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As partner and U.K. head at global talent, entertainment, sports and advisory company United Talent Agency (UTA), Darnell Strom has an ever-expanding remit. The executive, who has experience in politics, including past work with Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and represents such clients as Malala Yousafzai and Michaela Coel, has overseen UTA’s growth in London and beyond, including in the sports, comedy and creators spaces.

But at SXSW London this week, he showed his foodie side, moderating a panel with chefs and restaurateurs entitled “Talking Taste” that explores how the conversation around hospitality and food is evolving. Sharing their insights on stage were Jeremy King of Jeremy King Restaurants, Tommi Miers, the 2005 winner of MasterChef and founder of Wahaca, and Oisín Rogers, the co-founder of The Devonshire in London.

In between his busy schedule, Strom told THR about how food culture fits into the broader cultural, media and branding space.

Can you tell us how the idea for this panel came together and how it fits into the broader SXSW London spirit?

I moved here to London a year ago from L.A., and one of the best ways to understand the spirit of a city is through food, through restaurants and through culture. Restaurants have always been at the center of culture. I have also always had a fascination with the hospitality business, being an agent and being in the representation business.

Can you tell me more about this fascination and how it ties into your work?

I don’t think there’s a better industry than the hospitality industry to learn from and to get an education on how to work with people, how to make people feel valuable, how to learn about service. There is a connection to what we do, and there are a lot of transferable skills that come out of hospitality that apply to a lot of people’s businesses.

The other piece is that when you think about our business and where it happens, it’s usually at restaurants. It’s about booking the right table in the right restaurant to project the right energy. So, having those relationships in the hospitality business is actually really helpful for our business. And then the third thing is that I just love food.

You are starting to make me hungry just talking about it! Can you explain how the three panelists you shared the SXSW London stage with had different voices and thoughts they could share?

Jeremy King is just a legend of the restaurant business in London. I think he is really the godfather of what the modern restaurant business is here. And he is known for his curation of people at his restaurants, everyone from Elton John and Princess Diana – the most famous people across culture – would always go to his restaurants to be seen and to meet up with their friends and representatives and teams. So Jeremy’s a legend.

Oisín Rogers has The Devonshire, which arguably is the most famous pub in the world now. He also curates a private room that has music, where on any given day you’ll see an Ed Sheeran or someone else just popping up and start playing or a band that you’ve never heard of that’s incredible – because of his love for music.

And then there is Tommi…

Tommi Miers, who started the Wahaca restaurants and won MasterChef, is a cookbook author and journalist, and all of it. She’s actually a client of Curtis Brown, which is one of the companies that UTA owns. And she’s a big advocate for the importance of food sustainability and school food, so she brought some of the heart and soul of the importance of food quality.

And from a personality perspective, they’re all very different. Jeremy is this quintessential British gentleman. Oisín is the gregarious Irish pub owner. And Tommi is kind of in between all of it. So it was a nice balance and a good conversation.

Do UTA clients ever think about moving into food?

Yeah, we represent Theo James, who’s opened a [Roman comfort food] restaurant in North London, Lupa. And he is about to open his second restaurant, so he’s gotten into the food business, and there are other clients of ours who have been investors in it. There is also the other part of them building their own businesses, such as maybe launching a spirit or a drink brand, or some food product that they’re into. There is a lot of connectivity between the food world and the entertainment world.

Anything else you would like to highlight about either SXSW London or UTA’s work in general?

This is my first SXSW London. I’ve been to the one in Austin many times, and so it’s been great to see how it’s taken over Shoreditch in East London for this really interesting connection between entertainment, media and technology, and bringing together the various groups of people who come here. It’s nice to be able to experience that.

And for us from a business perspective, we’re about to launch into a very, very busy next few weeks with clients such as Jon Batiste coming into town doing a residency at Koko and Bad Bunny taking over Tottenham Stadium for a couple of big shows. It’s an exciting time in London, and I feel like SXSW almost kicks off the summer event season here in London.

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Rachel Sennott wants Gen Z to feel seen (and maybe a little called out) by her HBO comedy series I Love LA. Easier said than done when, in a world of microtrends, young people these days seem to be constantly reinventing themselves.

It turns out making a television show for and about the most online generation of young adults in human history so far has its unique challenges. 

“I think fashion right now moves really quickly, and it’s easy to put in a look that feels like it immediately ages,” Sennott tells Deadline during the latest episode of The Process. “You’re like, ‘Oh, you shot the show six months ago, because that was the style.’ Or, that was the big look or that dress or that shirt or whatever. It ties it to a moment in time. So we wanted to avoid doing that, but we also wanted to have each character have their own style.”

Sennott worked closely with costume designer Christina Flannery to ride the fine line between specificity and unrelatability, taking inspiration from another HBO series where the characters’ fashion is at the forefront: Sex and the City.

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Adds Flannery: “I didn’t want to, I don’t know, alienate people. I always reference Sex and the City Season 1, because I feel like there was such a DIY element where it wasn’t like head to toe, crispy, clean, organized, made sense. It was patched together in weird ways, so it would be like a cute little vintage T-shirt and a designer little skirt you could have gotten from like Beard and Beagle. That was the vibe we were going for.”

People often assume that costuming becomes much simpler when working in contemporary genres. But, to the point above, Flannery couldn’t just walk into any store on Melrose Avenue and pick up some pieces. It still takes plenty of scouring in modern clothing stores, vintage stores and studio wardrobe warehouses to find the right pieces for each character. 

“I think that ‘contemporary’ is an interesting world. You can very much fall into the red T-shirt, blue jeans kind of a thing,” she says. “I don’t think I fit the bill of that kind of a costume designer. I owned vintage stores before I was a costume designer. I’ve always just been so influenced by wardrobe … it represents so much more than a lot of things in the scene, the clothes that they’re wearing.”

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Sennott remembers Flannery introducing her to the Gold Room, aka the massive storage facility on the Warner Bros studio lot that houses costumes from countless projects across essentially every decade over the past 100 years. 

“They have halls and halls of the 1940s, the ’50s, the ’60s, the ’90s. Like, 2003 is its own hallway. So going in there together and pulling stuff … Christina was like, ‘I have a rack. We’ll just try stuff.’ I was there any chance I could be there,” Sennott explains. 

Some of the looks in the eight-episode first season required even further creativity to pull off. Take Ayo Edebiri’s transformation into British pop star Mimi Rush, for example. 

“That jacket that she’s wearing [in her introduction scene] is from a sci-fi movie,” Flannery reveals. “I mean, even [Odessa A’zion’s] Tallulah wears some pieces from the sci-fi section.”

RELATED: 2026 TV Series Renewals Photo Gallery

The series already has been renewed for Season 2, and Flannery says she’s been doing some early scouting for looks, though it’ll be a while before she really dives in. Sennott tells Deadline that, so far, she and the writers haven’t shared scripts with the department heads. However, audiences definitely can expect some evolution on the horizon, which Flannery already is thinking about infusing into the costumes. 

“I think that the characters took a leap into a new era at the end of the last season, and the clothes will get to reflect that, which will be fun,” Sennott says. 

While she doesn’t yet know the exact direction she’ll take the fashion in Season 2, Flannery adds: “I will say that what I’m very excited about is continuing to elevate indie designers, especially in L.A. I think it’s imperative when you’re working in a city, especially in a fashion aspect, you need to elevate and support the community.”

To get more insight about I Love LA‘s chic fashion moments and dressing stars Edebiri and Odessa A’zion, watch the video above.

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Rachel Sennott wants Gen Z to feel

Entertaintment

Thailand is ready to sell its stories to the world. The country’s Creative Economy Agency is set to launch the Bangkok International Content Market 2026 — billed as Thailand’s first international marketplace for film, series and animation — running July 20-22 at Bangkok’s Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.

The market is the centerpiece of Thailand Content Market 2026, a joint effort by the agency, known as CEA, and the Department of International Trade Promotion to draw international buyers and position the country as what officials are calling a “content hub of Asia.” Pitched as a business-to-business and co-production platform, BICM2026 is targeting participation from more than 80 investors and streaming services from around the world. 

The launch comes as Thailand presses to convert its screen sector’s rising international profile into an export business, part of a government soft-power drive branded Content Thailand. Streaming investment is a significant part of the picture: Netflix has said it spent some $200 million on Thai content between 2021 and 2024, and the country’s Y-series — Thai boys’ love dramas — have built a devoted overseas following. A Bangkok market also gives Thailand a platform in a crowded regional field that already includes Hong Kong’s Filmart, Singapore’s Asia TV Forum, Tokyo’s TIFFCOM and Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market. 

“Bangkok International Content Market 2026 marks a significant step in systematically elevating Thailand’s content marketplace to the international level,” Chakrit Pichyangkul, CEA’s executive director, said in a statement, adding that the agency aims to “transform Thai content and storytelling into sustainable economic value for the country.” Chakrit pointed to the country’s 2020 input-output data showing that every baht invested in content — particularly film and broadcasting — returns about 1.8 baht in economic value.

BICM2026’s central program will be a pitching competition for Asian and Thai storytelling, drawing more than 55 film, series and production-ready projects from Thailand and the wider region, with prizes of at least $20,000. A marketplace floor will host more than 500 exhibitor booths, alongside an industry forum of talks and panels. BICM is part of the larger Thailand Content Market, a trade-department event spanning 12 creative sectors — games, animation, art toys and books among them — that is aiming for more than 300 international buyers and 10,000 attendees this year. The program’s government backing is expected to help it draw participation commitments from global streamers and studios, organizers say. 

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Thailand is ready to sell its stories

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When Nick Antosca was a kid, he didn’t like having good dreams.

“With good dreams, I’d wake up and think, ‘Well, that didn’t happen’ and be disappointed,’” he recalled in a recent video interview. “But with a nightmare I’d wake up with my pulse racing and think, ‘I’m OK, I survived.’ I loved nightmares.”

Chasing that excitement and “healthy” catharsis in his daily life, Antosca has built a career on telling crime and horror stories: “Channel Zero,” “The Act,” “Brand New Cherry Flavor,” “Candy” and “A Friend of the Family.”

His newest project is a 10-episode remake of “Cape Fear” for Apple TV, starring Javier Bardem as Max Cady along with Amy Adams and Patrick Wilson as Anna and Tom Bowden.

“I think everything I’ve done is kind of a psychological horror story about the characters and their relationships,” he says, noting that this is true of the best horror tales like “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Shining” and “Cape Fear.”

Antosca was a fan of both the original 1962 “Cape Fear” starring Robert Mitchum and Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake starring Robert De Niro. But he felt it was time for a modern revision, a Southern Gothic fever dream that reflects the complexities of life today.

“The terror in ‘Cape Fear’ is about the destruction of the family,” he says. The story was originally about Cady, a rapist released from prison stalking Sam Bowden, who had interrupted his crime and testified against him. In Scorsese’s version, Bowden had been Cady’s defense attorney who, knowing Cady was guilty, had hidden evidence about the victim’s promiscuity to ensure a conviction and long sentence.

The original features “an all-American archetype of a virtuous family pitted against a monster,” while Scorsese depicted a “broken and dysfunctional family and the monster is even more extreme, he’s like a swamp creature.”

“The previous versions of ‘Cape Fear’ are pretty cut and dry,” Antosca says.

The Bowdens are portrayed by Amy Adams as Anna, Patrick Wilson as Tom and Lily Collias as daughter Natalie.

(Apple)

The new iteration features a sexting scandal, social media eruptions and drones — “there’s more ways to terrorize a family in 2026 and the world is scarier today than it was before” — but that’s not what makes it feel different.

“In our version the truth is more complicated, the past is more mysterious and both the family and the monster are more complicated,” he says. “The truth is murkier and that feels current.”

In this adaptation, Anna Bowden had been Cady’s defense attorney, and he’s no longer an illiterate rube but a successful restaurateur who was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn son. After the trial, Anna scandalously married Cady’s prosecutor Tom; he became stepfather to her newborn daughter Natalie (Lily Collias) and they later had a son Zack (Joe Anders).

“The foundation of their happiness is Max’s suffering,” he says, adding that while the crime was local in the previous versions, Cady’s conviction had been a national sensation in this one.

On the surface, the Bowdens are a perfect family, but cracks are rippling with increasing intensity just beneath, a fragility that will soon be exploited by Cady.

“In the first episodes, the family is permeable and a threat could be coming from anywhere,” he says. “Even if in your gut you think it’s Max Cady, it feels like it’s seeping into the family from all different directions.”

When Cady is suddenly exonerated and set free, he shows up to insinuate himself in the Bowdens’ life. Anna, ironically, works for a nonprofit that seeks to exonerate the wrongly convicted.

“All the versions ask, ‘What would you do to protect your family?’ but this also asks, ‘If an injustice was done to somebody, then what are they justified doing in return,’” he says. “I don’t want the audience rooting for Max, necessarily, but I want to trick them into having sympathy for somebody they didn’t expect to have sympathy for.”

To pull that off, “Cape Fear” needed a star as charismatic as Mitchum and De Niro.

Antosca always dreamed of Bardem as Cady: “When I’d pitch networks before there was a script, I’d say, ‘Picture Javier Bardem in this role.’” But this time, his dream came to vivid life.

The two developed the character together, everything from the explanation for Cady’s Spanish background to his exposure to Santería and prison and his “mutated version of the real religion” to the tattoos adorning Cady’s body to an early scene with a panther and the idea of the “psychological jungle,” which inspired Bardem to incorporate a panther’s physicality into his movement and his eyes.

A shirtless man with a goatee sits in the dark with a forlorn look.

Antosca always dreamed of Javier Bardem as Max Cady: “When I’d pitch networks before there was a script, I’d say, ‘Picture Javier Bardem in this role.’”

(Apple)

“Javier also asked questions about Max’s emotional history that was useful in shaping his character,” he says. “We wanted to show a little more authentic vulnerability, which we see very much in the previous versions intentionally.”

To make this series, Antosca first approached Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, who had initially developed the 1991 version. “They were incredibly generous and quite involved,” Antosca says. “They encouraged us to forge our own path.”

