'Tomb Raider' is Becoming a TV Series -- 'The Last of Us' Shows How It's Done

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'Tomb Raider' is Becoming a TV Series -- 'The Last of Us' Shows How It's Done Amazon is pursuing a new Tomb Raider shared universe, signaling a boom in TV shows based on video games that are actually watchable. Amid the success of The Last of Us at HBO, Amazon is hunting for a game adaptation of its own: Tomb Raider. Continued here

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Nepo Entrepreneurs Can Trigger Impostor Syndrome. 3 Steps to Counter It Lessons from Kim Kardashian's recent visit to Harvard Business School. Continued here

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I Took Apple's New Privacy on iPhone Class. I've Never Felt More Exposed It's up to you to protect your personal information. Continued here

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Why Debt Makes Your Business Fragile Debt is okay, but it increases your risk. Continued here

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What Is FOFO and How Do You Fight It? How Emotionally Intelligent People Deal With the Fear of Finding Out The "fear of finding out" (FOFO) is dangerous. Learn how emotional intelligence can help you control your fear, so it doesn't control you. Continued here

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3 Powerful Ways to Show Others You're Cut Out to Lead Leadership is everyone's responsibility. Continued here

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5 Key Questions Managers Should Be Asking After Hiring a New Employee A typical employee's mind isn't made up about staying or leaving a new company until month six. Continued here

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The rise of 'relaxed minimalism' The word "minimalist" elicits mixed reactions. From the 1990s, it has been used by many as a derogatory term. Even ardent design fans associate it with soulless interiors and a humourless reverence for design that prioritises aesthetics over comfort, or simply regard it as impractical, given all the stuff many of us inevitably accumulate. In recent years, some designers have even gone to the other extreme, cultivating maximalism, welcomed by many as a joyful, exuberant antidote to uptight minimalism. Floral wallpapers and rich, intense colours became popular in interiors crammed with contrasting textures and an eclectic mix of furniture, artworks and curios. But there's a happy medium to be found between these two extremes. We're now witnessing a return to more restrained, uncluttered interiors – but with a more relaxed, comfortable feel. One indication of this is paint colours, which are moving away from maximalism's dramatic, even oppressive hues, such as navy or bottle green, to paler, earthier mid-tones like sandy beige and sage green that arguably make rooms feel more spacious. Perhaps lockdowns, which reawakened an interest in nature, helped foster this taste for a palette inspired by the great outdoors. A perception of maximalism as excessive and wasteful in the light of growing environmental concerns might have also sparked a trend for more clean-lined homes. Continued here

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11 of the best TV shows to watch this February Nearly forgotten in the UK and never known in the US, Noele Gordon, known as Nolly, was the star of the soap opera Crossroads, but her long run came to an end in 1981 when she was abruptly fired at the height of her popularity, leaving viewers to wonder why. Helena Bonham-Carter brings her back to life in this series from superstar creator Russell T Davies, of the great It's a Sin, and former and future iterations of Doctor Who. Davies has said that one of his first television jobs was writing a script, never produced, for Crossroads, and "I've wanted to write the story of behind the scenes on that show for 40 years". Another long-forgotten outrage worked for Hugh Grant as disgraced politician Jeremy Thorpe in Davies's previous period miniseries A Very English Scandal, so Bonham-Carter may well have similar success playing this rediscovered popular entertainment heroine. Nolly premieres on 2 February on ITVX in the UK and at a later date on Masterpiece on PBS in the US Continued here

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Former deputy prime minister John Anderson joins group spearheading "no" campaign on the Voice Former deputy prime minister John Anderson is one of the six- member committee launched on Monday to spearhead the “no” case in the Voice referendum. The Voice No Case Committee’s “Recognise a Better Way” campaign argues the Voice is “the wrong way to recognise Aboriginal people or help Aboriginal Australians in need”. Continued here

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Inequality in access to basic services is a major problem in sub-Saharan Africa - but progress is being made Economic activity and development are unevenly distributed across regions of the world and within any country. In other words, where someone lives can determine their economic and social well-being. Take gross domestic product (GDP) per capita – the total value of a country’s economic output per person. In 2020, North American and Europe’s GDP per capita was more than ten times that of sub-Saharan Africa. Continued here

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Building more inclusive pregnancy services for trans and non-binary people isn't about a culture war Associate Head, School of Psychological, Social & Behavioural Sciences, Coventry University Sally Pezaro works for Coventry University and the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She is a Fellow of the Royal College of Midwives. Continued here

