open up Settings in iOS, then choose Phone and Blocked Contacts, Messages and Blocked Contacts, or FaceTime and Blocked Contacts. It’s the same list in each case, and you can add new people to it as well as take people off it.
On Android, the situation varies slightly depending on your phone, but on Pixel devices, the blocked list is synced between the Phone and Messages apps. You can tap the three dots (top right) from the Phone app, then Settings and Blocked numbers. From Messages, you can tap your profile picture (top right), then Spam and Blocked to see messages you’ve blocked; tap the three dots (top right) and Blocked numbers to view those as well.
WhatsApp
When it comes to WhatsApp, even after all these years, the mobile app interface is still different depending on which type of phone you have: If you’re on Android, tap the three dots (top right of the Chats tab), then choose Settings, Privacy, and Blocked contacts. On iOS, it’s Settings, then Privacy, and Blocked.
Signal
As for Signal, you can get to your list of blocked contacts by tapping on the three dots in the top right corner of the Chats tab, then picking Settings, Privacy, and Blocked. The next screen lets you add another contact to your blocked list, or unblock a contact that you’ve previously put there.
Telegram
The last messaging app we’ll cover is Telegram, which, like WhatsApp, has a different interface on different platforms. On Android, tap the three horizontal lines (top left), then Settings, Privacy and Security, and Blocked Users. On iOS, you switch to the Settings tab, then pick Privacy and Security and Blocked Users.
Email apps
You may have blocked contacts in your email app, too.Screenshot: Apple Mail
Your email clients are the final group of apps you want to check for blocked contacts. In Gmail on the web, click the gear icon (top right), then See all settings and Filters and blocked addresses. Scroll down to see email addresses that have been blocked and unblock them if needed.
Gmail
Strangely enough, you can’t get to these email addresses through the Gmail app on mobile—you can only get to the contacts blocked through your Google account, which covers services such as Google Chat, Google Photos, and Google Maps. These blocked users are separate from Gmail, and you can also find a list in your Google account on the web.
Apple Mail
If Apple Mail is your email service of choice, in the macOS client you can open the Mail menu and choose Settings, then switch to the Junk Mail tab and click Blocked to see email addresses you aren’t receiving messages from. On iOS, this list is actually shared with the Phone, Messages, and FaceTime apps—you can see it if you tap Mail and then Blocked from iOS Settings. The list isn’t available via iCloud on the web.
Outlook
In the default Outlook app for Windows, you need to click on the gear icon (top right), then choose Email and Junk email to find your blocked senders and domains. The layout is exactly the same if you open Outlook on the web to get to the same feature, but the list of blocked email addresses isn’t available through the Outlook mobile app.
Suppose you’re using a different email application. In that case, whether through a desktop client or a web interface, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find the options for blocked senders or junk emails—if there’s a regular correspondent who you haven’t heard from for quite some time, this might be why.
Batman fans have their favorites miniseries, and among the most beloved is The Long Halloween. The original miniseries from Jeph Loeb and the late Tim Sale saw widepsread acclaim when it released in 1996 and spawned two sequels and a film adaptation. And much like Frank Miller with his Dark Knight Returnsseries, Loeb and DC are reviving the miniseries for one more adventure.
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As revealed at MCM London on Saturday, Loeb has returned to script The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween. With Sale’s passing, the 10-issue miniseries will see a rotating series of artists take over art duties, including Klaus Janson (Dark Knight Returns), Mark Chiarello (Batman: Black & White), and Eduardo Risso (Flashpoint: Batman – Knight of Vengeance). In a press release, Loeb called the book “Tim’s parting gift to me.” The pair had already settled on the story after the Long Halloween Special in 2021, but Sale’s passing put those plans on hold. Now that enough time has passed, this miniseries will serve as “a tribute to Tim, who continues to be with us in spirit.”
Last Halloween pits Batman and Robin against the Holiday Killer, who comes back on spookiest holiday with his sights set on Gordon. Holiday’s identity was a key mystery across the original Long Halloween and its first sequel Dark Victory. The new series “concludes the war between the freaks and the crime families forever,” and promises to further uncover secrets that date back to the original Long Halloween.
Batman: The Long Halloween: The Last Halloween will begin on September 25. The first issue’s main cover will give us our final Tim Sale cover art, which you can see below.
Nearly 10 years ago, George Miller brought the Mad Max franchise blasting back to relevance with Fury Road. The film wasn’t just well-liked, it was basically a game changer for plenty of moviegoers and delivered them something they’d never really seen at the time. And of the many things to love about Fury Road, people fell greatly in love with Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, who is more of the film’s true protagonist than Tom Hardy’s Max.