The one place they urged some fidelity to the past versions was in the score. “They said the Bernard Herrmann score is part of the DNA and feels like a character in both movies,” says Antosca, noting that Elmer Bernstein adapted the original in Scorsese’s version and Jeff Russo used the same starting point this time around.

Scorsese discussed episodes over FaceTime and Zoom, spending time dissecting a vicious fight scene while Antosca was editing it; shot in color but shown in black-and-white, the blood splattering may make you think of “Raging Bull,” but Antosca says the visceral violence was meant to call up “Casino’s” vise scene.

It may be nearly too much to handle, but Antosca is from New Orleans and says he found it easy to exploit the Southern Gothic sensibilities. “Everything is heightened in the Deep South and we were going for that energy, where something is adjacent to the real world but more saturated, sweatier, more feverish,” he says, noting that while the first episode is “cinematically pretty grounded and traditional, when the family gets shocked out of their comfort zone, things get a little crazy.”

That meant handheld cameras, flares, saturated colors, distortions, negative imagery and odd angles to reflect the growing sense of terror. Antosca promises that in the back half of the series, the show will get even wilder and more destabilizing.

“It just feels like there’s violence in the humidity in the South,” he says.

Subconsciously hearkening back to his childhood sleep experiences, he adds, “I wanted this story to feel like a nightmare that just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and worse.”

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When Nick Antosca was a kid,

MCU

A detail from Jessica Jones Season 1 has been retconned in Daredevil: Born Again, all while other aspects of the Netflix series are being viewed in a different light. The Netflix Marvel saga is canon to the MCU, and since the rights to the Defenders characters reverted to Marvel Studios in 2021, the studio has been forging ahead on building out its street-level heroes on TV. The Marvel Netflix actors have reprised their roles in Daredevil: Born Again, but as this universe expands its also invalidating some points from the original Netflix shows.

While the Netflix Marvel saga was quite good at avoiding any overall mention of the wider MCU, now that Daredevil: Born Again and its characters are so much more intertwined with the cinematic universe under Marvel Studios, it requires some retconning. One such detail that’s come up in Daredevil: Born Again is the character of Angela del Toro (Camila Rodriguez).

In the Disney+ show, Angela is Hector Ayala’s nephew and takes up his mantle as the White Tiger following his death. What many forget is that Angela del Toro has been mentioned in the MCU before, during a brief moment in Jessica Jones Season 1. In Season 1, Episode 6, Jessica (Krysten Ritter) recommends a private investigator named Angela del Toro to her friend/love interest Luke Cage (Mike Colter). Jessica describes del Toro as being a “top-notch” investigator with “reasonable rates,” suggesting a level of respect between the two New York City PIs. 

“I’m giving you the name of a top-notch private investigator. Angela Del Toro. Reasonable rates.”

Marvel Television

There are several incarnations of Angela del Toro in Marvel Comics. In some Daredevil runs, del Toro is portrayed as a federal agent with investigative experience, which appears to be the version Jessica Jones is referring to in her show. 

Since Daredevil: Born Again has been produced by Marvel Studios and brings back the same incarnations of the Netflix Marvel characters, this past detail from Jessica Jones has been retconned. It’s not a canon-breaking detail by any means, as the Angela del Toro Jessica references in the show could simply be a different PI with the same name, while the real Marvel character continues to be played by Rodriguez. 

Camila Rodriguez as Angela Del Toro in Daredevil: Born Again.
Marvel Television

With Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and (eventually) Iron Fist joining the action in Daredevil: Born Again, it inherently changes how many of the events in these shows are seen, thanks to the time jump between sagas and their added interconnectivity with the wider MCU. 

Jessica Jones Season 1-3 Details That Have Changed In Daredevil: Born Again

Jessica and Luke’s Relationship

Mike Colter as Luke Cage and Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones.
Marvel Television

Jessica Jones and Luke Cage have been partners in life and love since Jessica was introduced in Marvel Comics’ Alias. This continued on-screen in the Netflix Marvel saga, where Jessica and Luke established a close but fraught romantic relationship in Season 1. The couple ultimately broke up after Luke learned Jessica was responsible for killing his wife while under Kilgrave’s control, and then continued to have different love interests in their respective shows. 

The duo reunited in The Defenders and worked side by side again, but they weren’t romantically linked again throughout the Netflix Marvel Saga. However, when Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 picks up, it turns out that in the years since her solo show ended, Jessica has settled down with Luke and they have a child named Danielle.

This is true to what happens to the pair in Marvel Comics, but it’s a big step in their relationship compared to how the Netflix shows left them, and there’s still some explaining to do as to how Jessica and Luke eventually reconciled.

Jessica’s Superpowers

Jessica Jones powers glitch in Daredevil: Born Again Season 2.
Marvel Television

Jessica Jones is known for her superhuman strength, durability, and healing, which she’s always been able to access at will in her past appearances. Which is why fans were surprised to learn that Jessica’s powers have been glitching in Daredevil: Born Again, which she believes may correspond to the birth of her child. 

The explanation for this hasn’t been fully revealed in Daredevil: Born Again yet, and it seems to be something Jessica has been dealing with in between the two shows. 

In Jessica Jones, the character’s physical powers were never an issue, with her psychological trauma acting as her debilitator. While Jessica’s nerfing was a big moment in Episode 6, it didn’t reappear throughout Daredevil: Born Again Season 2, but it seems likely to be a point explored in future seasons or appearances featuring Ritter’s character.

Supporting Characters

Rachael Taylor as Trish Walker in Jessica Jones.
Marvel Television

Jessica Jones’ newfound prominence in the MCU raises several questions about past characters in her life. The most obvious one is Trish Walker (Rachael Taylor), Jessica’s adoptive sister and ex-best friend, whom she had to forcibly stop after she went on a murderous vigilante tirade in Jessica Jones Season 3. The last anyone saw of Trish, she was being transported to the Raft, aka the MCU’s superhuman prison. 

The MCU has established several characters currently imprisoned on the Raft who would now be cellmates with Trish. One question future seasons may have to answer is what happened to her on the Raft and whether Jessica and Trish had any further communication. 

Another character whose life may be impacted by Jessica’s MCU return is Malcolm Ducasse (Eka Darville), Jessica’s long-time assistant and eventual partner at Alias Investigations. At the end of Jessica Jones Season 3, Jessica handed the business over to Malcolm after she decided to leave town. But Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 saw Jessica back in the Alias Investigations office, raising the question of what happened to Malcolm. 

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DCU

DC Studios’ Lanterns series confirmed its new tagline that directly ties to a comic-accurate Green Lantern lore. Marketing is ramping up for Lanterns as it approaches its August 16 release date on HBO Max, with its latest promotional wave pivoting from the earlier, more grounded detective vibe to full-throated comic-book spectacle, complete with glowing Power Rings, emerald energy constructs, and capped off with the iconic oath from DC Comics taking center stage. 

DC Studios and HBO Max officially released a new motion poster for Lanterns, highlighting a familiar tagline saying, “In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night.” 

This tagline is part of the classic Green Lantern oath from the comics: 

“In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might, beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!”

DC Studios’ choice to lead with the oath in Lanterns‘ marketing signals a more clear and definitive pivot toward embracing the Green Lantern’s rich mythology. 

This new direction is a positive sign, and the shift feels like a direct and welcome response to fan feedback to Green Lantern fans upset with a recent line from one of the show’s trailers where John Stewart referenced the oath’s core principle is “to protect people.” 

While protective duty is part of the job, the classic oath in the comics goes far deeper; it’s a vow not just to shield the innocent, but to confront, expose, and overcome evil itself. 

By leading with the iconic words “In brightest day, in blackest night,” Gunn and the DC Studios team are signaling they understand the Lanterns’ true spirit, and it is expected to translate on-screen. 

This new tagline also marks a noticeable shift from the earlier, more grounded tagline, “Only one can wear the ring,” which teased the mentor-mentee clash between Hal Jordan and John Stewart in the series. 

DC Studios

 In April 2026, James Gunn shared a new image from Lanterns with the caption saying part of the Green Lantern oath: “Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light.” This proves DC Studios has been slowly embracing the comic-accurate Green Lantern lore in Lanterns‘ marketing.

Lanterns is set to premiere on HBO Max on August 16. 

Why Embracing Green Lanterns’ Comic-Accurate Lore In Lanterns Is Important 

Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan wearing his Green Lantern suit in Lanterns.
DC Studios

Embracing the comic-accurate lore of the Green Lantern Corps in Lanterns is crucial for the show’s success and its role in the broader DCU reboot. 

Early marketing made it clear that Lanterns is positioned as a True Detective-style murder mystery show. While the show’s grounded nature is a welcome development, staying true to source material’s mythology allows the DCU to deliver something fresh yet faithful that will become beloved by fans. 

Lanterns is also meant to expand the universe post-Superman. Faithful adherence to comic-accurate lore is essential because it allows the series to lay groundwork for future crossovers and escalating threats with organic build up rather than clunky exposition dumps. 

If anything, honoring core elements of the Green Lantern Corps can only strengthen the interconnected DCU, and if done right, Lanterns can become a foundational pillar rather than a standalone series. Doing so would allow the series to serve as a template for future stories, setting the stage for expansive cosmic arcs that can further push Hal Jordan and John Stewart to the big-screen as deeply complex characters than being sidelined. 

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Comics

State of Play brought plenty of big announcements this week, showing off tons of great games that’ll be arriving over the next few months and years. But right now you can also cash in on some great PS5 deals, as Days of Play is lingering around until June 10. This means all sorts of games and accessories are available for cheap, and retailers like Amazon and Best Buy are price-matching some of the best digital discounts.

As usual, console deals are slim this week. With Sony recently hiking the prices of all PS5 consoles, we’re not expecting any notable discounts for the foreseeable future. But if you’re in the market for a new headset or DualSense, there are plenty of deals to peruse.

Here’s a look at the best PS5 deals for the first week of June 2026.

Best PS5 Game Deals

PS5 digital games are still discounted on the PlayStation Store for Days of Play, though physical copies are being price-matched at most retailers. So if you’d rather have a disc to toss on the shelf in your game room than something trapped on your HDD, there are tons of deals to peruse this week. Digital deals run until June 10, at which time many of these price-matched physical deals may also disappear.

Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut is now just $30 (was $70), getting you the base game, sprawling Iki Island expansion, and Legends online multiplayer mode. This matches its lowest price ever. Back when it first released in 2020, our review said it featured a “lot of fantastic cinematic highs” and “a stunning open-world environment” to explore–and if you’re seeking a deep game to sink dozens of hours into, it’s a solid recommendation at this new price.

With the reveal of God of War Laufey, the iconic franchise is back in the spotlight. We don’t yet have a release date for the title, which means you probably have plenty of time to work your way through God of War Ragnarok. Laufey looks to have serious ties to its predecessor, and you’ll likely miss out on story beats without having played Ragnarok. Thankfully, it’s just $29 (was $70). This is one of the best prices of 2026, following an end-of-year sale in 2025 that saw it hit $20.

Gran Turismo 7 is also down to one of its best prices of the year, with Amazon discounting it to just $29 (was $70). Our review gave it an 8/10, highlighting its stunning visuals, wide variety of single-player activities, and snappy loading times. So while you can’t yet dive into Forza Horizon 6 on Sony’s console, this is arguably the best alternative (especially when it’s this cheap).

Other notable deals include Resident Evil 7 Biohazard (Gold Edition) for $20 (was $30), Diablo 4 for $34 (was $70), and Astro Bot for $39 (was $60). We’re particularly fond of Diablo 4 right now, as the latest season made sweeping changes to the ARPG, with a whole new leveling system that gives players added flexibility when crafting their build. There’s also a new expansion to dive into with Lord of Hatred–though you’ll have to fork over extra cash, as it’s not included with the base game at $34.

And if you’re excited about the upcoming World Cup, EA Sports FC 26 is $46 (was $70). There’s also a nice deal for MLB The Show 26, as Amazon has it on sale for $49 (was $70).

PS5 Physical Game Discounts

Best PS5 Accessory Deals

Many of the best PS5 accessory deals are the same as last week, as Days of Play is offering up serious price cuts on a little bit of everything.

Interested in virtual reality? The PlayStation VR2 Headset is currently $299 (was $399). You’ll need a PS5 console to use the headset (it’s not a standalone device like a Meta Quest), but the kit comes with two Sense controllers, a charging cable, and even a pair of stereo headphones. With support for 4K resolutions and an impressive 110-degree field of view, it’s one of the most premium VR options available in 2026.

DualSense Controllers are also getting nice price cuts this week. The standard, white PlayStation DualSense Controller is $55 (was $75), though plenty of other colors are discounted–check out the full suite at Best Buy. Need something more robust? The DualSense Edge is $170 (was $200), offering changeable stick caps, back buttons, adjustable trigger lengths, and an included carrying case.

The Sony Inzone H9 Gaming Headset has a nice offer this week, with Amazon discounting it to $198 (was $330). Built for PC and PS5, it supports 360-degree spatial sound, uses multiple microphones to improve its noise-canceling skills, and is built with both a plush headband and earcups for support. Give it a look if you game across both platforms, as it’s a highly rated choice.

For earbuds, the Sony Pulse Explore Earbuds are on sale for Days of Play, available for $150 (was $200). They’re designed to work seamlessly with PS5, PC, Mac, and PS Portal, and they use AI-enhanced noise cancellation to help keep you immersed in the action. Standout features include volume controls, support for simultaneous connections (that is, you can be playing a game via PS Link while also taking calls or listening to music from your phone), and two built-in mics for voice chat.

Best PS5 Hardware Deals (PS5 Slim, PS5 Pro, PS Portal)

PlayStation increased the prices of all PS5 models earlier this year, and after a bit of lag time, all retailers seem to have received the memo. In other words, it’s hard to find a PS5 console carrying its old price tag.

The Ghost of Yotei Gold Limited Edition Bundle is sold out at PS Direct, but a refurbished model is available at GameStop for $590. It gets you a Slim Disc Edition console, DualSense Controller, and a copy of Ghost of Yotei. The console and controller are also adorned with a cool Ghost of Yotei design.

Sadly, console deals are not part of this year’s Days of Play–so for now, this refurbished console is about the best you can hope for. And since Sony recently hiked prices, we don’t imagine they’ll slash prices anytime soon.