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Limits to computing: A computer scientist explains why even in the age of AI, some problems are just too difficult Empowered by artificial intelligence technologies, computers today can engage in convincing conversations with people, compose songs, paint paintings, play chess and go, and diagnose diseases, to name just a few examples of their technological prowess. These successes could be taken to indicate that computation has no limits. To see if that’s the case, it’s important to understand what makes a computer powerful. Continued here

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Does this cause cancer? How scientists determine whether a chemical is carcinogenic - sometimes with controversial results People are exposed to numerous chemicals throughout their lifetimes. These chemicals can be from the air, foods, personal care items, household products and medications. Unfortunately, exposure to certain chemicals can cause harmful health effects, including cancer. Substances that cause cancer are called carcinogens. Familiar examples include tobacco smoke, radon, asbestos and diesel engine exhaust. To protect the health of the public, national and international health agencies evaluate many new and existing chemicals to determine if they are likely to be carcinogens in a process called cancer hazard identification. If agencies judge the chemicals to be carcinogenic, they conduct further assessments to determine the level of risk, and legislators may put regulations in place to limit, or completely halt, the production and use of these chemicals. Continued here

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Why are there prisons? An expert explains the history of using 'correctional' facilities to punish people Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. When people are found guilty of committing a crime, a judge will decide how they should be punished. Sometimes they are allowed to live in their own homes and they have to pay a fine or serve their communities, but sometimes they are incarcerated, which means they are ordered to live in a jail or a prison. During this time, they cannot leave and they have to follow the rules of the facility. Continued here

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How evangelicals moved from supporting environmental stewardship to climate skepticism White conservative evangelicals, who make up most of the religious right movement, largely oppose government regulation to protect the environmental initiatives, including efforts to curb human-caused climate change. Multiple social scientific studies, for example, consistently reveal that this group maintains a significant level of climate skepticism. In 1967, the idea of environmental protection became an issue for the wider Christian community after historian Lynn White Jr. published “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis.” The article argued that growing environmental degradation was the result of Christian philosophies that encourage society to regard nature as a simple resource for the sole benefit of humanity. Continued here

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US debt default could trigger dollar's collapse - and severely erode America's political and economic might Republicans, who regained control of the House of Representatives in November 2022, are threatening to not allow an increase in the debt limit unless they get unspecified spending cuts in return. In so doing, they risk pushing the U.S. government into default. Brinkmanship over the debt ceiling has become a regular ritual – it happened under the Clinton administration in 1995, then again with Barack Obama as president in 2011, and more recently in 2021. Continued here

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Meet Bayard Rustin, often-forgotten civil rights activist, gay rights advocate, union organizer, pacifist and man of compassion for all in trouble As I began writing “Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer,” my biography of the 20th-century radical leader and activist, one of my colleagues cautioned me not to “fall in love.” But it wasn’t easy, because Bayard Rustin was America’s signature radical voice during the 20th century, and yes, I believe those voices includes that of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., whom Rustin trained and mentored. Continued here

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Sheriffs who see themselves as ultimate defenders of the Constitution are especially worried about gun rights A gun control law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois in January 2023 immediately faced opposition from a group key to the law’s enforcement: sheriffs. They are county-level, locally elected public officials who run jails, provide courthouse security, and, in many counties, are the primary providers of law enforcement services. In Illinois, and around the nation, some sheriffs also view themselves as the ultimate defenders of the U.S. Constitution and its rights – even though there’s no law and no history giving them that position. Continued here

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Brazil's economic challenges are again Lula's to tackle - this time around they're more daunting Carlos Góes was a senior economic adviser at the Executive Office of the President of Brazil (2017-18). He is currently an economics columnist for O Globo, a Brazilian newspaper. He is the founder of Instituto Mercado Popular, a nonpartisan São Paulo-based think tank. Even when they’re in trouble, Brazilians rarely lose their sense of humor. But in recent years, their joviality has often given way to political division everywhere from social media to the dinner table. Continued here

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Kampala, Kigali and Addis Ababa are changing fast: new book follows their distinct paths Kampala, the Ugandan capital where I live, is naturally the city I have studied and worked on the most as an urban economist. Yet even with this background, reading Tom Goodfellow’s recently published book, Politics and the Urban Frontier: Transformation and Divergence in Late Urbanizing East Africa, I learned astonishing new facts about Kampala. I also learnt a great deal about the urbanisation processes of two other major East African cities – Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Continued here