Spoilers of the Week: August 12th
When Miller revealed he was following up Fury Road with a prequel focused on Furiosa, eyebrows were definitely raised, particularly when Anya Taylor-Joy was cast as a young version of the character. Then we got to see Furiosa’s first trailer, and it instantly became clear Miller was about to cook yet again. Now that it’s out, people have gotten to experience what’s been said in the weeks since its premiere at Cannes: Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagais the real deal, and a more than welcome return to mad, mad car-heavy wasteland.
While not quite the revelation that Fury Road was, or at least not in the same way, critics and audiences have been fairly high on Furiosa. Amid criticisms of the pacing and visuals, those who like it really like it, particularly its cast and 15-year scope that makes it feel like the post-apocalyptic epic it’s been marketed as. With the summer movie season in full swing, this film will probably end up as the highlight for many once all is said and done.
If you saw Furiosa, let us know what you thought about it. Did it live up to whatever expectations you had, and wht do you want out of Miller and Mad Max next? Tell us in the comments below.
There’s been a number of dormant horror franchises that’ve been revived in the past few years—your Alien, Halloween, Strangers, and so on. (Sorry, Jason.) Several of these have come courtesy of Blumhouse, and it’s now working to resurrect another old movie: My Bloody Valentine.
Spoilers of the Week: July 22nd
Per Bloody Disgusting, the horror studio is in the early stages of developing a new film. At the moment, this is the only piece of information about the film: it’s not clear if this’ll be another remake, or a legacy sequel to either of the previous versions. It’s also not known who’s behind it, or if original director George Mihalka will have any kind of involvement.
The original My Bloody Valentine released in 1981, and focuses on a group of young adults whose Valentine’s Day party takes a turn for the grim when a killer in mining gear starts picking them off. It landed a mixed reception at first, but in the decades since, has found a cult audience and made $5.7 million worldwide. Lionsgate took to remaking it back in 2009, which was notably the first R-rated flick to get the 3D treatment. Like the remake overall, the 3D technology didn’t fully go over well with critics, though it ended up making $100.7 million.
Valentine’sremake ended with a sequel tease that co-writer Todd Farmer and director Patrick Lussier intended to make. According to Farmer in 2020, the would-be follow up would’ve been a more psychological movie, and seen some of the survivors from the remake come back. But after the movie’s muted reception, Lionsgate said “no thanks,” and no studio’s touched the pseudo-franchise since. Fans gave the original movie a legacy sequel of its own last year with the Valentine Bluffs fan film set 40 years later and focused on a new killer taking up the miner mantle.
The newly released Furiosahas the world blazing with Mad Max fever. Some are celebrating the occasion by rewatching 2015’s Fury Road, if not all four movies. Others are thinking about what could’ve been, particularly as it pertains to the 2015 Mad Max game from Just Cause creator Avalanche Studios.
Spoilers of the Week: August 12th
During a recent interview with Gaming Bible at Cannes, franchise director George Miller talked about the game, which he isn’t too hot on. He was candid in calling it “not as good as I wanted it to be.” To him, it failed because the team had to “give all our material” to Avalanche instead of being involved directly, and “I’m one of those people that i’d rather not do something unless you can do it at the highest level, or at least try to make it at the highest level.”
If he had his way, another Mad Max game would happen, but one with Hideo Kojima at the helm. The Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator has openly been a fan of Fury Road since it came out, and Miller called him the perfect guy to take on that endeavor. “I’ve just been speaking to him,” the director added. “[But] he’s got so much fantastic stuff in his own head that I would never ask him.” (Kojima, for what it’s worth, saw Furiosa at Cannes and called it a “masterpiece.”)
Avalanche’s Mad Max game launched months after the release of Fury Road, and is in fact set in between that and Beyond Thunderdome. The game got solid reviews when it launched, but the big thing that did it in was releasing on September 1, 2015… aka, the same day as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. When two fairly big games go up against one another on the same day, there’s typically a loser, and in this case, it was ol’ Max Rockatansky.
Here’s where things get a little murky, though: putting Mad Max out on that date was apparently out of Avalanche’s hands. Christofer Sundberg, who co-founded the studio in 2003, revealed on X that Warner Bros. wouldn’t budge when he suggested the game shift from its September 1 release. As a result, “they blamed us for the bad sales and cancelled a bunch of awesome DLC that was just sitting there waiting to be released.” To this day, he admits that he doesn’t know why WB was so adamant about it.