More Deals And Preorders

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Festivals

Horror movies are obviously defined by their visuals. What we can (or in some cases, can’t) see is almost always the first point of contact for whether or not a scare will stick with us beyond our initial viewing. But, if you want people’s curiosity and dread to stand the test of time, giving them some small, key bits of dialogue, or a selling point to latch on to is a surefire bet. Let’s take a look back at some of the horror quotes and taglines that have truly stood the test of time.

“Whatever You Do, Don’t Fall Asleep.”

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) already has one of the most iconic horror concepts of all time. A monstrous killer that can only come for you in your dreams. Seems pretty unavoidable, right? In the lead-up to the climax of the film, ourprotagonist, Nancy, laments to her boyfriend, Glen, on the phone that she’s going on seven full days of no sleep while she formulates a plan. Once she’s got him on board, she makes sure he understands the key part of the plan: “whatever you do…don’t fall asleep”. Obviously, if you’ve seen the film, you know Glen doesn’t exactly heed this advice, and well…it doesn’t end the greatest for him.

Being able to pervert something as important to the health of human beings as sleep in a horror environment to the point where dozing for even a moment puts your life at serious risk is enough to make anyone lose a few hours after watching the film. Plus, seeing what happens to every character who makes the mistake of nodding off in the film is the icing on the really bloody cake.

“They’re Here.”

‘Poltergeist’ (1982)Credit: MGM/United International

“They’re here” is a bit of a double whammy for the Tobe Hooper-directed horror classic, Poltergeist, serving as both the film’s tagline and perhaps its most memorable line of dialogue. At first glance, that tagline alone is enough to get people in seats, or 44 years later, on their couches. But it’s also Heather O’Rourke’s now iconic delivery of the line itself in the film that has absolutely stood the test of time.

The Poltergeist franchise has become infamous since the release of the original for its supposed curse that continues to haunt the cast of the original film. Several cast members, including the young O’Rourke, met tragic, premature deaths in the early years post-release, and many believers in the curse cite the film’s infamous use of real human skeletons in the mud flood sequence.

All of these elements combined make Poltergeist one of the most eerie films of our modern era, and at the end of the day, it all circles back to that original tagline.

“7 Days.”

Alt text: Samara ready to strike in \u2018The Ring.\u2019 ‘The Ring’ (2002)Credit: Dreamworks Pictures

The infamous phone call from the ghost of Samara in The Ring remains one of the most iconic pop culture moments from the 2000s. Prank calls, creepy voices, and general scary impressionists still have a field day with the concept every year around Halloween.

After watching a mysterious and truly unsettling videotape in the Gore Verbinski American remake, your phone always rings with a mysterious voice behind it, simply saying, “7 days.” This remark is supposed to mark your death for exactly 7 days from when you finished the tape, and the only way to get rid of the curse is to make a copy of the video and show it to someone else.

The common denominator amongst these three bits of horror history is that they represent something that is truly inescapable. Your body needs sleep; whoever is here is invisible and is here to stay, and whether you like it or not, 7 days will inevitably pass without regard for the roadblocks you may have.

There’s always been a debate about what the most inherently scary concept is for people. But the inherent dread that comes from being told something is coming for you, or will happen to you within a certain period of time, without an ability to stop it, absolutely ranks amongst the worst. Hand in hand with this concept lies another classic…

Exploitation of the Unknown

This is one that has seen a major resurgence in horror in recent years. Zach Cregger’s smash hit Weapons from last year displayed this technique with flying colors. “Last night at 2:17 AM, every child from Mrs. Gandy’s class woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark…and they never came back.” That’s all we were told initially. And clearly it was enough. The film was a critical and audience hit, grossing over 270 million dollars worldwide on a modest 38 million dollar budget.

Even the new horror film Passenger, which releases wide this weekend, utilized this technique, providing statistics on how many people go missing on road trips each year as the official synopsis of the film in the vast majority of its promotional material. Nobody likes being in the dark about a scary statistic or unsolved disappearance, even in fiction. Using this element of human psychology to their advantage has so far been successful for filmmakers. Let’s hope horror continues to exploit our most deep-seated fears in ways that feel this fun.

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Film

Claire Foy never saw Sugapuff coming. 

How could she have? The British actress — who won an Emmy for her brilliantly contained and internal portrayal of young Queen Elizabeth II sublimating her every desire and dream for her duty in The Crown Season 2 — was finishing up the Q&A after her late Thursday keynote talk at  SXSW London when an ebullient man in the audience cried out for the microphone.

“I’m here!” 

Foy, who’d been a delightful sport all night, brimming with laughter and self-deprecating British humor, gestured for the usher bearing the mic to hand it over. 

“Yeah?” she asked, smiling expectantly.

“Claire Foy, it’s so beautiful to see your natural self and not acting,” said the man, who I’d later learn is Sugapuff, a pop culture presenter from East London. “You have such a beautiful soul and I really like your vibe.” 

Foy let out a cackle, or more like a “caw-caw!” sound of surprise and amazement that has rarely, if ever, been emitted from a human — more like a crow who’s just found a trove of garbage to munch on and wants to broadcast it to the world. 

“This is what I mean, your beauty is just confusing me at this point!” said Sugapuff, who wore his name on a rhinestone grill around his neck and was simultaneously filming while firing out seemingly whatever question he could think of to keep the interaction going. 

“So, what are the everyday things that you still do, like now that you’re a superstar?” he said, also throwing in a compliment about the two giant, dangling rhinestone brooches affixed to her tuxedo jacket and calling her “a very stylish woman.” 

Foy, a pro, endeavored to keep up, responding to the compliments, and saying she does all the things that ordinary people do, just before Sugapuff threw out another query, about what her guilty pleasures are and what she likes to buy in “the cheaper part of things,” like Tesco supermarkets.

“I know what goes on there and I don’t shop there anymore,” said Foy with a wink. (She used to be a Tesco cashier.)

An usher had crouched down next to Sugapuff gently hinting it was time to hand over the mic, but Sugapuff was not done. He wanted to know her favorite packed lunch on set. 

Foy never once made it seem like she couldn’t handle the barrage. “I have so many snacks. I eat only 100 percent dark chocolate, which most people find really gross,” she said.

“No, you need to be healthy!” said Sugapuff, as if they were the only people in this makeshift lecture hall inside a church. Foy agreed that she needs to be healthy. “You look good!” Sugapuff continued. “And it’s so worth it, because your skin is TEA!” 

Foy demurred that she had tons of makeup on and changed the subject, recommending that everyone get into gardening. And then maybe she got a little too into talking about gardening, explaining that she started using MiracleGrow, as Sugapuff peppered her with more questions about her summer plans.

“Nobody cares about this!” said Foy, dissolving in laughter. “I’m feeding my plants for the first time ever and it makes me feel like an adult, I think. And I talk to them.” 

By this point, the usher was practically trying to wrestle the mic away, as moderator Clarisse Loughrey, film critic for The Independent, simultaneously tried to end the talk — but Sugapuff would not be deterred. 

“Well, Claire Foy, my name is Sugapuff, and I’m adding love to pop culture because a lot of entertainers are depressed and I believe it’s time that we show artists like you love and we see your personality, because you are a true star, Claire Foy!” 

She laughed again, amazed — probably thinking it was over. 

But it was not! 

“And before I go, I’m going to sing something for you because I must go. I’m getting late!” Sugapuff announced. 

Foy’s jaw dropped in disbelief, but she just went with it.

“Never mind, I’ll find someone like you,” Sugapuff began, sort of in tune to the Adele hit “Someone Like You” and at such a surprisingly loud volume that Foy, like the rest of the audience, practically fell out of her chair laughing. 

“I wish nothing but the best, for youuuuuuuu, toooooooo!” 

Foy clapped and swayed as Sugapuff made his way down the aisle toward the stage, as the security guards and ushers who’d been standing on the outskirts of the room suddenly sprang into action. “‘Don’t forget me!’ I beg / I remember you said…” 

All he wanted to do was to get Foy to join in the duet, which she did because, well, when at SXSW London, right? 

“Sometimes I laugh and sometimes I …. Something else instead?” the Emmy-winner sang with some timidity, artfully allowing the moment to wind down.

And just as suddenly — or maybe it was because the guards and ushers were about to pounce — Sugapuff declared that he had to run and get his Uber, racing down the aisle and out of the church. (The Hollywood Reporter later confirmed that SXSW got the microphone back, and that Sugapuff was telling the truth — within minutes, he had jumped into an Uber.)  

“With AI taking over and less humanism being encouraged, I believe it important to see the personalities and celebrate stars for who they are and how they are,” Sugapuff later told THR by email. “I’m disappointed by the amount of Film PRs in the UK [who] are anti-fun!” 

Throughout her talk, though, Foy had proven herself the opposite of anti-fun, often getting huge laughs from the audience. 

She’s here at SXSW London to premiere Savage House, an 18th century dark satire co-starring Richard E. Grant about a family of social climbers. Comedy is more scary than drama, she said, because you have no idea if anyone’s going to find it funny until they watch it. “So, It’s made me feel a bit more vulnerable, actually, weirdly, doing things that are supposed to be funny, because what if they’re… not?!” she said, to big laughs. 

She also gamely talked about The Crown, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary next year. What did Foy think defined Queen Elizabeth II? The actress pointed to her “simplicity,” adding, “I don’t think she was a very complicated woman. I think she had an incredibly complicated existence.”

Meaning? “I think that she wasn’t expecting to be queen, and when she became queen, it coincided with the fact that her father died,” said Foy. “That does something to someone, when you have that sort of bereavement and then the biggest responsibility you could ever possibly imagine.” If young Elizabeth had her way, she would have spent all her time outdoors with her dogs and horses. 

“Stephen Daldry once said something about the fact that she was an ordinary woman who became extraordinary because of all the ideas that people projected onto her,” said Foy. The most important thing, she added, was to never lose sight of the queen as being “ordinary.” 

The talk covered her entire career, including All of Us Strangers, the ghost story starring Andrew Scott. “Of all things I’d done, that’s the thing that moves people the most,” she said. 

And she revealed a bit of news about Danny Boyle’s upcoming Ink, a feature about the rise of the Murdoch empire, starring Guy Pearce as Rupert and Jack O’Connell as Larry Lamb, the editor he tapped in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s to revamp The Sun and turn it into a tabloid. 

Foy plays Jules, a composite character written for the movie “because there were no women!” Foy joked, then corrected herself.

“No, women existed in 1969, but they just didn’t have very powerful jobs,” she said. The actress said she read tons of books about female journalists who didn’t get recognition, but who “fought their way into the kind of boys’ club that was the newspaper business.” The film, she added, “would have suffered if it didn’t have a sort of homage to those women and a representation of the significance of that impact on Fleet Street on the news that we can see today.” 

And soon after that, she was fielding a question about her sky-high Louboutin platform boots, which, it’s true, were impossible to ignore.

The red-soled boots had been provided by her stylist. “I’m too short for all clothes. This isn’t necessarily a choice; it’s more of a need,” Foy said, laughing. “The trousers might look good if I have longer legs.”

Would she be able to walk off the stage in them? Foy said it would be anyone’s guess. But as soon as she sang her duet with Sugapuff, she was on her feet and practically sprinting back to her car.

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Claire Foy never saw Sugapuff coming.  How could

TV

To say that Miranda Bailey (The Diary of a Teenage Girl, God’s Country) likes to play it safe would just be insane.

Through her production firm Cold Iron Pictures, the producer-actress-writer-director has backed the likes of Swiss Army Man, the Daniels’ surreal comedy about a stranded man, played by Paul Dano, on the verge of suicide who befriends a flatulent corpse, portrayed by Daniel Radcliffe. And at Sundance 2025, the company premiered Amanda Kramer’s By Design, starring Melanie Griffith as narrator and Juliette Lewis as a woman who swaps bodies with a chair.

Bailey is currently in the British capital for SXSW London, where she is a producer on another genre-bending film, along with Ioanna Bolomyti, Elizabeth Woodward, Lauren Mann, Yannis Economides, Vladimir Anastasov, Angela Nestorovska, Zvonimir Munivrana, Maja Popovic Milojevic and Irina Malcea-Candea.

The movie is The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes, the feature film debut of Greek writer-director Thanasis Neofotistos, which world premiered as part of the Screen Festival of SXSW London 2026 on Thursday evening. The cinematic allegory for exclusion and the desire for love and freedom, which can also be viewed as a queer coming-of-age story, stars Giorgos Karydis as Petros, a boy forced by his strict grandmother, and the village mayor, to hide behind a mask because he has blue eyes. Why? Well, that eye color is a source of fear and superstition for the locals of the remote mountain village where they live.

Neofotistos co-wrote the film with his husband Grigoris Skarakis, with cinematography by Djordje Arambasic and editing by Panagiotis Angelopoulos. Gersh is handling U.S. sales.

How did Bailey end up joining the team behind a Greek indie film, her first international fiction feature as a producer, you ask? “I was a judge of the Aspen Film Festival shorts, and Thanasis had this short film there that was my favorite of the festival,” she tells THR. “This was years ago, but I remember really fighting for a special mention for this short film by this Greek guy, because I loved it. And he did get the special mention.”

Then her producer friend Mann, who produced Swiss Army Man with Bailey, mentioned she was on board for “this Greek film.” It was The Boy With the Light-Blue Eyes, and Bailey immediately recognized the creator’s name. “Lauren knows that I like really weird stuff, and I said, ‘Oh my god, I love this director,’” she recalls. “I hadn’t even read the script but I knew it would be great.”

During the weeks of shooting, the two American producers split up their time on set in Greece. “It was all Greek to me,” literally, quips Bailey. “Noone spoke English beyond Thanasis and the young star of the movie, Grigoris.”

But it was all worth it given the clear and authentic storytelling voice she spotted in Neofotistos. “It’s about a uniqueness and a point of view,” the producer tells THR. “I like to produce with creatives who have a very specific voice and point of view. You know what a Noah Baumbach film is or can tell, ‘Oh, that’s a James Gunn film,’ that’s a Daniels film.”