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The Badoo ritual gang created fear in Lagos: here's what made victims vulnerable Communication/Security Consultant, Sociologist/Criminologist/Victimologist and Facilitator, University of Ibadan Violent cult gangs are well known in Nigeria. Though there are no statistics on their numbers and impact, Lagos State in southwest Nigeria has more than 10 of these groups controlling different areas. They operate in neighbourhoods and their memberships cut across age groups. They control certain territories as their own, extorting money from businesses and residents. Continued here

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A 'stop Brexit' sticker and suffragette colours: it's really not clear what can get you kicked out of parliament Around 1 million visitors enter the UK parliamentary estate in Westminster every year. They go through airport-style security, and hand over any “restricted items” before they enter. Many of these “restricted items” are fairly obvious, like climbing gear and Swiss army knives. It’s fairly easy to understand why they’re not allowed on parliamentary premises. Some “restricted items” are much more ambiguous, though, as one woman found out recently. Anna Betz says she was asked by parliamentary security to remove a “stop Brexit” sticker from her laptop as she entered the estate. Continued here

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Pope Francis in DRC and South Sudan: one of his most challenging visits ever On 31 January, Pope Francis departs from Rome to central Africa, to visit the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its neighbouring state South Sudan. The visit was previously scheduled for 2022, but did not take place because of the pope’s health issues. Pope Francis’ visit to Africa comes at a defining moment for his papacy and for the Catholic church worldwide. He has led a period since December 2019 of global reflection known as “the synodal path” in which Catholics have been able to speak up about the agenda that the church should pursue. A similar exercise, the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965, was very successful when it came to involving the whole Catholic church. Continued here

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Schiaparelli couture show featured animal heads inspired by Dante's Inferno - here's what they mean The spectacle of the spring/summer 2023 Schiaparelli couture show began before a single model set foot on the runway. Media personality Kylie Jenner arrived wearing a lifelike faux taxidermy lion on her shoulder and rapper Doja Cat came as a bedazzled devil, painted head to toe in red and studded with 30,000 crystals. Continued here

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Yakuza battle Chinese gangs for control of Japan's criminal underworld Martina Baradel is a Marie Curie fellow at Oxford and her fellowship is funded by the European Commission. On the afternoon of October 16 last year a brawl erupted between two groups of gangsters in a restaurant on the 58th floor of the Sunshine 60 high-rise building in Ikebukuro, a central neighbourhood of Tokyo. A group of around 70 people crashed a private party and fighting broke out, resulting in one person bleeding from the head and sustaining minor injuries. Continued here

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US is spending record amounts servicing its national debt - interest rate hikes add billions to the cost Consumers and businesses aren’t the only ones feeling the pain of higher borrowing costs because of Federal Reserve rate hikes. Uncle Sam is too. The U.S. government spent a record US$213 billion on interest payments on its debt in the fourth quarter, up $63 billion from a year earlier. Indeed, a jump of almost $30 billion on the previous quarter represents the biggest quarterly jump on record. That comes as the Fed lifted interest rates a whopping 4.25 percentage points from March through December. Continued here

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Children lost one-third of a year's learning to COVID, new study shows - but we need to think about the problem differently Children’s learning progress has slowed substantially during the pandemic, roughly equating to a loss of around 35% of the typical learning in a school year, according to a new study. The analysis drew on 42 studies published between March 2020 and August 2022 from 15 different high- and middle-income countries (although most of the data was from the US, the UK and the Netherlands). Continued here

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What the Free Alberta Strategy gets wrong about Canada's banking system What is the Free Alberta Strategy, the co-creation of two lawyers and a Calgary political scientist? And with a provincial election on the horizon this spring in Alberta, what will the sovereignty strategy mean for voters? Bill 1, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, is the centrepiece of the Free Alberta Strategy. It was introduced late last year by Premier Danielle Smith in another salvo in the ongoing constitutional battle between Alberta and the federal government. Continued here

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The hype is out of this world, but mining in space won't save the Earth We know the world must move to cleaner energy sources to head off the worst effects of climate change, but the technology required for the transition is very mineral-intensive. So where will all these resources come from? Many in the space industry are pointing beyond Earth. Asteroids and the Moon are thought to contain abundant platinum group elements needed in the transition, as well as other valuable resources. This has prompted a push towards commercial mining in outer space. Continued here