Sundberg also took Miller’s thoughts on his game to task, alleging that WB tried to force Mad Max into a linear game when Avalanche’s bread and butter is big, open-world titles. A year into development, the studio was told to convert it into a non-linear game, and he chalked up Miller’s comments to “complete nonsense and [it] just shows complete arrogance. […] Mad Max was a hell of a great game, the potential was missed due to political nonsense.” And if Kojima did try a stab at making a Max game, he thinks it’d be a “completely different experience.”
In the years since its release, Mad Max has been looked back on fondly and achieved a bit of cult classic status. To date, it’s playable on both PC and consoles via backwards compatibility. Maybe with the franchise being the hot topic of the weekend, the game will see a little more love over the next few days.
Ghost in the Shellis making a comeback, courtesy of a brand-new anime by Scott Pilgrim Takes Off studio Science SARU and longtime franchise studio Production I.G (Kaiju No. 8).
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Revealed on Saturday morning, the series—currently titled The Ghost in the Shell–will mark the newest anime installment for the franchise since Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045in 2020. Much of the franchise has revolved around the 2002 series Stand Alone Complex through movie and TV sequels and video game spinoffs. Save for a short teaser and poster, no further details on the anime were given, but it’s scheduled to release sometime in 2026.
TVアニメ『攻殻機動隊（仮）』特報｜2026年放送｜THE GHOST IN THE SHELL
Created by Masamune Shirow, the original 1989 Ghost in the Shell manga is one of the biggest and most influential Japanese cyberpunk stories around. The majority of the franchise revolves around an anti-crime and counterterrorism group dubbed Public Security Section 9, and more specifically its cyborg field commander Motoko Kusanagi. Beyond Stand Alone Complex, folks likely glommed onto Shell thanks to the 1995 film, which garnered a huge cult following on home video and is now considered one of the best sci-fi films ever. And if they didn’t see either of those, they probably know of the 2017 live-action movie, which…exists.
Still, even if you haven’t seen anything from Ghost in the Shell, you’ve seen stuff that was influenced by it, like the Matrix films, Cyberpunk 2077, Avatar, and plenty more. The franchise has been in a weird place for a few years now, but maybe SARU and I.G can revitalize it with whatever their plans are with this upcoming anime.
And while there’s nothing wildly surprising in the film, especially since we know what happens immediately after, we do love the ending a lot and figured you might want to dive into it a bit after seeing the film. Major spoilers follow.
All of Furiosa leads up to the character (Anya Taylor-Joy) finally getting face to face with Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), the maniacal warlord primarily responsible for ruining her life by kidnapping her and killing her mother. The showdown happens, Furiosa is victorious, but we then see multiple versions of the exact conclusion. It’s Miller’s wink at legend and storytelling. An acknowledgment that what’s real and what’s told are not always the same, especially in mythology.
What’s fascinating here is that the legends of how Furiosa defeated Dementus are way less exciting than the truth. What Furiosa actually did to Dementus wasn’t simple and straightforward. It was brutal. It was, in fact, epic, and proves that her legend is merely a fraction of her reality. She’s a mythical creature but in real life, she’s even better.
So what happens? Well, all throughout the movie, we see that Furiosa carries a seed with her. It’s a seed given to her by her mother as a reminder of her home. It’s her most prized possession because it’s not only from her home, it also represents the possibility of renewal.
The seed doesn’t factor into the final fight but it becomes crucial right after. Instead of just killing Dementus, we see that Furiosa somehow figures out a way to use his body as the soil to give life to the seed. He becomes part of its roots, forever stuck in agony, as the seed slowly sucks the life out of him and transforms into a beautiful fruit tree. Basically, Dementus becomes the basis for Furiosa’s rebirth. It’s an inexplicable, but brutal and fascinating fate for Hemsworth’s character. One ripe—pun intended—with meaning.
Furiosa then picks a piece of fruit, brings it to Immortal Joe’s wives, and leads them to a War Rig where, in Mad Max: Fury Road, we’ll see them attempt to escape. The film goes right up until to the next movie. Then, in the end credits, it even shows a little Fury Road highlight reel just as a reminder.
So Furiosa ends with the character becoming a Wasteland legend and linking up perfectly with the next film. In terms of endings, it doesn’t get much better than that.
What did you think of Furiosa’s ending? Did you see it a different way? Let us know below.