Bailey does not have a big masterplan for her future in international production work or a possible second film with Neofotistos. “I am one of those producers who do not latch on to the directors,” she says. “I like when things happen organically. But obviously, if Thanasis came to me and wanted me to be a part of his next movie, I would love to.”

Bailey will keep an eye on the international, with Amanda Kramer’s By Design, starring Juliette Lewis as a woman who swaps bodies with a chair and Melanie Griffith as narrator, having just sold to Bulldog Film Distribution for the U.K. and Ireland where it will launch later in the year. The film premiered at Sundance 2025,

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What to Watch

Netflix subscription is required to watch on Netflix

 

Great news! “Ralph Barbosa: Cowabunga” is available to watch on Netflix USA!

 

Date Added: 4th June 2026

Want to keep forever? Try looking for ‘Ralph Barbosa: Cowabunga’ on Amazon (paid link)

 

History:

   10/31/2023: Added to Netflix

   10/31/2025: Removed from Netflix

   06/04/2026: Streaming Again

 

Synopsis:

Comedian Ralph Barbosa riffs on everything from his street-racing dream woman to his mom’s lies about moon rocks in this chill, cheeky stand-up special.

 

Certificate: TV-MA
For Mature Audiences.

 

Year: 2023

Duration: 1hr 4m

Audio: English – Audio Description, English [Original]

Subtitles: English

– English Audio Description

 

Cast and Crew

Director: Eric Abrams

 

Cast: Ralph Barbosa

 

Production & Box Office Details:

“Ralph Barbosa: Cowabunga” was produced by Rotten Science and was originally released on October 31st 2023.

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Available on Netflix USA!

Netflix subscription is required to watch on Netflix

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Want to keep forever? Why not rent or buy ‘Ralph Barbosa: Cowabunga’ from one of the online services below?


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Stake Casino Review (2025)

Starting your online casino journey can be both exhilarating and a touch daunting, notably with the wide range of games and features on offer today https://sstake.org/en-gb/. For players in the United Kingdom looking for a dynamic platform, Stake Casino provides a modern and engaging environment packed with thousands of games, live dealer options, and distinctive features like its own cryptocurrency. This thorough guide is designed specifically for UK beginners, walking through every essential step from creating your first account to placing that initial deposit and placing your very first bets. The objective is to demystify the process, highlight key aspects of the Stake experience, and provide practical tips to guarantee a smooth, enjoyable, and responsible start to your gaming adventure.

Stake.com 2026 Review: The Ultimate Guide to this Crypto Casino

Beginning: Establishing Your Stake Account

The first step to accessing the wide library of games at Stake Casino is to set up a personal account. This procedure is designed to be straightforward and quick. Prospective players in the UK need to navigate to the primary Stake website and locate the prominent sign-up button. The registration form will request standard information such as a valid email address, a safe password, and a username of your choice. It is important to provide correct information from the outset, as this will be checked later to guarantee safe transactions and conformity with regulations. Once the form is sent, a verification email will usually appear in your inbox; clicking the link within it triggers your account, signifying the proper beginning of your Stake journey. After this, you will be set to proceed to the next critical stage: account verification, which confirms your status as a legitimate player.

After clicking the verification link, you will gain full access to your new account dashboard. This central hub is where you will manage all elements of your profile, from security settings to transaction history. For UK players, it is strongly recommended to promptly familiarise yourself with the account settings area. Here, you can establish deposit limits, examine responsible gaming tools, and modify notification preferences to suit your style. Taking a few moments to configure these settings preemptively fosters a safer and more controlled gaming experience from day one. The dashboard also offers a clear summary of your balance, any active bonuses, and quick links to customer support, turning it the command centre for all your activities on the platform.

Confirming Your Identity and Depositing Funds

To withdraw your winnings, Stake Casino, in line with UK licensing requirements, will require identity verification. This standard process, known as Know Your Customer (KYC), requires submitting copies of official documents. Generally, this encompasses a government-issued photo ID like a passport or driving licence, and a recent proof of address, such as a utility bill or bank statement dated within the last three months. The submission is done safely through the account interface, and the verification team generally reviews documents within a short timeframe. Completing this step promptly circumvents any delays when you eventually decide to cash out your successes, guaranteeing a seamless transaction process later on.

After verifying your account, the next exciting step is making a deposit. Stake Casino caters to a global audience and thus offers a wide range of payment methods. For UK-based beginners, common methods like Visa and Mastercard debit cards are on offer, alongside popular e-wallets. A notable aspect of Stake is its adoption of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and its own Stake Cash. To deposit funds, simply navigate to the cashier section, select your preferred payment method, input the amount, and adhere to the on-screen instructions. Transactions, particularly with cryptocurrency, are often extremely quick. It is advisable for newcomers to begin with a modest deposit that matches a predetermined entertainment budget, allowing for exploration without significant financial pressure.

Understanding Stake’s Welcome Bonus

New players at Stake Casino are usually offered a welcome bonus, but it is essential to understand its terms before jumping in. In contrast to some traditional casinos that provide a matched deposit bonus, Stake often offers a bonus linked to its rakeback or bonus drop system. Basically, as you play, you earn a small percentage back on your wagers or receive random prize drops during gameplay. This model delivers continuous value rather than a large upfront sum. Novices should carefully read the promotional terms associated with any offer, paying close attention to any wagering requirements or game restrictions that may apply. This knowledge ensures you can engage with the bonus efficiently and have realistic expectations about how it boosts your play.

Understanding bonus terms might look technical, but it is a essential skill for any online casino enthusiast. Wagering requirements, if present, dictate how many times you must play through a bonus amount before it becomes withdrawable cash. Additionally, not all games contribute equally to these requirements; slots usually contribute 100%, while table games might account for far less. By making an effort to review these details in the promotions section or terms and conditions, UK players can make informed decisions. This approach prevents potential frustration when attempting to withdraw funds and enables you to fully value the bonus as a tool for extended gameplay rather than an immediate windfall.

Navigating the Stake Casino Game Hall

The game section at Stake Casino is a dynamic and extensive world, which can be initially overwhelming. It is meticulously organized to aid discovery. Major sections typically contain Slots, Live Casino, Table Games, and Originals. The slots collection is enormous, showcasing titles from dozens of leading software suppliers, covering classic fruit slots, immersive video slots, and progressive jackpots with life-changing prizes. The live casino part broadcasts real-time games hosted by professional croupiers from venues around the world, offering an genuine brick-and-mortar experience with games like blackjack, roulette, and baccarat. For newcomers, employing the search function or sorting games by supplier or popularity can be an excellent way to commence exploring.

Beyond the traditional sections, Stake’s ‘Originals’ part houses a collection of proprietary games created in-house. These commonly feature unique crash games, plinko, dice, and other instant-play style games that have become synonymous with the Stake name. Their uncomplicated gameplay make them particularly accessible for newcomers. When navigating the hall, a helpful piece of advice is to use the ‘demo’ or ‘practice’ feature offered on many slot games. This option lets you to try with virtual funds, giving a risk-free way to grasp a game’s rules, winning lines, and bonus rounds before investing real funds. This preliminary phase is crucial to locating the games that truly resonate with your personal preferences.

Setting Up Your First Bets and Understanding Game Rules

Once you have picked a game, the next step is understanding how to place a bet. The interface differs a bit between game types but adheres to standard rules. In a slot game, you will typically set your bet per line and pick the number of paylines before hitting the spin button. In table games like roulette, you place chips directly on the virtual felt on the numbers or areas you intend to stake. For live dealer games, you will have a digital interface to place bets within a specified time window before the dealer ends the round. It is crucial to start with the minimum bet allowed, which allows you to understand for the game’s flow and pacing without substantial risk.

Comprehending the basic rules of any game before wagering is essential. While slots are mostly chance-driven, understanding symbols like scatters and wilds, and how bonus rounds are initiated, enhances the experience. For skill-based games like blackjack or video poker, learning basic strategy can significantly improve your long-term outcomes. Stake Casino supplies information and rules for each game, often available via a help or information button within the game window. Numerous external resources, including strategy charts for blackjack or guides to baccarat betting systems, are also found online for UK players eager to learn. Devoting this time upfront converts gameplay from mere guessing into informed participation.

Managing Your Bankroll Responsibly

Sound bankroll management is the bedrock of sustainable and pleasurable online casino play. It requires establishing a strict budget for your gambling activities and sticking to it independent of wins or losses. A fundamental strategy consists of deciding on a session budget—an figure you are at ease parting with for that specific period of play—and never go after losses by surpassing it. Dividing your bankroll into smaller betting units aids prolong your session; for instance, if your session budget is £50, wagering bets of £1 or £2 per spin permits for considerable gameplay. Stake Casino provides tools in your account settings to aid with this, such as deposit limits and session reminders, which are strongly advised for all UK players.

Another key aspect of responsible bankroll management is defining clear win and loss limits. A win limit is a objective at which you choose to stop playing and withdraw your profits, preventing the common pitfall of surrendering winnings. In contrast, a loss limit is the point at which you recognize the session is not going your way and walk away. Maintaining a calm and disciplined attitude is simpler when these boundaries are set in advance, away from the thrill of the game. Remember, gambling should be regarded purely as a form of recreation, not a source of income. Using the reality checks and self-exclusion options on offer at Stake guarantees that your gaming remains a controlled leisure activity.

Uncovering Loyalty Rewards and Ongoing Promotions

Stake Casino values player loyalty and operates a multi-tiered VIP programme that rewards consistent play. As you bet on games, you earn experience points that gradually increase your VIP level. Each new level unlocks enhanced benefits, which can offer higher rakeback percentages, exclusive bonus offers, personal account managers, and even faster withdrawal processing times. The programme is crafted to deliver long-term value, making regular play progressively more rewarding. Beginners are automatically enrolled, and while the highest tiers require significant play, even at the initial levels, players can receive tangible perks that add extra value to their deposits.

Beyond the structured VIP scheme, Stake runs a constant stream of daily, weekly, and monthly promotions. These might feature reload bonuses, cashback offers on specific games, or exciting tournaments where players battle on leaderboards for prize pools. There are also social media challenges and giveaways that involve the community. For UK players, regularly reviewing the ‘Promotions’ page on the Stake site is a necessity to stay informed about the latest opportunities. Participating in these can significantly increase your playing funds and bring an element of community competition. However, always apply the same diligent reading of terms and conditions to these ongoing offers as you should with a welcome bonus.

Contacting Customer Support and Guaranteeing Safe Play

Even the most easy-to-navigate platforms, questions or problems can occasionally arise. Stake Casino provides several reliable channels for customer support. The most immediate is the 24/7 live chat function, available via a widget on the website, which links you immediately with a support agent for live assistance. For less pressing matters, email support is also provided. Additionally, a detailed FAQ section covers a wide range of common queries regarding accounts, payments, bonuses, and games, which can often offer an immediate solution. For UK players, understanding how to access this help makes sure any minor issues are handled quickly, allowing you to return to your gaming without extended disruption.

Safe play covers both financial security and personal well-being. Stake employs advanced encryption technology to secure all user data and financial transactions, offering peace of mind regarding the safety of your funds and personal information. On a personal level, it is crucial to incorporate the responsible gaming tools discussed earlier into your routine. Stake is licensed and supervised, complying to strict standards that promote fair play and player protection. Recognising the signs of problematic gambling and understanding how to utilise tools like self-assessment tests and cool-off periods is as essential as knowing how to place a bet. A secure and managed environment is the best foundation for a positive online casino experience.

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Starting your online casino journey can be

Awards

Jessie and her owner are reunited, in the apparent scenario laid out in Taylor Swift‘s new “Toy Story 5” song, “I Knew It, I Knew You,” which debuted on digital services Thursday night.

Also reunited (and it feels so good): Taylor Swift and country music — as promised by Disney when they first helped Swift announce the new tune Monday.

Swift posted a message on social media as the single was coming out that included vintage home video of herself as a little girl, marching in a red cowgirl hat and and a shirt embroidered with boots. She wrote:

“Writing this song felt like a musical departure and coming home at the same time. Creating something for Jessie was a new challenge and also felt like second nature all at once. And being a @toystory kid from the age of 5 til now… is an adventure I plan to be on, to infinity and beyond.”

She continued, “Thank you to the brilliant Andrew Stanton for imagining me for this, all those years ago when you wrote this newest film. Thank you to the incomparable @randynewmanofficial for the gorgeous sonic tapestry of songs and scores you’ve meticulously woven over the years. You created the Toy Story musical world, and we are lucky to get to live in it. By we, I mean myself and my pal @jackantonoff. We wrote this with so much adoration for these characters that made us laugh and helped us learn lessons and think outside the backyard all throughout our childhoods.”

The song is sprightly and upbeat. It seems likely to serve a similar function in “Toy Story 5” as another tune, “When She Loved Me,” served all the way back in “Toy Story 2,” as far as an anthem destined to play over a montage involving Jessie. But whereas that was a mournful song of separation between human and cowgirl toy, “I Knew It, I Knew You” has the opposite tone, finding easygoing joy in a rematch that was made to be.

And yes, it has one of Swift’s patented bridges, in case anyone was worried she would go the way of TikTok economy and leave that out.

The track is co-produced and co-written by Swift and Jack Antonoff, who is making his return to that chair for the first time since “The Tortured Poets Department.” Although Antonoff didn’t start working with her until she had largely set her original genre aside, they did work together on the country-leaning song “Betty” from her 2020 “Folklore” album (also co-produced by Aaron Dessner), so this is not entirely unfamiliar territory for them as collaborators.

The lyrics have a much more certain outcome for the reappearance of a loved one on a porch than the tentative ones of “Betty” did:

I knew you
Through the daze of the blades of the grass in summer
Parachutes for the free fall of being younger
I memorized the sound of your bare footsteps
Running wild, it’s been a long time
Life has ways of leaving those days behind
But seeing you tonight

I remembered I loved you
Came back when it mattered
I saw you, standing there in the light of the window
Wearing that same smile
Man, it’s been a while
But I knew it, I knеw you
I knew it, I knew you

I knew you, all your bluеs like a mood ring changing colors
You did too, there were times we could fight like brothers
I watched you drive around the bend
For what I thought would be the last time I saw my friend
But love has ways of bringing things back to life
All you said was, “hi”

And I remembered I loved you
Came back when it mattered
I saw you, standing there in the light of the window
Wearing that same smile
Man, it’s been a while
But I knew it, I knew you (I knew, I knew)

Along with the digital single, Swift has been selling both CD and vinyl versions of the track on her website this week, although all of those physical editions sold out well before their 48-hour windows were up.