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How culling Australia's feral water buffalo could help tackle climate change The world’s largest wild population of water buffalo now roam Australia. As does the largest wild herd of camels. We have millions of feral goats and deer. For these introduced species, Australia is a paradise. Plenty of vegetation, and not many predators, other than dingoes, crocodiles and humans. The problem is, these ruminants burp out the potent greenhouse gas methane from fermenting vegetation in their stomachs. While ferals only produce an estimated 5% of the methane produced by Australia’s 24 million cattle and 74 million sheep, feral ruminant numbers are soaring. Continued here

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AI is helping us search for intelligent alien life - and we've found 8 strange new signals Some 540 million years ago, diverse life forms suddenly began to emerge from the muddy ocean floors of planet Earth. This period is known as the Cambrian Explosion, and these aquatic critters are our ancient ancestors. All complex life on Earth evolved from these underwater creatures. Scientists believe all it took was an ever-so-slight increase in ocean oxygen levels above a certain threshold. Continued here

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Here's who decides cause of death, how death certificates work - and whether a person died with or of COVID COVID was Australia’s third leading cause of death (after heart disease and dementia) in 2022. In a bad flu year we have about 1,200 influenza deaths. We had more than 1,500 COVID deaths in just the first month of 2023. We need to take COVID seriously. It is not like a cold or the flu. It is an exceptional disease. Because of the availability of vaccines and antivirals, there is no need for panic or further lockdowns. But there is no room for complacency either. Continued here

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Unlike with academics and reporters, you can't check when ChatGPT's telling the truth Of all the reactions elicited by ChatGPT, the chatbot from the American for-profit company OpenAI that produces grammatically correct responses to natural-language queries, few have matched those of educators and academics. Academic publishers have moved to ban ChatGPT from being listed as a co-author and issue strict guidelines outlining the conditions under which it may be used. Leading universities and schools around the world, from France’s renowned Sciences Po to many Australian universities, have banned its use. Continued here

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Black police officers aren't colorblind - they're infected by the same anti-Black bias as American society and police in general Once again, Americans are left reeling from the horror of video footage showing police brutalizing an unarmed Black man who later died. Some details in the latest case of extreme police violence were gut-wrenchingly familiar: a police traffic stop of a Black male motorist turned violent. But, for many of us, other details were unfamiliar: The five police officers accused of using everything from pepper spray to a Taser, a police baton and intermittent kicks and punches against the motorist were also Black. Continued here

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How companies can improve the retention of employees returning from abroad Associate Dean Academic, Faculty of Business & Communication Studies, Mount Royal University Multinational enterprises are currently facing a serious challenge. These organizations are companies with multiple locations or operations around the world. They often send employees abroad on assignments so they can gain personal growth and promotion opportunities. Continued here

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Publicly owned land should be used for affordable housing, not sold to private developers On Jan. 25, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to “ensure” affordable housing is built along Hamilton’s light rail transit (LRT) route. While this is welcome news, there are many uncertainties about how this will actually happen. Building and maintaining affordable housing near good transit is one of the biggest challenges cities face today. It’s not just Hamilton, Ont.: Toronto, Mississauga, Ont., Brampton, Ont., Waterloo, Ont., Ottawa, Québec City, Montréal, Calgary, Vancouver and Edmonton are all constructing or planning new transit lines. Continued here

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Climate change is already putting the heat on insurance companies - Auckland's floods could be a turning point The clean-up from Auckland’s devastating floods last week is just beginning but insurance companies will need to start thinking about what the record-breaking weather event will mean for future coverage. Over 24 hours, 249mm of rain fell across the Auckland region – well above the previous record of 161.8mm. Around 5000 homes were damaged across 25 suburbs, with more than 100 properties declared uninhabitable in the aftermath of the storm. Continued here

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Labor's proposed family law overhaul makes some important changes, but omits others There is much to be excited about in Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’s draft Family Law Amendment Bill 2023, the first in a projected series of reforms that promise to put children’s needs and interests back at the centre of family law. To change the culture of the court, children need legal rights – not just a rubbery set of “best interests”. And the court must be responsible for ensuring children’s rights are protected. Continued here

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Can chewing help manage stress, pain and appetite? Here's what the science says Being able to chew efficiently is related to how many teeth you have. While adults usually have 32 teeth, you need 20 teeth, with at least nine or ten pairs making contact, in order to chew properly. The hippocampus area of the brain assists with information transfer from short-term to long-term memory. It also processes spatial memory, which helps you remember practical things, like where you’ve put your phone or how to get to the shops. Continued here