Fran (Gaylen Ross) heads to the mall to escape zombies in Dawn of the Dead.Screenshot: United Film Distribution Company
George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead arrived 10 years after he invented the modern zombie movie with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. To mark the 45-year anniversary of its U.S. release in 1979—an international co-production, it world-premiered in Italy in 1978—star Gaylen Ross, who’s also in Romero and Stephen King’s 1982 anthology film Creepshow, reflected on her experiences making the movie and its enduring legacy.
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Speaking to Variety, Ross said she signed on to play Fran, a Philadelphia TV producer turned zombie-apocalypse survivor, before she even knew who Romero was. Once cast, she took an active role in helping shape the character. “It was an interesting dialogue that George and I had at the beginning about how are we going to make Fran not a victim, and part of the characters that were active?,” she recalled. “He rewrote it while we were working, because he also felt we needed to empower her more.”
Amid some fun behind-the-scenes tidbits about what it was like filming nights at a mall that was open for customers during the day—Dawn of the Dead had to take a pause when the Christmas decorations went up—and how Ross faked her way through an ice-skating sequence, the actor turned documentary filmmaker shared her memories of the film’s original ending. As horror fans have long known, Romero did not at first intend for Fran and Ken Foree’s character, Peter, to make a desperate yet hopeful escape. “We shot it! I prepared all day for it,” she said. “George was going to kill us off—Peter was going to put a gun to his head, and I was going to put my head through the blades of the helicopter. [Make-up artist Tom Savini] had already cast the head for that effect … but then the decision was that this was too dark an ending and that somebody had to survive. Whether or not anybody believes that we survived if I was driving a helicopter or not is another story.”
While Ross admits she was surprised Dawn of the Dead became a hit when it was released—and says its enduring impact is “incredible”—she knew all along that she was part of a special project. “What I learned from George wasn’t so much his horror vision, but a respect and a generosity to actors, giving them the space … the one thing that George had for everybody was a kindness and a respect. No matter how horrible the story was, he did that—and that’s why actors would return.”
Read the full interview with Gaylen Ross over at Variety.
Dog shelters are currently overwhelmed in many parts of the U.S., with some of the oldest dogs often at the highest risk of being euthanized. But now is a great time to consider adopting a dog, especially from a place like San Francisco’s Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, which maintains some of our favorite social media accounts on the internet.
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Muttville has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to adopting new technology. And that makes sense when you remember that many of the volunteers and staff behind the Bay Area rescue live in the heart of America’s tech industry. In fact, the domain for Muttville was purchased in 1998, likely before any other pet rescue in the country was even thinking about establishing a presence on the web.
“We were on Vine like the first week,” Jane Goldman, the Chief Content Officer at Muttville, told Gizmodo about the late great video-sharing service. “What we have to offer are cute dogs. And video was like the perfect medium.”
And while Vine is no longer around (despite Elon Musk’s hints that he might resurrect it at X) Muttville’s still constantly churning out new photos and videos on sites like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, X, and TikTok, including the newbies of the week videos, guaranteed to make you smile. The goal, of course, is to get the public interested in adoption by bringing those dogs to a larger audience of potential adopters.
It’s not just the public-facing tech that’s helping these elderly dogs find homes. Goldman told Gizmodo about an internal app built by one of the shelter’s volunteers that allows staff, volunteers, and foster families to easily access available information about any given dog in their system.
“We used to have a binder of all the available dogs, and we would take it out,” Goldman said. “Now we scrape the data on our shelter’s software and bring in the info about intake information and medical information that our fosters use to talk to the potential adopters.”
Muttville also has a livestream called the Wagcam, which anyone can watch from noon to 4 p.m. ET, providing a special behind-the-scenes peek at dogs straight from the shelter in San Francisco.
Here is Muttville Senior Dog Rescue, 2023!
Animal shelters have struggled in recent months with overcrowding that’s forcing them to make tough decisions, especially in California. The San Diego Humane Society is currently at 157% capacity and they’re waiving adoption fees for the first 100 adoptions this weekend. After the first 100, adoption fees will still be at the incredibly low rate of just $25.
Shelters in Los Angeles are struggling even more, with L.A. Animal Shelters currently at 212% capacity, with 1,566 dogs housed in a space built for just 737. There are currently 97 dogs on the city’s Red Alert List scheduled to be euthanized soon if they’re not adopted.
It’s always a good time to adopt a pet in need, especially a senior dog. If you’ve been thinking about it for a while and want to get a new addition to your family, this might be the weekend to do the most good.
Muttville is hosting an adoption event in San Francisco on Saturday, May 25 and their Memorial Day Mutt Walk, in honor of Muttville volunteer Jennie Chen, is being held at Crissy Field on Monday, May 27.