Although it’s easy to picture how the song may be used in the film, based on descriptions of the plot that have already been offered to some journalists, based on sneak previews of the first half-hour of the movie, the usage of the track will become clearer when the movie has its gala premiere June 9. It opens in theaters the night of June 18.

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Music

Boards of Canada drought-busting album Inferno (via Warp/Inertia) has been warmly received in Australia, where it opens its account at No. 3 on the ARIA Chart for the week’s top debut.

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That podium finish is the Scottish electronic duo’s career best position and first top 10 appearance, easily eclipsing the No. 24 peak of their last album, Tomorrow’s Harvest, released back in 2013, some 13 years ago. Inferno is this week’s best-seller on wax, taking out top spot on the ARIA Vinyl Chart.

Boards of Canada, brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin, were in a two-way joust on the midweek U.K. chart with Paul McCartney’s The Boys of Dungeon Lane (Capitol/Universal). On the latest all-genres ARIA Chart, published late Friday, June 5, McCartney’s new album bows at No. 5 on the Albums Chart. It’s one of McCartney’s 18 top 10 appearances on Australia’s albums chart, ARIA reports, two of which went all the way to No. 1: Wings’ Red Rose Speedway and Band On The Run, both in 1973. As part of the Beatles, the two-time Rock Hall-inducted legend has scooped more than a dozen ARIA No. 1 albums.

Also new to the chart is Florida rock band Shinedown, with EI8HT (Atlantic/Warner), their eighth studio collection. It’s new at No. 7.

The top new homegrown release belongs to Amber Lawrence, whose Suburban Cowgirl (ABC/Orchard) starts at No. 18. Lawrence, the reigning female artist of the year at the Country Music Awards of Australia, one of her six Golden Guitar Awards, peaked at No. 5 with her last album, 2022’s Living for the Highlights.

South Korean girl group Aespa enjoys a career best result with Lemonade (Virgin/Universal), their second studio album. It’s new at No. 24. Until now, Aespa’s best result had been No. 55 with 2022’s Girls. Further down the list, Aussie singer Chloe Parche bags a top 40 appearance her latest EP Sitting Next To Nellie (AWAL), new at No. 34, and Devin Townsend is close behind with The Moth (Century Media/Sony), new at No. 36.

At the top of the leaderboard, meanwhile, is Drake’s Iceman (Republic/Universal), which bounces 2-1 for its second non-consecutive reign.

The ARIA Singles Chart has some country flair as Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” (Sony) bags the No. 1 spot for its third non-consecutive week. “Choosin’ Texas” lifts 2-1.

The top new debut belongs to Ariana Grande with “Hate That I Made You Love Me” (Republic/Universal), arriving at No. 2. “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” the first track from her forthcoming eighth studio album, Petal, becomes Grande’s 31st top 20 single. All up, her career tally includes four ARIA No. 1 singles: “No Tears Left To Cry” (2018), “Thank U, Next” (2018), “7 Rings” (2019) and “Positions” (2020).

“Hate That I Made You Love Me” is the only debutant on the latest frame, one that features two Australian made tracks: Tame Impala’s platinum-certified “Dracula” (down 6-7 via Columbia/Sony) and G Flip’s “Bed on Fire” (up 48-33, a new peak, via AWAL).

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Docs

Film festivals are supposed to be about cinema.
They are not. There are so many types of people you meet at Raindance

They are about caffeine, social anxiety, tote bags, existential collapse, and people pretending they “absolutely loved the pacing.”

After thirty-plus years of standing in festival foyers, here are the seven species guaranteed to appear at every independent film festival on earth.

1. The Lanyard Maximalist

This person has:

  • three phones
  • four tote bags
  • six colour-coded passes
  • absolutely no idea where their next screening is

Walks quickly everywhere.
Always late.
Looks important.

May simply be searching for coffee.

2. The Accidental Auteur

They made a short film “for fun.” Now it’s screening internationally.

They have not slept in four days and are emotionally unprepared for strangers discussing their sound mix.

Every sentence begins with:
“We actually shot it in my cousin’s garage…”

3. The Human IMDb Page

Film festivals are supposed to be about cinema.
They are not. There are so many types of people you meet at Raindance

Knows:

  • every cinematographer
  • every sales agent
  • every Romanian New Wave director
  • who almost directed Jaws (1975)

Cannot remember your name three seconds after hearing it.

4. The Networking Predator

Appears suddenly beside you holding warm white wine.

Opens with:
“So… what projects are you developing?”

Disappears instantly when you admit you are between projects and mainly here for the free tote bag.

5. The Queue Philosopher

Has seen seventeen films in two days.

Now speaking exclusively in exhausted cinematic metaphors:
“The queue is the festival.”
“The popcorn represents capitalism.”
“The third act of the sandwich collapsed.”

Dangerously dehydrated.

6. The Volunteer Who Runs Everything

Twenty-two years old.

Actually controls the entire festival.

Can solve:

  • projection disasters
  • missing guests
  • broken microphones
  • audience riots
  • lost filmmakers

Without them the whole event collapses by lunchtime.

7. The Person Who Secretly Changes Their Life

Quiet.
Watching carefully.
Sits through Q&As.
Talks to strangers.
Takes notes.

Arrives thinking:
“I’d love to make films someday.”

Leaves thinking:
“No. I’m doing this.”

And honestly?
That is who film festivals are really for.

Check out more Raindance

Nobody is coming to discover you. Build your filmmaking career with Raindance now.

  • Experience fearless cinema, bold storytelling, and unforgettable discoveries at Raindance Film Festival June 17-26, 2026

Browse the schedule

  • .Support scholarships, bursaries, and socially impactful filmmaking through charitable giving today.

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  • Join a global independent film movement championing originality, risk-taking, and authentic voices.

Become a Member

  • Launch your filmmaking career with practical training designed for real-world industry survival. Stop talking about filmmaking. Take a course and make something before next Monday arrives.

Write. Produce. Direct. Film courses

Stop scrolling endlessly. Meet filmmakers, collaborators, financiers, audiences, and future partners at Raindance.

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Film festivals are supposed to be about

Global

There are new questions about what happened just moments before a massive fire destroyed a long-term care home under construction on Penticton, B.C.’s Green Avenue last week.

While the cause is being investigated, Global News has obtained photos of a person on the construction site just minutes before flames erupted and the fire department was called.

One photo shows the person approaching the frame of a window while another picture appears to show the person jumping out of it.

Sources tell Global News that RCMP were called to the site for a possible trespassing complaint with the responding officer noticing flames soon after arriving.

RCMP have not yet confirmed the trespassing call.

According to the City of Kelowna, RCMP have now taken over the investigation.

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“The fire department is working in collaboration with the RCMP, but the RCMP is now in charge of the investigation from here on out,” said Kristen Dixon, general manager of infrastructure and deputy city manager for the City of Penticton.

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Late Wednesday, the city rescinded its local state of emergency and evacuation order for 10 properties.

“I came down right away,” said Brenda van Ingen, one of the evacuees. “So relieved.”


Click to play video: 'Fire guts Penticton care home under construction'


Fire guts Penticton care home under construction


The fire destroyed one home, while several others sustained some fire and smoke damage.

It also scorched part of a crane on the site, potentially compromising its structural integrity, which prompted a handful of homes in its vicinity to be evacuated.

“It was difficult to get the inspection completed for the crane but the engineer was able to do that inspection and complete it yesterday and confirmed that it is stable, to allow the area to be deemed safe to return,” Dixon said.


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Van Ingen’s home is one of the properties deemed to be at risk if the crane fell.

She’s feeling grateful not only to have returned home but to one that’s still standing.

“Thank goodness. It could have been so much worse,” van Ingen said.

The fire department said flying embers caused six additional fires in the neighbourhood, one of them in the cedar hedge between her house and the neighbouring property.

“Apparently it was in full flame and obviously the firemen got in here, otherwise Norm’s house would have been gone, my shed and it would have probably been my house too,” she said.


Click to play video: 'Penticton encampment fire raises new concerns'


Penticton encampment fire raises new concerns


&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Trending

“It’s weird not having a phone, isn’t it?” said Phoebe Bridgers to the 18,000-or so strong audience who’d willingly had their devices locked up for Thursday night’s special acoustic concert at Madison Square Garden. “I love it. I appreciate you allowing this to be an internet-free zone.”

She added with a smile, “And if any of you stuck an Apple Watch up your ass to record this, please don’t post it on the internet — I’m trusting you.”

The rules for this concert — the first phone-free arena show we’ve ever attended, and possibly the biggest ever — were posted in a sternly worded statement on Madison Square Garden’s website when this $1-per-ticket benefit for the Community Justice Exchange’s Immigration Bond Freedom Fund (which provides bail money for ICE detainees), sponsored by the Tidal streaming service, was announced on Monday.  

“Device Free Show,” it read. “Per the artist’s request, no recording devices will be allowed at this event, including but not limited to the items listed below: No cellphones No cameras No tablets No laptops No smart watches No bluetooth enabled headphones. Upon arrival, small devices will be secured in Yondr pouches that will be unlocked at the end of the event. Guests will maintain possession of their Yondr pouches throughout the night, and if needed, may access their devices at designated Yondr unlocking stations in the lobby. We appreciate your cooperation in creating a device-free viewing experience.”

Reporters covering the show were told that pens, pencils and paper were not allowed either, apparently because inaccurate lyrics and song titles were being posted on the internet.

Similar rules were in place for the dozen-odd shows Bridgers had played leading up to this one, but they were all in club-sized venues in third-tier markets like Fargo, North Dakota and Huntington, West Virginia — and suddenly they were trying to do it at Madison Square Garden.

Precious and/or obnoxious as it all may sound — not to mention logistically challenging — she and the venue pulled it off remarkably smoothly. The lines to pouch the phones were long but moved efficiently, and the extremely polite staffers wrote your section, row and seat numbers onto custom tickets before pouching your phone, and simply asked if you were carrying any of the other contraband (although security were scanning the audience with handheld telescope devices throughout the show).

And as the show began, the objective almost seemed to be less about preventing premature publicity for the many unreleased songs that Bridgers performed than evoking a long-gone era that most of the audience never experienced: a time when an artist could road-test new material without it being available to millions within seconds, and audience members could see a concert without having their view obscured or completely blocked by multiple people taking video they probably never will watch.

More importantly, that intimacy extended to the show itself. Bridgers performed on a small circular stage set up to look like a 1970s rec room. She and guitarist Christian Lee Hutson sat on a couch covered by a cheesy patterned knit blanket, with lamps on either side, as well as a boxy old TV, black-light posters, a lava lamp and candles. Live video of the performance (and occasionally the TV) was broadcast onto the scoreboard screen hanging from the middle of the arena ceiling, but the picture was intentionally grainy, like an old television broadcast. Keyboardist Nick White was the only other musician; the only percussion was an occasional bass drum that Hutson operated with his foot. The set’s vibe was very “Stranger Things,” an impression amplified when, during the show’s more intense moments, the lamps flickered like Vecna was approaching.

In an unplanned throwback to that earlier era, at one point during a particularly emotional song, a hundred or so audience members across the arena held up cigarette lighters instead of phones.

Bridgers, accompanying herself on a succession of acoustic guitars and a Mellotron keyboard placed in front of the couch, opened with fan favorites “Motion Sickness,” “Waiting Room,” Kyoto” and “Moon Song.” But most audience members knew a heaping batch of long-awaited new songs was coming — Bridgers’ first new material since the Boygenius album in 2023.

She reeled off seven new tracks in a row, which journalists were politely asked not to reveal much about. Several are of a piece with her previous work, with her trademark melodies, whip-smart wordplay and emotional vulnerability; at least one seemed to be about a painful breakup. Yet a few explore new territory: She introduced one as “a country song” that found her adopting the style and cadences of the genre with impressive ease; another featured a menacing and intense finale with her voice soaring to the top of its range.

She talked to the audience often, asking if they had “defective parents” and spoke about how her late father (with whom she had a troubled relationship) managed to transcend his conservative upbringing. She thanked Tidal for sponsoring the show and “paying artists more than any other platform.” She announced that she’ll be touring this fall — with dates coming on Friday morning. And although she twice referenced the fact that she was performing in the home of the city’s beloved New York Knicks, an audience member didn’t shout “Let’s go Knicks!” until the end of the show.

But most poignantly, she thanked the crowd for supporting the cause that the show benefits: “I fucking hate ICE agents.”

And in a surprise, she added “a song we’ve never played before” toward the set’s end — “So if I fuck it up, don’t tell anyone.” We won’t reveal lyrics, but there were references that made the New York audience cheer.

Bridgers closed by thanking the musicians, the sound and lights guys and her guitar tech — all by name — and encouraged the audience to sing along and get their screaming out on the closer, “I Know the End.” At the song’s frantic finale, she got off the couch and walked to the front of the stage, banging her head for the evening’s only big rock moment — a cathartic way to close an otherwise low-key show that asked a lot of her audience.

And for all the corny comments one could make about What Really Matters when experiencing art in the Instagram age, it was a welcome change to enjoy a show without trying to impress the internet. Bridgers’ MSG set was a new peak in a year that has seen artists like Justin Bieber and Olivia Rodrigo play such fan-centic shows where not only phones but journalists aren’t officially allowed, and now that Bridgers has pulled it off at Madison Square Garden, it’s likely to be adopted by many more.

Indeed, our only regret after this ambitious concert is that we didn’t invent cell-phone pouches years ago…

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“It’s weird not having a phone, isn’t

Tech

Canada, a global hub for artificial intelligence research and home to some pioneers of the technology, on Thursday announced plans to position itself as a leader among middle powers vying to build sovereign A.I. capability.

These plans, unveiled as part of the country’s national A.I. strategy, commit to injecting millions of dollars into research facilities; to introducing relevant privacy and consumer protection legislation; to building a public A.I. supercomputer; and to creating free programs to learn A.I.