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First Nations people often take on the 'cultural load' in their workplaces. Employers need to ease this burden It’s good practice for employers to consult staff when forming policies or guidelines. However, for some staff from diverse backgrounds, this creates extra work and pressure. “Cultural load” in the context of the workplace is the invisible workload employers knowingly or unknowingly place on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to provide Indigenous knowledge, education and support. This is often done without any formally agreed reduction or alteration to their workload. Continued here

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Enough with the koala cakes - the government's annual Threatened Species Bake Off seriously neglects fish, plants and other lesser-loved species Almost 2,000 native species are officially listed as “threatened” in Australia – but how many have you actually heard of? We trawled over 700 entries between 2017 and 2021, and found koalas, echidnas, and wombats consistently depicted. These are the typical poster children of conservation. Continued here

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Victoria has implemented all 227 recommendations from its royal commission into family violence. So was it a success? In 2016, the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence released its findings following an exhaustive 13-month inquiry. In it were 227 recommendations to completely transform the state’s family violence services. The royal commission involved more than 1,000 written submissions, 44 group sessions attended by some 850 people, and 25 days of public hearings. Continued here

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Major publishers are banning ChatGPT from being listed as an academic author. What's the big deal? Visiting Fellow, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University Unless you’ve spent your summer on a digital detox, you’ve probably heard of ChatGPT: the latest AI chatbot taking the world by storm. Continued here

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Pay, safety and welfare: how the new Centre for Arts and Entertainment Workplaces can strengthen the arts sector In May, we predicted Tony Burke’s joint portfolio of workplace relations and the arts was an opportunity to address some of the challenges facing the arts and cultural sector. With the launch of Revive, the new national cultural policy, we’re seeing this potentially start to pay off. Continued here

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Jetlag hits differently depending on your travel direction. Here are 6 tips to help you get over it After a few difficult years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, people are finally winging their way across the globe again; families are being reunited and sights are being seen. Yet the joys of international travel often come with a side of jetlag, which can make it hard to initially enjoy a holiday, and to settle in once you return home. Continued here

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After a decade of decline, Australia is back on the rise in a global anti-corruption ranking Just months after Australia legislated to establish the long-anticipated National Anti-Corruption Agency, our standing is back on the rise in Transparency International’s annual Global Corruption Perceptions Index. This is a small but important turn-around following a decade of steady decline. Australia ranked 13th out of 180 countries in the index released today, up from a low of 18th last year. The index ranks countries on their perceived levels of public sector corruption – the higher the score, the less perceived corruption. Continued here

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'Blue marble': how half a century of climate change has altered the face of the Earth I am author of 'Earthrise: a Short History of the Whole Earth'. It will be out February 2023. In December 1972, Nasa’s final Apollo mission (Apollo 17) took the iconic “Blue Marble” photo of the whole Earth. Many, including science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, had expected that the sight of Earth from afar would instil the belief that mankind’s future lay in space. Continued here

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X-57: Nasa's electric plane is preparing to fly - here's how it advances emissions-free aviation The experimental airplane X-57, developed by Nasa, is due to fly for the first time this year. It has an impressive 14 propellers along its wings and is powered entirely by electricity. This sounds great considering we have to get off fossil fuels yet our demand for aviation is growing. But how much closer will Nasa’s plane bring us to this goal? Finding an alternative to aviation fuels such as kerosene will be key if we want to continue flying. The X-57 uses lithium batteries to run electric motors for its propellers. But the energy you get from batteries, relative to their weight, is 50 times less than you can get from aviation fuel. Continued here

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Ukraine war: attitudes to women in the military are changing as thousands serve on front lines Thousands of women have voluntarily joined Ukraine’s armed forces since 2014, when Russia’s occupation of Crimea and territories in eastern Ukraine began. Over the past nine years, the number of women serving in the Ukrainian military has more than doubled, with another wave of women joining after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Women have served in Ukraine’s armed forces since the country declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but were mainly in supporting roles until the beginning of the war in 2014. They started serving in combat roles in 2016 and all military roles were opened to women in 2022. However, many women in non-combat roles, such as medics, are exposed to the same dangers and hardships as their male and female colleagues who fire the weapons. Continued here

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The sharing economy can expose you to liability risks - here's how to protect yourself Sharing platforms have become a regular part of our lives for travel and daily needs, especially for young people. In 2018, Airbnb reported that the majority of its users were millennials. And with the ongoing cost of living crisis, more people may turn to these platforms as ways to save on their travel, or to make extra money by sharing their property. Companies such as Airbnb and Turo (a car-sharing platform) are often more affordable and flexible than traditional hotels or car hire services. But using them can also expose you to liability risks if something goes awry. It might be tempting to assume that you are given the same rights as a consumer, but this is not the case. Continued here