And if you don’t live in California, there are dog shelters all across the country that are just a Google search away. Muttville may have been an extremely early adopter of new tech, but so many dog rescues around the country are finding waysa to connect animals with their forever homes thanks to social media.
Platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and X get a lot of well-deserved criticism for some of the social harms that have emerged in the past decade. But organizations like Muttville are harnessing that kind of reach to make a positive impact in the world. And sometimes it’s good to get a reminder that technology really can be a force for good.
And if you’re interested in the dogs at the top of this post, those are Pyrex (left, #11860), Sundae (middle, #11732), and Kabob (right, #11852), but you can also check out the complete list of available mutts.
A year after the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruisertook its last flight, here’s a look back at the best of Disney Parks’ bold venture into the immersive entertainment space—and why in the end, it couldn’t quite work.
James Mangold on his Future Star Wars Film | io9 Interview
At io9, Star Wars and fantastical realms of sci-fi coming to life are a major component of what we write about through films, shows, and theme park experiences. And that’s because bringing to life some of the idealized futuristic worlds we hold dear presents a lot of challenges—particularly when they’re brought into a very real world that may only really share themes of banding together with civil unrest against a fascist tyranny. In Star Wars the people find ways to come together and play a role to defeat the bad guys; in real life things are far more complicated.
To many Star Wars fans who were able to check out Galactic Starcruiser during its short-lived existence, the attraction presented a chance to act on the frustration many share in their day to day lives of watching atrocities happen and feeling like there’s little we can do about them. There was an irony in this, since Galactic Starcruiser was part of Disney, a major corporation that prioritizes its financial bottom line.
And indeed, Galactic Starcruiser’s exorbitant cost turned off a lot of folks who thought it was a hotel—which it never was, instead more resembling a fancy theater camp where you could wallflower it or actively participate in your own corner of Star Wars. Hotels are generally built around recreational, relaxing areas like a pool or a spa; the only amenities that reflected a familiar Disney vacation aspect aboard Galactic Starcruiser were the dinners and the Galaxy’s Edge excursions at adjacent Walt Disney World. On a surface level, that’s what probably misled regular folk—vacationers who don’t actively follow the immersive experiences niche—into thinking Galactic Starcruiser was a Disney Cruise on land. Coming on board to realize it was not, and that you had to get involved in ways that could be compared to pretending to be a coach for your fantasy football league, in a realm where you’re in the game, threw the unprepared off. That’s a big part of what ultimately led to Disney shutting down the attraction, which at its core was a community-building endeavor born out of Imagineering and Lucasfilm’s story trust to inspire at least a portion of people to feel like if they could be a part of a story like Star Wars, then perhaps they could take their experiences from it to the real world, in small and big ways.
While there’s a lot of outrage out there to deconstruct the pared-down end result that came from an ambitious idea, many folks who got to visit Galactic Starcruiser enjoyed the experiment, whether they saw it as an imaginative interactive playground to bring their loved ones to or experience on their own. It was a sandbox: if you wanted to be there to cosplay while trying funky-looking food and drinks, that was a path you could take; if you wanted to embrace the childlike wonder of lightsaber training and blasting baddies into space, there was that too. And some people just wanted their kids to play and meet their heroes.
The milage varied on how open and social you were willing to be to find the path of best enjoyment. On my own visit, I went in as a disenchanted space witch on her honeymoon, and with the intention of leaving behind how limited I felt in being able to change the real world. I quickly made an alliance with some reluctant scoundrels to help the good guys out, playing up some Cassian Andor vibes (I pretended to be a relative). I had some issues with having to be on my “data-pad” (what that really means: one’s own phone) to do the more gamer app stuff around Galaxy’s Edge; that was not for me as a non-gamer. But I found that character interaction and roleplay on board the ship to be a highly rewarding experience. I befriended other guests, young and young at heart; moved smuggled goods about (how did they know I’d be down to hustle the Empire?); and when my beloved and I needed a romantic space moment to share our vow renewals, the in-room droid—D3-O9, who encouraged me to help the Resistance—performed a whole ceremony that makes me cry to this day, because right after, she sacrificed herself and got attacked by the First Order.