When it comes to tech policy, Canada has tended to ride the tailwinds of the United States. But amid continuing political and trade tensions, the United States is notably absent from Canada’s vision for its A.I. future.

“Prosperity and sovereignty in the age of A.I. belong to nations that can build, adopt and govern A.I. on their own terms,” Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Thursday from a downtown Toronto hospital that is leading health technology innovations.

Canada has reoriented itself to align with like-minded middle powers such as Australia, France and Germany in its A.I. ambitions, just as it has done with its military, trade and energy infrastructure projects.

“Canadian A.I. adoption will be prudent, pragmatic and pro-worker,” Mr. Carney said.

Still, he emphasized that the conversation with the United States was not adversarial, and that companies based there would continue to play an important role in Canada’s technology ecosystem. Mr. Carney pointed to the example of Anthropic, which has granted the Canadian government access to its latest A.I. model, Mythos. The company has said the model is so powerful that it is too dangerous to release publicly.

Public-safety threats spurred by the use of A.I. chatbots have become a worry for Canadians after a mass shooting in February at a school in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, that killed eight people.

Eight months before the attack, the shooter’s account with OpenAI had been flagged internally for content that violated the company’s policy and was suspended. Though there was discussion within the company about raising these concerns with Canadian law enforcement, this did not happen. Open AI has since apologized and revisited its policies for elevating safety concerns.

The government plans to advance legislation focused on protecting children’s information and on safeguarding personal privacy rights against “deepfakes” and surveillance pricing, the practice of adjusting the prices people see based on personal data about them.

Canada also wants to mirror the approach it has taken with defense sovereignty — procuring locally and building domestic capacity before shopping elsewhere — with its digital sovereignty.

Mr. Carney emphasized that other core Canadian values, like the French language, its Indigenous heritage and its history, particularly as the training ground of three “godfathers” of A.I. — Geoffrey Hinton, Yoshua Bengio and Richard Sutton — will be reinforced in the government’s shaping of the technology’s uses. The computer scientists are known for their breakthroughs in laying the mathematical and theoretical groundwork for modern A.I.

The government has set an ambitious target to create 250,000 jobs in the A.I. space in the next five years. The goal is likely to face major hurdles because of Canada’s perennial “brain drain” problem, in which the country trains highly skilled workers who then depart, usually for the United States, in search of lower taxes, higher wages and more opportunity.

“Canada helped make modern A.I. possible, and Canadians should be proud of that,” Aidan Gomez, chief executive of Cohere, a Canadian A.I. company, said in a statement.

“Canada has seen too many big ideas grow elsewhere,” Mr. Gomez added. “A.I. should be where that changes.”

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Canada, a global hub for artificial intelligence

Video

After hitting major film stardom in the ’80s, Michelle Pfeiffer was a very rare presence on television screens — unless you count sitting in the audience for her Oscar nominations or a very occasional guest shot like playing herself on The Muppets or a brief voice-over on The Simpsons. She didn’t surface at all on the small screen until 2017, when she got her first Emmy nomination for playing Ruth Madoff opposite Robert De Niro in The Wizard of Lies. Then we saw her as Betty Ford in The First Lady in 2022.

Suddenly Pfeiffer seems to be everywhere this season with a leading role in Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount+ drama The Madison, for which she already has completed shooting a second season, and in a supporting role opposite Elle Fanning in Apple TV’s Margo’s Got Money Troubles, which marks the first major collaboration she has done with her husband David E. Kelley. There is Emmy buzz for both shows, and Pfeiffer has won raves.

She joins me for this episode of my Deadline video series The Actor’s Side to talk about both of these shows, the reasons she decided to jump into TV in such a big way this year and much more. With a filmography that includes Scarface, The Witches of Eastwick, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Batman Returns, Dangerous Liaisons, Married to the Mob and many others, there also is much to talk about in her extraordinary career. That includes Tequila Sunrise, in which she co-starred with Kurt Russell, who is now reunited with her on The Madison. It also includes a recent dive into the Marvel universe with a role in Ant-Man, an experience she is not afraid to give an opinion about. And then there’s her Catwoman role in Batman Returns, which she says was “like a dream come true.”

To watch our conversation and to get the “actor’s side” of things from Michelle Pfeiffer, just click on the link above.

Join me every Tuesday and Thursday this season for a new episode of The Actor’s Side and every Monday and Friday for a new Behind the Lens.

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Entertaintment

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount-Miramax’s reboot Scary Movie as of right now is having the first laugh (and ultimately the last) at the box office, and big, with an estimated $7.5M in previews that began at 2PM today. Meanwhile, Amazon MGM Studios’ $170M production of Mattel and Escape Artists’ Masters of the Universe is eyeing around $4M. That Travis Knight directed take of the 1980s toys and cartoon series began its showtimes at 2PM today as well.

But the Wayans Brothers and Rick Alvarez’s Scary Movie, yikes, that’s a big preview number for a comedy, up there in the echelon of Paramount/Dimension’s Scream 7 ($7.8M previews, $63.6M record opening for franchise) and higher than 2020’s Bad Boys for Life ($62.5M) and 2024’s Bad Boys: Ride or Die ($5.875M previews, $56.5M opening); all of ’em R-rated comps. The Michael Tiddes directed, Anna Faris-Regina Hall-Marlon and Shawn Wayans $30M starring ensemble was originally expected to do $40M-$45M stateside. Critics don’t get the movie at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences so far seem to be laughing more at 68%.

Masters of the Universe‘s preview cash is just under 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife ($4.5M, $44M opening) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire ($4.7M, $45M), all of ’em PG-13 family pics based on 1980s franchises. Note the real audience for this Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Jared Leto and Alison Brie feature will come out on Saturday. Early scores not so bad for the revamped IP at 71% certified fresh with critics and 89% with audience, much better than another expensive 1980s update, Disney’s Tron: Ares which was powered down by critics at 52% Rotten, but better with audiences at 83%.

As we told you, Fathom Entertainment and Glitch Productions’ The Amazing Digital Circus is shaping up to do around $6.8M in its first full day at the B.O. today ahead of A24’s Backrooms, which could upset Masters of the Universe for No. 2. this weekend with a $32M-$37M second frame. We’ll see.

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EXCLUSIVE: Paramount-Miramax’s reboot Scary Movie as of

Entertaintment

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I wagering requirements costituiscono l’aspetto più critico e spesso frainteso dei bonus casino. Glorion Casino, come molti altri, propone promozioni di benvenuto e bonus periodici. La nostra analisi operativa si focalizza nel interpretare e analizzare i termini applicati. Un requisito di scommessa 40x comporta che l’importo del bonus (e a volte anche il deposito) debba essere giocato nuovamente 40 volte cosicché i fondi possano diventare prelevabili. È essenziale accertare quale percentuale di ogni puntata partecipa a raggiungere questo requisito. Di frequente le slot partecipano per il 100%, mentre giochi come blackjack o roulette contribuiscono per una percentuale minima o nulla. Un casino trasparente elenca chiaramente questi coefficienti di contribuzione per ogni tipologia di gioco. La nostra valutazione considera se i requisiti sono concorrenziali e ragionevoli nel mercato. Considera anche se sono esposti in modo evidente, non nascosti in note a piè di pagina. Questo permette al giocatore di calcolare in modo realistico lo sforzo indispensabile per trasformare il bonus in denaro reale.

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Per offrire un quadro effettivo alla nostra valutazione, paragoniamo gli parametri indicati da Glorion Casino con le più elevate consuetudini del settore. Il panorama globale, e il mercato italiano in particolare, è estremamente competitivo. Gli gestori principali hanno aumentato progressivamente l’livello in termini di sicurezza, equità e trasparenza. Verifichiamo dunque se Glorion Casino si conforma a questi parametri. L’uso di criptatura SSL 256-bit è ad oggi un prerequisito minimo, non un extra. La omologazione dei RNG da lato di enti di primo piano è anche questa uno parametro atteso. Un operatore può differenziarsi nella ampiezza delle politiche di gioco sicuro, nella linearità modello dei clausole di bonus e nella dinamicità del servizio giocatori. Un diverso elemento di raffronto è la selezione e la considerazione dei sviluppatori software ospitati. Collaboratori come Microgaming, Playtech o Evolution Gaming garantiscono la sicurezza della propria esperienza di equità omologata. Glorion Casino deve dimostrare di non trovarsi solo conforme con le regole, ma di adottare l’etica che orienta i top del settore.

4. Systémy di Numeri Casuali (RNG) e Correttezza dei Giochi

Il centro tecnico dell’imparzialità in un casino online è il Generatore di Numeri Casuali (RNG). Si tratta di un software avanzato che stabilisce l’esito di ogni giro di roulette, ogni sequenza di simboli sulle slot, ogni carta data. Un RNG approvato assicura che ogni risultato sia del tutto casuale, imprevedibile e non influenzabile, né dal casino né dal giocatore. Glorion Casino dichiara di utilizzare RNG soggetti a test e approvazioni regolari da parte di laboratori autonomi. Questi audit esaminano il corretto funzionamento dell’sistema e che la diffusione dei risultati sia statisticamente in conformità con il rendimento teorico al giocatore (RTP) dichiarato per ogni titolo. Per i giocatori, omologazioni concesse da istituzioni come eCOGRA, iTech Labs o Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) sono un marchio di garanzia. Indica che un soggetto obiettivo ha esaminato il codice e validato che il gioco è giusto. Questa apertura è indispensabile per creare fiducia, soprattutto in un ambiente virtuale dove non si vede concretamente lo shuffle delle carte o il rotolo della pallina.

4.1. Revisioni Indipendenti e Approvazioni Pubbliche

Le dichiarazioni di un fornitore devono essere corroborate da prove accertabili. I casino online più affidabili rendono noto palesemente i report di omologazione e i risultati dei test di equità eseguiti da istituzioni terzi. Cercate queste informazioni nelle sezioni specifiche alla fairness o “Info” del sito di Glorion Casino. Un report di audit esaustivo contiene di norma la giorno dell’ultimo test, il titolo del laboratorio, i giochi particolari testati e il RTP controllato per ogni singolo. Alcuni enti, come eCOGRA, assegnano un “bollino” di autorizzazione che i casino possono esporre. La disponibilità e la semplicità di visione a questi certificati sono un evidente indicatore della chiarezza dell’operatore. Inoltre, i giochi dei provider software più celebri – NetEnt, Play’n GO, Pragmatic Play, Evolution Gaming – sono già esposti a stringenti test di approvazione prima della pubblicazione internazionale. Questo aggiunge un ulteriore grado di affidabilità ai titoli presenti nella lobby di Glorion Casino.

5. Politica sul Gioco Responsabile

Un casino serio riconosce che la sicurezza del giocatore comprende anche il benessere individuale. Una normativa per il gioco sicuro robusta e ben attuata è il marchio di un operatore etico. Glorion Casino dovrebbe mettere a disposizione, e noi ne controlliamo l’esistenza, un insieme di mezzi tangibili. Queste funzionalità consentono agli utenti di mantenere il controllo sulla propria attività di gioco. Non sono semplici suggerimenti, ma meccanismi attivi che il cliente può configurare nel proprio account. La loro utilità concreta è un elemento fondamentale della nostra analisi. Un metodo preventivo al gioco sicuro dimostra che il casino vede i clienti come soggetti, non soltanto come https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flutter_Entertainment fonti di guadagno. Vuol dire che l’operatore si assume la responsabilità sociale di promuovere un intrattenimento sicuro e responsabile.

  • Depositi Limite: L’opzione di impostare un tetto massimo di versamento su base giornaliera, settimanale o mensile.
  • Blocco Volontario: Opzioni per concedersi un periodo di pausa (time-out) o per iniziare un’blocco definitivo dalla sito.
  • Monitoraggio della Realtà: Caratteristiche che mostrano il tempo trascorso a giocare e lo cronologia delle scommesse, supportando il giocatore a restare consapevole.
  • Link a Organizzazioni di Supporto: Rimandi diretti a associazioni competenti come Gamblers Anonymous o servizi di consulenza nazionale, per chi percepisca l’esigenza di assistenza esterna.

1. L’Importanza Fondamentale della Protezione e dell’Imparzialità

Sicurezza ed equità non rappresentano un optional per un casino online. Costituiscono il fondamento che reggere la rapporto di credibilità con il cliente. In assenza di un impianto di protezione solido, dati sensibili e fondi sono soggetti a rischi concreti. In assenza di un sistema di equità accreditato e trasparente, l’integrità del gioco si compromette. Un fornitore responsabile investe in via prioritaria in queste aree, dal momento che da esse discende la sua medesima autorità. Riferendosi al contesto italiano, consolidato e regolamentato, Glorion Casino deve seguire requisiti legali stringenti e idealmente andare oltre. La presente analisi si basa da un principio: questi aspetti sono indissolubili. Un ambiente protetto salvaguarda il cliente dall’ambiente esterno. Un contesto equo salvaguarda il utente all’interno del sistema di gioco. Insieme, generano lo contesto appropriato per un divertimento responsabile.

7. Supporto Clienti e Soluzione delle Controversie

Persino nella piattaforma più affidabile ed equa potrebbero presentarsi domande o problemi. La rapidità e la professionalità del servizio di supporto clienti rappresentano una prova cruciale per la serietà di un operatore. Glorion Casino fornisce diversi canali di contatto: live chat, email e, in alcuni casi, telefono. Valutiamo non solo la disponibilità di questi canali, ma anche i tempi di risposta, la competenza degli operatori e la loro capacità di risolvere questioni complesse. Questioni relative a transazioni finanziarie o verifiche account, per esempio. Un supporto reattivo e utile costituisce un elemento di sicurezza, perché fornisce al giocatore un punto di riferimento affidabile in caso di difficoltà. Inoltre, nel caso remoto di una disputa irrisolta, è importante che il casino ricorra a un organismo di risoluzione delle controversie indipendente. L’ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) previsto dalle licenze europee, ad esempio. La disponibilità di questa via di ricorso esterna e imparziale integra la protezione del giocatore. Gli assicura che i suoi diritti saranno tutelati anche in scenari estremi.