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We've lost a giant: Vale Professor Will Steffen, climate science pioneer The last time I talked to Will was in early January. We had a drink or two before I left for a few weeks work in the United States. He was looking forward with optimism to an operation to get rid of the cancer he had dealt with for a year so he could get on with his life. Unfortunately, there were complications. The world has lost an enormously influential environmental scientist. And I’ve lost a very dear friend. Continued here

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Plastic pollution in Nigeria: whose job is it to clean up the mess? Take a walk or drive through the streets of most Nigerian cities, and you will see plastic waste everywhere. The country’s rivers, lakes and ocean are also full of discarded plastic. Nigeria is estimated to generate about 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste annually. Plastic accounts for 15% of the total waste generated in Lagos State. The situation is likely to worsen as Nigeria’s population grows, from more than 220 million people now to an expected 401 million by the end of 2050. Continued here

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South Africa's dysfunctional universities: the consequences of corrupt decisions What happens when those responsible for managing universities cannot trust each other to act with integrity? In a nutshell, as I discuss in my new book, Corrupted: A study of chronic dysfunction in South African universities, dysfunction is the consequence. This appears to be just one example of how eroded trust has led to conflict among university managers that’s spilled into the public domain. Continued here

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The Two Best Films I Saw at Sundance Though devoted to independent filmmaking, the Sundance Film Festival—which was founded, after all, by Robert Redford—has Hollywood in its DNA. At its best, Sundance draws its strength from both worlds: bold movies made by industry-proximate people who are branching off into new directions, and similarly distinctive ones by relative newcomers or indie veterans. This year’s edition, which ran from January 19th to the 29th, happily offered both. (I wasn’t there in person; I took part in Sundance’s remote-viewing program.) Independence is a mode of production, not an aesthetic category, and there are plenty of independently made films that are as dutifully or cynically contrived to meet the marketplace as some studio movies are, or which display more practical smarts in the production than artistic originality in the direction. Sundance has some of these, but I won’t discuss them here. I think it’s wrong to write negatively about movies that aren’t in the marketplace yet—and to thereby hinder or prejudice, however slightly, their eventual releases. I write about festival films only to express enthusiasms; I’ll let coverage of a festival go if it doesn’t offer anything that merits attention ahead of its general availability. No such danger with this year’s edition of Sundance, where I’ve seen many good films, and two that would be among the best of any year in which they’re released. Continued here

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Patti Smith Remembers Tom Verlaine He awoke to the sound of water dripping into a rusted sink. The streets below were bathed in medieval moonlight, reverberating silence. He lay there grappling with the terror of beauty, as the night unfolded like a Chinese screen. He lay shuddering, riveted by flickering movements of aliens and angels as the words and melodies of “Marquee Moon” were formed, drop by drop, note by note, from a state of calm yet sinister excitement. He was Tom Verlaine, and that was his process: exquisite torment. Born Thomas Joseph Miller, raised in Wilmington, Delaware, he left his parental home and shed his name, a discarded skin curled in the corner of a modest garage among stacks of used air-conditioners that required his father’s constant professional attention. There were hockey sticks and a bicycle and piles of Tom’s old newspapers strewn in the back, covered with ghostly outlines of distorted objects; he would run over tin cans until they were flattened, barely recognizable, and then spray them with gold, his two-dimensional sculptures, each representing a rapturous musical phrase. In high school, he played the saxophone, embracing John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. He played hockey, too, and when a flying puck knocked out his front teeth he was obliged to put away his saxophone and dedicate himself to the electric guitar. Continued here

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Dear Pepper: Avert Your Eyes Dear Pepper is a monthly advice-column comic by Liana Finck. If you have questions for Pepper about how to act in difficult situations, please direct them to dearpepperquestions@gmail.com. Questions may be edited for brevity and clarity. Possibly because I’m not the most naturally social person, I️ care a lot about manners. Continued here

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'Fire Emblem Engage' Expansion Pass Release Dates, Price, Characters, and Cosmetics Hungry for more? Fire Emblem Engage will treat its players to a four-course DLC with its Expansion Pass. That means characters, support items, accessories, and more. Like its predecessors, Fire Emblem Engage has a lengthy list of characters that players can smooch. Our reviewer might not find them that notable, but you could still possibly enjoy one of the additional Emblems and miscellaneous content from one of the Expansion Pass’s DLC waves. The Fire Emblem Engage Expansion Pass is already out, and available to purchase on the Nintendo eShop. Continued here