That event, like in any hero’s journey, quickly radicalized me and I was able to find the Rebel princess for the people inside me I’ve dreamed of being since I was a little girl. Then it was on and along with the Padawans in training we led stormtroopers to their own imprisonment by pretending to lock up Chewbacca, used a fake proposal to move precious cargo, and stood tall with a galactic pop-star along with our fellow Resistance members to back up Rey when Kylo Ren showed up for the epic finale. And finally—when the good guys won—I was able to step into my power and begin the Jedi (witch princess) training I’d felt I long abandoned hope for. As soon as I ignited my lightsaber on that last night, I was ready to fight again.
Oh—and here are the vows D3-O9 recited for us:
D3-O9: You have come today to declare your promise of devotion to your chosen partner.
Please repeat after me:
…We vow to share our triumphs and troubles…
…No matter what difficulties may come…
…We share in each other’s successes…
…Not with jealousy, but with joy and admiration…
…We promise each other a life cycle…
…Filled with curiosity, humor, and adventure…
…We pledge unquestionable devotion…
…for we are worthy of each other’s love.
You are destined. The galaxy has connected you amongst the millions of other inhabitants. Though you may have once traveled singular paths, you now travel united, and stronger for it. Cherish your bond, and seek to share it, for your bond shall inspire others to seek their own. From love to love, the galaxy grows stronger. And you are now a part of that great and unending chain.
Like those who did find the best of our experiences to outweigh the kinks that had so much potential to be ironed out, it is nice to feel a part of that “great and unending chain” with those whose lives were enriched by the experience of the GalacticStarcruiser.
It’s that time of the year again—but warmer than average. Hurricane season is upon us and the National Weather Service is expecting “above-normal” hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin, which could portend a difficult six months for coastal states, the Caribbean, and eastern Central America.
Hurricanes and Climate | Extreme Earth
Hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30, and occurs when coastal Atlantic waters and the Gulf of Mexico warm up, prompting massive storm systems that can have devastating impacts on land.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting between 17 and 25 named storms. Storms get named when their wind speeds achieve 39 miles per hour (62.75 kilometers per hour) or higher. According to a NOAA release, 8 to 13 of those named storms are expected to become hurricanes, or storms with wind speeds of 74 mph or higher (119 kmph). Four to seven of the storms are anticipated to be major hurricanes, with winds greater than 111 mph (178.64 kmph). The forecaster’s confidence in those ranges is 70%.
Colorado State University’s seasonal hurricane forecasts predicts 23 named storms this year, with 11 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes, amounting to 115 total named storm days and 45 hurricane days. Those numbers are up from the 1991 to 2020 averages: 14.4 named storms per year, 7.2 hurricanes, and 3.2 major hurricanes. In other words, it may be time to invest in some plywood, batteries, and bottled water.
“Severe weather and emergencies can happen at any moment, which is why individuals and communities need to be prepared today,” said Erik Hooks, FEMA’s deputy administrator, in the NOAA release. “Already, we are seeing storms move across the country that can bring additional hazards like tornadoes, flooding and hail. Taking a proactive approach to our increasingly challenging climate landscape today can make a difference in how people can recover tomorrow.”
NOAA attributed this above-average activity to near-record warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic, as well as reduced trade winds and wind shear, and La Nina-like conditions in the Pacific.
Human activity has made matters worse. Climate change—driven by humans burning fossil fuels—warms the global ocean and melts ice, causing sea levels to rise. This could make storm surges worse, especially in low-lying areas. You can stay informed about active storms via NOAA’s National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center portals.
We’re still months away from the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, so while we wait, it might be time to travel to London. That’s where the most recent piece of mythology in the series can be found and now, for the first time, we’ve got a real good look.
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In December, a stage play called Stranger Things: The First Shadowopened in London’s West End. Set in 1959 Hawkins, it follows a young Henry Creel, revealed to be the evil Vecna in the fourth season of the show, when he first arrived in town, and shows how he became the first of a group of kids with special abilities. Beyond that, not much has been known or seen from the show. That is, until today, when Netflix released the first trailer for the production.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow | Meet Henry Creel | Netflix
As it is set just over two decades before the show, several of the main adults are seen here as younger versions of themselves. Characters such as Jim Hopper, Bob Newby, Joyce Maldonado, and even Dr. Brenner. It looks kind of amazing and only makes us that much more excited for the show to come back one last time.
Of course, the biggest problem with this trailer is that you can only see the full show by heading to London. However, you now have more time than you may have thought. The First Shadow was just extended into 2025, giving fans plenty of time to make travel plans to see the origins of this popular franchise.
Written by Kate Trefry and directed by Stephen Daldry as well as Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow is now showing at the Phoenix Theatre in London. Visit the official site for more info, tickets, and more.