Terzo punto: Permessi e Regolazione: Le Basi della Legittimità

La licenza di gioco è il documento più importante per un casino online. Non si tratta di un semplice permesso amministrativo. È la prova che l’operatore è sotto il supervisione continua di un’autorità di regolamentazione ufficiale. Glorion Casino agisce con una licenza emessa da un organismo regolatore. Questo punto è fondamentale per i giocatori italiani, perché offre la garanzia il rispetto delle leggi locali sul gioco. Una licenza affidabile, come quelle emesse dall’AAMS (Amministrazione Autonoma dei Monopoli di Stato) per l’Italia o da autorità come Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) o Curacao eGaming, prevede obblighi precisi all’operatore. Tra questi obblighi troviamo:

  • La divisione dei fondi dei giocatori dal capitale operativo del casino. Questo assicura il pagamento delle vincite anche in caso di crisi finanziaria della società.
  • Audit finanziari periodici per verificare la stabilità dell’operatore.
  • Il dovere di offrire strumenti per il gioco responsabile e di intervenire in caso di condotte a rischio.
  • La disponibilità di un canale di risoluzione delle controversie terzo a cui i giocatori possono rivolgersi.

Una licenza vigente e in regola è quindi il fondamentale, indispensabile, segnale di sicurezza e serietà.

9) Consigli Utili per il Giocatore

Sulla scorta della nostra indagine, suggeriamo alcuni consigli utili. Qualsiasi giocatore può seguirli per testare personalmente e migliorare la propria sicurezza su portali come Glorion Casino. Simili misure trasformano l’utente da elemento passivo a parte informata dell’ecosistema di intrattenimento.

  1. Verifica della Licenza: Cerca sempre il logo della licenza regulatoria (AAMS, MGA, Curacao) nel piè di pagina del sito. Premilo e verifica che il link porti al registro pubblico dell’autorità, dove puoi controllare lo stato della licenza di Glorion Casino.
  2. Esaminare i Termini del Bonus: Prima di accettare qualsiasi offerta promozionale, dedicati 10 minuti a leggere i requisiti di scommessa, i giochi ammessi, i limiti di puntata e le scadenze. Annota dei coefficienti di contribuzione.
  3. Testare il Supporto: Prima di depositare, mettiti in contatto con il servizio clienti con una domanda non banale (ad esempio sulle politiche di prelievo o sul RTP di una slot specifica). Giudica la tempestività e la qualità della risposta come indicatore dell’affidabilità futura.
  4. Impiegare gli Strumenti di Controllo: Imposta fin da subito, anche se non pensi di averne bisogno, un limite di deposito settimanale moderato. Consideralo come un budget di intrattenimento che non intendi superare.
  5. Ispezionare i Certificati di Equità: Cerca nella sezione “Sicurezza” o “Fair Play” del sito i link o i sigilli di eCOGRA, iTech Labs o GLI. Clicca su di essi per visualizzare i rapporti di certificazione pubblici.

La nostra analisi di Glorion Casino indica che la piattaforma poggia su fondamenta tecniche e normative essenziali per operare in un mercato normato come il italiano. La criptatura moderna, l’conformità alle regole sulla protezione dei dati, la esistenza di una licenza e l’uso di RNG accreditati rappresentano il quadro minimo di affidabilità e correttezza che ci si attende da un gestore serio. La distinzione la determinano gli fattori di apertura gestionale: la nitidezza dei termini di gioco, l’consultabilità degli audit indipendenti, la consistenza degli mezzi per il intrattenimento consapevole e l’efficienza del servizio clienti. Glorion Casino dimostra di possedere dei prerequisiti di partenza. Spetta poi al utente applicare i nostri raccomandazioni pratici per accertarne l’comportamento concreto e compiere valutazioni ponderate. Questo perfeziona il processo virtuoso della credibilità e della protezione online.

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Movies

I always experience a bit of chronological confusion about “Girl, Interrupted.” Susanna Kaysen published her memoir in 1993, and it was made into a movie in 1999 — a super-melodramatic version starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie — so it often feels to me like an emblem of the ’90s. When I call to mind its bleak portrait of the McLean psychiatric hospital, I think of that decade’s awful fondness for so-called “heroin chic”: chain-smoking girl-women, their shoulders bony in spaghetti-strap tank-tops.

But neither book nor movie was actually set in the ’90s. Kaysen was looking back from a distance, remembering an 18-month-long institutionalization that began in 1967, when she was still a teenager. The long-in-development musical adaptation of Kaysen’s autobiography — written by Martyna Majok, with songs by Aimee Mann — reorients us to the ’60s, avoiding the film’s feel-bad glamour and copying (with intermittent success) the memoir’s anthropological dispassion.

The young women in “Girl, Interrupted,” which opened on Thursday at the Public Theater, wear their hair in bouffant flips and feel themselves missing out on the Summer of Love, which they mostly watch on TV. Susanna (Juliana Canfield) is frustrated by her caretakers’ insistence that she won’t be able to have a writing career. The psychiatrists are meant to be treating her suicidal thoughts, but any time she tells them that she’ll work as she chooses, they take her will to live as evidence of madness.

There’s plenty of mental disorganization among the patients, but they’re being destabilized by the shift in generations too. The furious Lisa (King Princess) — Jolie won an Oscar for this role — might have anger and drug issues, but the doctors are pathologizing rebellion in a revolutionary time. The hospital resolves the dissonance with over-medication. The young women drift in a Thorazine haze, still under their parents’ faraway thumbs as the last vestiges of the ’50s fall away.

Kaysen’s memoir, impressionistically episodic in structure, resisted being made into a movie; the director James Mangold and the other screenwriters jettisoned her cool, evaluative tone and added an escape plot to turn it into something commercial. But even when adapters treat her memoir more faithfully, it fights like hell against them.

How do you musicalize this material? Mann’s richly detailed, piano-based songs, while themselves beautiful, seem shaped for a song cycle rather than for a narrative. You can certainly listen to them on her gorgeous 2021 album, “Queens of the Summer Hotel,” where they’re more at home than when being sung by actors playing characters.

Turning the book’s documentary-style observation into metaphorical lyrics can also have some ugly side effects. This is especially the case with the musical’s treatment of Polly (Sally Shaw), a girl on Susanna’s ward who has been hospitalized for setting fire to herself. Susanna describes Polly’s caul of scar tissue, which is thickest around her neck. “I think the gasoline had settled in her collarbones,” Susanna says, both in the book and Majok’s script. That matter-of-fact sentence is one of the most frightening I’ve ever read. So, in the show, when Polly sings in a Joni Mitchell warble that “I know the secrets that live in fire / I saw the promise that flames inspire,” I recoiled. The poetry works on an album, but on a stage, I did not want Polly’s horror to rhyme prettily, not at all.

In the director Jo Bonney’s production, events take place in a subterranean nowhere; even after characters depart (or die), they lurk in the background. The main stage feature, provided by the set design cooperative dots, is a huge verdigris-blue cylinder, which flies up and down, like a massive piston.

Sometimes this curved surface is a wall at the Frick museum, where Susanna sees Vermeer’s “Girl Interrupted at Her Music,” which enthralls her. The Dutch girl in the painting looks out at the viewer, as if, Susanna says, “She’d looked up from her work to warn me.” The fact that Susanna is at the Frick because her teacher (Manoel Felciano) has taken her there to seduce her is part of the musical’s argument that her illness is a symptom of male predation.

Canfield, with her gorgeous, husky alto, plays Susanna with the same blankness that Kaysen evinces on the page. Her air of ultra-reserve seems intentional. But trying to approximate Kaysen’s reportorial chill makes her onstage avatar theatrically inert. One moment Susanna is irritated that a doctor has diagnosed her for sexist reasons; another she seems to agree, reluctantly, that she’s in need of medical care. Neither option much moves her.

What is moving here, even in a murky production with too much stillness at its center, is the assembled talents — from Kaysen to Majok to Mann — all dedicated to describing a group of girls in a hospital nearly 60 years ago. Some didn’t survive, many of them weren’t cured, a few might not have even been sick. But at least, for a while, they do interrupt our lives. We pause, together, to remember them.

Girl, Interrupted
Through July 12 at the Public Theater, Manhattan; publictheater.org. Running time: 1 hour 50 minutes.

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Latest News

SAG-AFTRA members have ratified a four-year contract with the major studios, which includes new provisions on synthetic actors and a merger of the union’s two pension funds.

Of those who cast ballots, 91.4% voted in favor of the contract and 8.6% were opposed. Turnout was 19.3% of eligible members.

The contract allows producers to use AI performers only if they bring “significant additional value” compared to a live actor or that actor’s digital avatar. The union has argued that the language — coupled with an arbitration provision — will limit the use of AI replicas to a handful of edge cases.

“We feel very confident what we’ve been able to achieve here is in the vanguard of what any industry wants to achieve,” said Sean Astin, the union’s president, in an interview last month.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s executive director, said in a statement on Thursday that the deal builds on gains made during the 2023 actors’ strike, which included a provision allowing actors’ AI replicas to be used only with their consent and with payment. He noted that the deal improves on residual terms and will “ensure synthetics remain the exception in our industry instead of the rule.”

“Most importantly, this agreement positions our members to shape the future of this business while protecting the value of human performance and creativity,” Crabtree-Ireland said.

But some within the union have warned that the studios will face little constraint in using AI performers, and have argued for tighter restrictions. The union will also get notice and an opportunity to bargain in case studios begin using synthetic actors, but will not be in a position to call a strike over the issue until 2030.

Given the pace of change in AI, some have argued that agreeing to a four-year term — instead of the typical three — would be a mistake. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have made getting a longer period of “labor peace” its top priority in all union negotiations this cycle, as the studios are keen to avoid a repeat of the 2023 strikes.

The union’s national board previously voted 89% in favor of the deal, with a handful objecting to the merger of the SAG-Producers Pension Plan and the AFTRA Retirement Fund. The funds have remained separate since the merger of the two unions 14 years ago, amid concerns from SAG participants about a perceived bailout of the AFTRA plan.

The contract includes an extra 1% contribution from the studios into the combined pension plans, and union leaders have argued that the arrangement will leave participants in both plans better off.

Peter Antico, a former candidate for secretary-treasurer, has led opposition to the pension merger, which still requires agreement from other employers who contribute. In a LinkedIn post, he described the merger as a “recipe for disaster.”

Similar concerns were raised about the merger of the SAG and AFTRA health plans in 2017, which was followed by a significant curtailment in benefits a few years later. Union leaders have argued that the two cases are not alike, and that the actuarial projections on the pension merger make it clear that the merged plan will be stable well into the future.

In keeping with custom, the AMPTP congratulated SAG-AFTRA on ratifying the deal.

“This agreement delivers meaningful improvements in wages, pension and health benefits, streaming residuals, and performer protections,” the studio group said. “SAG-AFTRA’s leadership brought a genuine commitment to partnership, and together with the WGA agreement, these deals demonstrate what is possible when the industry works toward practical solutions that support its long-term stability. We look forward to building on that momentum.”

The AMPTP remains in talks with the Directors Guild of America, which has a contract set to expire on June 30. The key issues in that negotiation are jobs, AI and health care.

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SAG-AFTRA members have ratified a four-year contract

MCU

Spider-Man: Brand New Day isn’t lacking in the interesting hero department, including one with superpowers that are no stranger to the MCU so far. Peter Parker is going to undergo a transformation in his fourth solo movie that will see him unlock organic webs, as well as a few other enhanced abilities. Meanwhile, Bruce Banner is back in the fold and ready to let loose once again, and Frank Castle’s crusade continues on the big screen. However, despite all of that firepower, Spider-Man, Punisher, and Hulk aren’t the talk of the town heading into the summer, especially after the trailer teased a mystery mind-bender.

All eyes are on the MCU debut for Stranger Things star Sadie Sink’s character, who only briefly appears in Brand New Day‘s lone trailer with her face obscured, despite grabbing third billing in the cast. She looks to be making dangerous moves behind the scenes, utilizing mind control powers to stage a Scorpion prison break that will cause big problems for Spidey. For the time being, Marvel Studios is keeping Sink’s character a closely guarded secret, but the Internet may have beaten Marvel Studios to the punch in revealing her identity, because rumors claim that she’s none other than Jean Grey, one of the original X-Men. 

Sony PIctures

While Jean’s telekinesis gets all the love because she can throw a mean fastball, telepathy is her true calling card. She can bend people to her will by controlling their minds, which typically means forcing evildoers to walk a different path. There seems to be some of that going on in Brand New Day‘s trailer, with members of the Department of Damage Control and an elderly lady handing the keys to their brains over to a mysterious figure. The mind-bending mutant is expected to spend much of Brand New Day in Damage Control’s crosshairs. But between being the usually heroic Jean Grey and possibly freeing the villainous Scorpion from prison, it’s tough to tell whether she will be friend or foe to Spider-Man.

The Direct Image
Sony Pictures

If Jean is the one behind everything, as reports have strongly indicated, she’ll join an impressive list of MCU mind-controllers…

MCU Characters Who Can Control Minds

Scarlet Witch

Scarlet Witch using her magic in WandaVision.
Marvel Television

In the comics, Wanda Maximoff is a mutant, just like Jean. The MCU took the character in another direction, using the Mind Stone to unlock dormant powers within her. Wanda wasted no time influencing people, giving Tony Stark nightmares about threats in space and unleashing the Hulk on Johannesburg, South Africa.

Fighting with the Avengers helped Wanda learn that with great mind-control power came great responsibility. Unfortunately, Vision’s death was too much for her to bear, so she went against her better judgment and took control of Westview, New Jersey, and the people who lived there.

Professor X

Professor X using his mind reading powers in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Marvel Studios

After leaving Westview behind, Wanda searched throughout the entire multiverse for a reality where her children were alive. She found one in Earth-838, which was protected by the Illuminati, a group of heroes led by Professor Charles Xavier. While the version of the mutant that appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness wasn’t the same one from Fox’s franchise, he was every bit as powerful as his variant.

Professor X attempted to enter Scarlet Witch’s mind when she arrived at the Illuminati’s headquarters and started wreaking havoc. The multiverse’s most experienced telepath didn’t last long, as he was overwhelmed by the ferocity of his opponent.