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You Need to Watch the Most Shockingly Brutal Noir on HBO Max ASAP Important, controversial, and incredibly influential, this contentious classic remains as chilling as it was in the 1970s. Los Angeles. Tinseltown. La-la-land. The City of Dreams and the City of Angels. For almost as long as filmmakers have pointed cameras to tell stories, they’ve been fascinated by LA and its twinkling lights, larger-than-life stars, and fairy-tale atmosphere. Continued here

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Swapping Cigarettes for Vaping May Help You Quit -- but There's a Catch In the last 10 years, vaping has become many people’s — and especially teens’ — preferred means to consume nicotine or cannabis. But unlike cigarettes, which have been around for hundreds of years, vapes and e-cigarettes are mere decades old. And that means scientists and doctors don’t fully understand the long-term effects of vaping on the brain and body in the same way they do the ill effects of cigarettes. But vape technology’s intended purpose, Carolyn Baglole, a respiratory toxicologist at McGill University, tells Inverse, was to help smokers quit cigarettes. These battery-powered devices contain nicotine like cigarettes — but they deliver it as an aerosol made from heating up a nicotine-containing oil in the vape, a method of ingestion that delivers fewer toxins than cigarettes, like tar, in each puff. But beyond being “better,” precisely what difference vaping makes to a user’s long-term health than smoking is less certain — but a new study co-authored by Baglole does bring scientists a little closer. Continued here

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'The Last of Us' Episode 3 Finally Gives the Best Characters What They Deserved When The Last of Us review embargo dropped, it seemed like every reviewer mentioned Episode 3 as a standout, and now it’s easy to see why. After two episodes establishing Joel and Ellie and showing just what’s at stake for them, Episode 3 takes a sharp left turn and focuses on one of the few people on Earth who was actually vindicated by Outbreak Day: survivalist Bill (Nick Offerman). Over the course of 80 minutes, we see Bill as he emerges after the evacuation of his town of Lincoln, Massachusetts, and rebuilds the world by himself. He loots Home Depot, builds booby traps, and generally lives his best Ron Swanson life. But then another person enters his life and single-handedly fixes the strangest character choice in the entire franchise. Continued here

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'The Last of Us' Episode 3 Features One Subtle Video Game Easter Egg In “Long Long Time,” the third episode of HBO’s The Last of Us, viewers are introduced to Bill (Nick Offerman), a survivor who took over an entire town after the show’s zombie outbreak forced the rest of humanity to relocate to fortified zones. From there, Episode 3 charts the entirety of Bill’s bittersweet love story with a fellow survivor named Frank (Murray Bartlett). Spoilers ahead. By the time Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and Joel (Pedro Pascal) finally reach their settlement in the episode’s epilogue, Bill and Frank are dead. However, Bill took the time to bequeath all his weapons and equipment to Joel. Continued here

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Astronomers Use a New Method to Identify Eight Candidate Alien Signals A machine learning algorithm just spotted eight interesting signals in SETI data, and it weeded out millions of false positives. Imagine the moment in Contact when Jodie Foster hears an alien radio signal coming from the Vega star system. Now imagine that Jodie Foster is an AI. Continued here

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'The Last of Us' Season 2 May Only Cover Part of the Second Game The Last of Us always had its story mapped out. The 2013 game was basically a miniseries with a lot of gunplay in between its story beats, so bringing it to the screen was more of a transplantation than an adaptation, with the exception of Episode 3’s beautiful diversion. Now the series is officially greenlit for Season 2, and the show’s source material is about to double in size. The Last of Us Part II was a huge and somewhat divisive game, and it looks like it may take more than one season to cover everything. Neil Druckmann all but spelled out on Twitter that Season 2 of The Last of Us will be based on The Last of Us Part II. Set five years after Part I, the game divided fans not only because of a major narrative choice made in the first act, but for Ellie splitting most of the action with a new female protagonist who not everyone took a shining to. It looks like the HBO show, however, could take more time to flesh out Part II’s story than it’s taking with Part I. Continued here