Cassandra Nova

Cassandra Nova holding up her finger in Deadpool & Wolverine.
Marvel Studios

No version of Professor X spent much time talking about his family. He had bigger fish to fry, since the world was always facing world-ending threats. But giving his oldest student, Logan, a heads-up about his deranged sister would’ve done a lot of good.

Logan ran into Xavier’s sibling, Cassandra Nova, who was pruned by the Time Variance Authority early in her life, in the Void while traveling with Wade Wilson in Deadpool & Wolverine. She easily entered the minds of the titular characters and forced many others to do her bidding. And she would have done more damage if she hadn’t died trying to destroy the multiverse.

Mantis

Mantis looking shocked in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Marvel Studios

Peter Quill and his friends didn’t get along well with Mantis when they first met her in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. She didn’t understand boundaries, using her powers to unearth people’s emotions and deepest secrets. Drax, especially, thought Mantis was useless, but she proved him wrong before the credits rolled on Vol. 2.
It turned out Mantis couldn’t only read people but also influence them. When the Guardians teamed up with Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange on Titan in Avengers: Infinity War, Mantis put Thanos to sleep, allowing her allies to get ahold of the Infinity Gauntlet for a brief second. Unfortunately, Peter losing his cool turned Mantis’ win into a loss.

Druig

Druig looking angry in Eternals.
Marvel Studios

The Celestials created the Eternals for the sole purpose of birthing more Celestials by protecting planets that housed seeds within them. For millennia, the plan went off without a hitch. But humanity changed everything, as the Celestials that called Earth home grew to love the people they were protecting.

Not everyone loved in the same way, though. Druig, who could control minds, decided to brainwash a group of humans and create his own utopia, away from all the war and heartbreak. His fellow Eternals made him see the error of his ways eventually, but he got the most out of his powers.

Ego

Ego holding his hand up to Peter Quill's face in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Marvel Studios

Like the Eternals, the Celestials also have their black sheep. Ego spread seedlings all over the galaxy and fathered countless children, including Mantis and Peter. His goal was to use his kids to unlock his seedlings and spread his consciousness across the galaxy.

Ego realized his plan was a tough sell, though, so he used his mind manipulation powers to force Peter to play along. Learning the truth about his mother’s death allowed Peter to break free from the spell and fight back against his dear old dad.

Bonus: Loki With Scepter

Loki holding his scepter in The Avengers.
Marvel Studios

Loki didn’t show the ability to control minds when he made his MCU debut in Thor. Well, between appearances, he got an upgrade, courtesy of the Mad Titan, who gifted him a scepter that allowed him to control anyone he touched with it. In the opening moments of The Avengers, the God of Mischief brought Erik Selvig and Clint Barton over to his side.

It took a serious blow to the head for Hawkeye to wake up out of the trance, and Selvig didn’t get away unscathed, either. Avengers: Age of Ultron shed more light on the situation, revealing that Loki had been in possession of the Mind Stone.

Bonus: Kilgrave

Kilgrave hovering over Jessica Jones.
Marvel Television

Kilgrave’s status in the MCU is up in the air. He tormented Jessica Jones for multiple seasons on Netflix, pushing the hero so far that she was left with no choice but to kill him. However, Jessica hasn’t had a chance to address her past in the MCU proper, meaning the powers that be could still alter events.

If Daredevil: Born Again treats Jessica Jones‘ canon the same way it does Daredevil‘s, then Kilgrave qualifies for this list. His power of persuasion was among the most potent in Marvel history, as he could make characters with very strong wills do whatever he pleased. 

Bonus: The Leader

The Leader wearing a hoodie in Captain America: Brave New World.
Marvel Studios

No villain in the MCU had to wait as long for their big moment as Samuel Sterns. In The Incredible Hulk, he was exposed to gamma-radiated blood, and his brain mutated into something unrecognizable. Sterns spent the next two decades helping Thaddeus Ross out. However, he eventually got tired of his arrangement.

Captain America: Brave New World saw Sterns step out of the shadows and unleash technology that allowed him to control minds. Isaiah Bradley ended up on the wrong side of it and nearly killed Ross, the President of the United States.

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Canada’s online gaming scene just received a significant new player https://betalice-login.com/. Betalice Casino has just launched a dedicated mobile platform designed exclusively for phones and tablets. This is more than a tweaked website; it’s a native app crafted for Canadian users. The launch aims to set a new bar for how fast and smooth a casino can perform in your hand, satisfying the demand for high-quality gaming everywhere.

Insight to Betalice Casino’s Canadian Market Entry

Betalice Casino isn’t coming Canada with a one-size-fits-all approach. The brand was developed with a mobile-first mindset. The company understands most players now use their phones, so it made that channel its top priority from day one. The platform arrives with a hand-picked game library, payment methods Canadians actually use, and customer support on local time. This focus reflects a real understanding of what the market desires, setting the bar for what mobile gaming can be.

The timing is right. As provincial regulations evolve, players have more options and demand better quality. Betalice demonstrates its commitment by launching a proprietary mobile app beside its website. This two-pronged approach makes the casino available while delivering the superior performance only a native app can provide. It’s a definitive play for players who care as much about smooth technology as they care about a long game list.

Game Selection: A Curated Selection for Mobile Gaming

Betalice Casino’s game library is not merely a pile of every available title. It’s a carefully chosen collection chosen for how well it functions on a mobile device. Collaborations with top software providers assure every slot, table game, and live dealer title operates perfectly. You’ll come across a good mix of enduring staples and the latest video slots, all with touch-screen controls that work naturally. The categories and search are optimized for a smaller screen, so finding something new is straightforward.

The team paid extra attention to game mechanics that suit touchscreens. This involves swipe controls for slot reels, clearly touchable betting areas on virtual blackjack and roulette, and optimized video poker controls. The end product is a library that seems like it is native on your device, not like a stripped-down version of something else. This concentration on curation ensures quality over raw quantity, so every game in the portfolio meets a high standard.

Security, Regulation, and Player Protection on Smartphone

To operate in Canada, Betalice Casino possesses a reputable gaming license from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. All components of its operation, such as the mobile app, undergoes regular audits. The app itself is a safe shell. Data moves with SSL encryption, and no private information is saved on your device. This multi-level security safeguards both your money and your identity.

Responsible gaming tools are baked into the mobile experience. You won’t have to dig through a website footer. These tools are a few taps away in the main app menu. Players can configure deposit, loss, and wager limits, arrange time-outs, or begin a self-exclusion right from their phone. Links to groups like the Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) are also provided, so help is always within reach. Creating safety for mobile first underscores the platform’s focus on player well-being.

Customized Bonuses and Promotions for Canadian Users

To commemorate its Canadian launch, Betalice Casino has designed its welcome offer and ongoing promotions around mobile habits. The welcome package activates in stages, nudging players to explore different parts of the new platform. Importantly, many ongoing promos are optimized for mobile use. Consider daily login bonuses you get from a push notification, or slot tournaments with live leaderboards on your phone screen.

  • A multi-tiered welcome bonus that includes free spins for popular mobile slots.
  • A “Mobile Mission” challenge where players collect rewards for sampling different game types on the app.
  • Exclusive cashback on live dealer games played via mobile, which consume more data.
  • Push notifications for flash sales and time-limited offers, so you don’t fall behind.

This promotional plan demonstrates Betalice gets that mobile players interact differently. The offers are easy to claim and use right inside the app, without messy opt-in steps or bonus codes that are a pain to type on a phone.

Exploring the Key Features of the Updated Mobile Platform

The core of Betalice’s fresh product is its custom mobile app, prepared for iOS and Android. The app is designed for speed, with markedly faster load times and seamless menu navigation. The interface employs intuitive gestures, cutting clutter and placing important features like the cashier and game library right where your thumb can find them. This ergonomic thinking removes frustration and lets players concentrate on the games.

The platform also leverages smart personalization. It identifies what you like over time to suggest games and promotions, shaping the experience around you. Stability was an additional key goal. The app holds a steady connection and saves your game state even if your network drops, a crucial detail for users across Canada’s wide-open spaces. Together, these features create a reliable and enjoyable ecosystem.

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Seamless Account Management and Security

Overseeing your casino account on a phone must be easy and utterly secure. Betalice’s app offers biometric logins like fingerprint and face recognition for access that’s simultaneously instant and safe. Every financial transaction uses bank-level encryption. You can make quick deposits and withdrawals with retained, tokenized payment methods. Players can also configure deposit limits, session reminders, and review their transaction history with a few taps, maintaining essential responsible gaming tools directly in their pocket.

Enhanced Gameplay and Live Dealer Integration

This is where the mobile work genuinely pays off. Games employ adaptive technology to render sharp and run smoothly on any screen size or resolution. For the live casino section, a major focus, the app offers a near-flawless stream with very little delay. Features like a multi-table view for live games and customizable betting interfaces are integrated right in. For the first time, the mobile live dealer experience can truly compete with playing on a desktop.

User Experience: Menu and Performance Findings

The user experience on Betalice’s mobile platform is sleek and fast. Menu uses a hub-and-spoke model. You can dive into a section like the cashier or a specific game provider, then navigate to the home screen with one steady back action. Transitions are seamless and serve a purpose, giving feedback without causing lag. In testing, games loaded far more rapidly than on typical mobile-optimized sites, a key detail that encourages people playing.

  1. Getting Started:
  2. Primary Browsing:
  3. In-Game Menus:
  4. Performance Consistency:

This meticulous work on the user journey means both newcomers and veterans can move through the platform with confidence. The technology gets out of the way and lets the entertainment shine.

What This Signifies for the Future of Mobile Gaming in Canada

Betalice Casino’s strategic launch alters the landscape for Canadian gamblers. It shifts the goalposts, implying that a native app, not just a responsive website, is the sign of a top-tier experience. This will likely drive other providers to speed up their own app development or run the risk of looking behind the times. The concentration on curated content and personalization also hints at a shift where caliber and relevance become more important than offering the most games.

Apart from that, the successful integration of a full casino experience—live dealers, strong safety tools, and all—into a pocket-sized design shows it can be accomplished without taking corners. We anticipate this to accelerate the transition from desktop to mobile as the main way people gamble. Betalice’s arrival isn’t just another alternative. It’s a trigger that will motivate the whole Canadian iGaming market to innovate and improve.

Kasyno Gaminator: Darmowe Monety(Free Coins) & Free Spins

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Canada's online gaming scene just received a

DCU

Amidst a slew of new blockbuster movies and highly anticipated sequels, A24 delivered another critically acclaimed hit in Backrooms, directed by Kane Parsons and written by Will Soodik. Released in theaters in the U.S. on May 29, the story follows a struggling alcoholic furniture store owner named Clark, who discovers a hidden portal in his warehouse leading to the “Backrooms,” a vast alternate dimension of endless yellow rooms and maze-like spaces. Led by The Lion King and MCU star Chiwetel Ejiofor, Parsons’ new film quickly became a hit as he made his directorial debut.

Backrooms enjoyed an impressive opening weekend at the box office, grossing $81.5 million in the U.S. on only a $10 million budget, giving A24 its biggest opening weekend ever. Due to that success, the conversation quickly turned to whether Parsons’ movie could get a sequel, especially considering that Parsons has been working on the concepts delivered in the first movie since he was 16 years old. Now, the director seems to have set the record straight on whether this story could continue into new chapters.

Speaking on The Town with Matt Belloni podcast, Backrooms director Kane Parsons further addressed the possibility of making a sequel to his new movie. Asked whether he was looking for a writer, Parsons said he was “not sure where that got out” and explained that it “seems more like a hallucination.”


This seems to contradict a Deadline report from a couple of days prior, which noted that Parsons was actively working on a second Backrooms movie. The report specifically explained that Parsons was said to be searching for a screenwriting collaborator to help him develop the story for the next movie, which would guide audiences through his horrifying initial nightmare. However, even with these comments from Parsons, his story might not be over just yet.

The director previously revealed that he would love to continue this story in a TV series, calling that idea his “dream scenario.” He felt that this would be “the most practical way to narratively get what you want” from the story if it were to continue. Parsons has long felt that sequels were an option ever since he started his YouTube series in 2022, even thinking in the past that it would be “a much slower road to get to where things are now.” While the chances of Backrooms turning into more movies or a TV show are still very much on the table, unfortunately, it does not seem to be in the cards for the foreseeable future.

Backrooms is now playing in theaters worldwide.


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Release Date

May 27, 2026

Runtime

110 minutes

Director

Kane Parsons

Writers

Will Soodik

Producers

Chris Ferguson, Dan Cohen, Dan Levine, James Wan, Jenno Topping, Kori Adelson, Michael Clear, Osgood Perkins, Peter Chernin, Roberto Patino, Shawn Levy


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Amidst a slew of new blockbuster movies

Comics

Valve has provided an update on its Steam Machine and Steam Frame release schedule, insisting that the devices will release this summer.

Since their announcement late last year, Valve’s console-like PC box and VR headset became high-profile victims of the global component price surge, with the company confirming earlier this year this had delayed its announcement of pricing and release details.

Previously, both Steam Machine and Steam Frame had vague ‘2026’ release windows. However, on Thursday, Valve narrowed this to summer 2026 with the expansion of its Verified program, which will now incorporate the devices.

“Today we are expanding the Verified program to include Steam Machine and Steam Frame, both of which are shipping this summer,” it wrote.

“As with Steam Deck Verified, the goal is to help customers understand the out-of-box experience for a given title on these new devices, and how smoothly a game will run with no user work or configuration required.”

Valve said that games that already run well on the Steam Deck handheld will already run well on Steam Machine by default.

“Long story short: If your game already runs well on Deck, it will also run well on Machine with no extra work required from you. And if it doesn’t run great on Deck because of CPU or GPU performance, it may still run great on Machine.

“If you have games like this, you don’t have to take any action: We’re already testing every title on Machine that fell below our performance requirements on Deck.”

Steam Machine was announced in November with a 2026 launch window and no official pricing details. However, Valve said that, “if you build a PC from parts and get to basically the same level of performance, that’s the general price window that we aim to be at.”

It was once estimated that, based on the components inside Steam Machine, it could retail for around $700.

However, since its announcement, memory prices have increased significantly worldwide, with DRAM contract prices increasing by over 170% year-over-year.