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'The Boogeyman' Trailer Delivers a New Take on Stephen King's Monster Under the Bed The Boogeyman looks like the perfect little horror film. Not only is it based on one of Stephen King’s most terrifying short stories, but it plays off the classic nightmare fuel that scared us all as children: the idea of a monster lurking in a closet or under our bed. In our first glimpse of the movie, those scares are amplified with a cast full of the hottest breakout stars of the past few years. The Boogeyman was originally set for Hulu, but is now getting a full theatrical release. It’s directed by Rob Savage, who’s best known for his Zoom-based horror flick Host, but there aren’t many gimmicks to be seen in the trailer. In fact, it looks to be unadulterated classic scares, right down to 20th Century’s plot synopsis: Continued here

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Here's Exactly How Long it Takes to Beat 'Hi-Fi Rush' Hi-Fi Rush is already one of the most surprising games of 2023, not just because of its shadow-drop release on Xbox Game Pass, but because of its incredible mix of rhythm and action gameplay. With a gorgeous cel-shaded style, Hi-Fi Rush follows the story of a young wannabe rockstar named Chai, who gains the strange power to “feel the beat” in the environment due to a shady experiment conducted by a corporation. Despite the wild mix of gameplay styles, Hi-Fi Rush is pretty comparable to other action games out there. With that in mind, here’s exactly how long you can expect to spend playing Hi-Fi Rush. A single playthrough of Hi-Fi Rush should take you roughly 9-10 hours. This time can vary a little bit depending on what difficulty you play on and how many collectibles you try to find. Each level in Hi-Fi Rush is fairly linear, but there’s a little bit of exploration to find extra Gears to upgrade Chai’s skills, items that boost his health, graffiti to decorate the base, and more. Continued here

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Where to Find Every Weapon in 'Dead Space' and Their Schematic Upgrades You won’t get far aboard the USG Ishimura in the Dead Space remake unless you have an arsenal of weapons and their upgrades. In Dead Space, there are 7 main weapons to collect, along with three upgrades for each (for a total of 21). Most of these are easily missed, though you can go back and grab them before the point of no return in Chapter 11. Here’s where to find all the weapons and their upgrade schematics in Dead Space. The Plasma Cutter is the first weapon you come across and it’s practically unmissable. You’ll find it in Chapter 1, inside the Service Workshop on a bench. Above the bench is “cut off their limbs” written on the wall. Continued here

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You Need To Play the Most Explosive Video Game Sequel Ever ASAP How do you follow up one of the most critically acclaimed games ever made? If you are Naughty Dog, you break fans' hearts even more than you did the first time. The Last of Us is already an emotionally devastating game, but it does not hold a candle to the non-stop highs and lows of its divisive sequel, The Last of Us Part II. With the HBO adaptation of the series officially getting a second season that will tackle the sequel, there has never been a better time to revisit The Last of Us Part II. What comes next? — As television viewers are quickly learning with every new episode of The Last of Us series on HBO, this world is full of interesting characters with deeply emotional stories that more often than not do not get happy endings. Continued here

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Everything We Know About Fortnite's Dragon Ball Super Crossover Fortnite is about to go Super Saiyan ... again. That’s right, Epic Games announced that Fortnite is getting a Dragon Ball Super crossover, and it’s happening soon. While the company hasn’t spilled the (Senzu) beans about what to expect, there’s a lot we can infer based on previous crossovers. But when will the event go live and what can we expect from it? Here’s what you need to know about the Dragon Ball Super crossover in Fortnite. The event will begin on Tuesday, January 31, 2023. Fortnite updates usually go live at 4 a.m. Eastern, so we can expect the crossover to begin around that time. Of course, this will be a free update across all platforms. Continued here

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'Doctor Who' Could Become the New Marvel -- But There's a Catch Way back in 2008, the Doctor Who Season 4 two-parter — “The Stolen Earth” and “Journey’s End” — brought together several previous companions of the Doctor, and spanned the continuities of three separate TV shows. In his 2010 memoir, then-showrunner Russell T. Davies said this super team-up was inspired by Marvel’s The Avengers. And now in 2023, Davies is the Who showrunner again, and he wants to build out the Whoniverse in a Marvel-esque way. But will it work? 2023 and 2024 will be big years for Doctor Who. This year will see three linked specials starring David Tennant as the newly regenerated 14th Doctor, even though he previously played the 10th Doctor back from 2006 to 2010, and again in 2013. Then, in 2024, Ncuti Gatwa will step on the TARDIS as the incumbent 15th Doctor, for the next ongoing regular season of the show. Unlike previous years, all of these new Doctor Who adventures will air on Disney+ outside of the U.K., giving the venerable sci-fi show a much bigger platform than it’s ever had in 60 years. Continued here