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DCU

Summary

  • My Adventures with Superman season one introduces a plethora of DC characters, including Amanda Waller and Slade Wilson, hinting at even more superheroes to come.
  • The appearance of Vicki Vale and references to Queen Industries and Green Arrow suggest the existence of Batman and the Bat-Family in the show’s universe.
  • The latest episode reveals a Kryptonian vessel and Phantom Zone technology, implying that General Zod and his followers may already inhabit the My Adventures with Superman universe.


Warning! Contains SPOILERS for season one of My Adventures with Superman.

Who will show up in Metropolis next? Season one of My Adventures with Superman pits the Man of Steel (Jack Quaid) against Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad, which has exposed the animated series to a wealth of DC characters. Amanda Waller (Debra Wilson) and Slade Wilson (Chris Parnell) — among so many others — have shown up, as a result. And the arrival of reporter Vicki Vale is a teaser that indicates the existence of both Batman and Green Arrow. With each passing episode, the series drops more and more Easter Eggs and allusions that superheroes are just waiting to reveal themselves in this new animated universe.

The eighth episode titled Zero Day: Part One brings Vicki Vale into the mix as a guest editorial writer in Metropolis. She works for the Gotham Gazette, which is located in the city Bruce Wayne/Batman calls home. But Lois Lane (Alice Lee) also tells Perry White (Darrell Brown) how much she admires Vicki for her story about the Queen Industries inheritance. This alludes to the Green Arrow, aka Oliver Queen. That means the Bat-Family and the primary heroes associated with Green Arrow (Flash, Black Canary, Hal Jordan’s Green Lantern) are all out there — and available to aid Superman.

The latest episode, Zero Day: Part Two, goes even further. Imprisoned by The General (Joel de la Fuente), Superman is confronted with the reality that a Kryptonian vessel came to Earth. And it appears that the alien race was perpetrating an invasion using a portal exacting Phantom Zone technology. This is an indication that General Zod and all of his followers likely inhabit the My Adventures with Superman universe already.

Related: My Adventures With Superman: Why You Should Watch This Animated Series Before Superman: Legacy


DC Allusions in My Adventures with Superman

Warner Bros. Television Distribution

My Adventures with Superman co-developer Jake Wyatt already confirmed that season two has been greenlit. And in addition to Clark Kent/Superman’s core group of characters (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White), the animated series has been teasing fans all season long with Easter Eggs and allusions of DC characters who exist in the show’s universe off-screen — for the time being.

Mister Mxyzptlk’s arrival in episode seven, “Kiss Kiss Fall in Portal” gave fans of the source material reason to get even more excited. Mxyzptlk tricks Superman into helping him get his power-amplifying derby back, and during the theft a number of DC superheroes are alluded to through carefully placed Easter Eggs.

Doctor Fate’s helmet can be seen in one glass case, while a Legion of Super-Heroes Flight Ring is encased in yet another. First, Doctor Fate is a prominent member of the Justice Society of America (JSA), which opens the door for Alan Scott’s Green Lantern, Stargirl, Hawkman, Spectre, Sandman and Jay Garrick’s Flash to walk through.

Second, the Legion’s Flight Ring means the heroes of the 31st century like Supergirl, Mon-El, Superboy, Lightning Lad, Brainiac 5, Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy are somewhere in time, but some member(s) definitely visited the My Adventures with Superman universe.

Finally, there’s Monsieur Mallah’s (André Sogliuzzo) appearance in the sixth episode, “My Adventures with Mad Scientist.” And while the super-gifted gorilla isn’t a threat to Clark in the end, Mallah’s mere existence posits both the Teen Titans and the Doom Patrol. In fact, a reference in an earlier episode was made with regard to the Titans’ leader, Nightwing. A road sign reading “Blüdhaven” is clearly visible, and that’s the city Batman’s first partner operates out of.

So, while My Adventures with Superman focuses the crux of its storytelling on the core trio of Clark, Lois and Jimmy, there’s a whole world of DC treasures out there yet to be discovered. And the showrunners aren’t trying to hide their Easter Eggs, or muddy their allusions. No, the possibilities are endless as season one comes to a close and season two waits in the wings. Check out the trailer for season one below:

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Summary My Adventures with Superman

Comics

Labor Day weekend doesn’t hit until next week, but we’re already seeing a few pre-holiday sales. Solo Stove fire pits are up to 40 percent off and if you order this weekend, your new pit should arrive in time for the holiday. Microsoft has discounted its Xbox wireless controllers and some gaming laptops from Acer and Razer are also getting 40 percent discounts. Bundles that include a Sony Bravia XR TV and a PS5 console are between $450 and $1,050 off and the three-quart Instant Pot Duo is down to $60. For your audio needs, the new Beats Studio Pro headphones are $100 off while Google’s Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139. And if you’ve got your eye on Apples’s new 15-inch MacBook Air, this might be a good time to buy as it has dropped back down to $1,099. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still get today.

Solo Stove Labor Day sale

Solo Stove

Bonfire 2.0

Solo Stove’s medium smokeless fire pit is 40 percent off for Labor Day.

Solo Stove is having a Labor Day sale from now through the holiday weekend that will take up to 40 percent off single items and 50 percent off of some bundles. The sale includes the company’s most popular fire pit, the Bonfire 2.0, which also happens to be one of our favorite pieces of outdoor equipment for fall. It’s down to $240 which is a 40 percent discount. The Bonfire falls in the middle of Solo Stove’s range, measuring around 19-inches across and weighing 23 pounds. The real selling point for these backyard buddies is the recirculating design that re-burns the smoke so less of it gets in your eyes. The Backyard Bonfire Bundle 2.0, which adds extras like a carrying case, lid and shield, is usually $840 but down to $425 during the sale. The smaller Ranger and ultra big Yukon are also discounted, by $100 and $310, respectively.

Apple 15-inch MacBook Air M2

Apple 2023 MacBook Air Laptop with M2 chip

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Different configurations of Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air are $200 off at Amazon, B&H Photo and Best Buy. That makes the 8GB RAM/256GB SSD model $1,099 and the 8GB/512GB model $1,299. Note that the discount applies to only the Midnight colorway at Best Buy and B&H, but all colors appear to be on sale at Amazon. A version with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage is $100 off at B&H Photo.  

The new Air impressed Engadget’s Nathan Ingraham during his review. It’s still super thin and portable, but the extra screen real estate is able to make the most of the M2 chip’s processing power. The keyboard and trackpad are comfortable and the battery life lasted even longer than the promised 18 hours in Nate’s rundown tests. 

Xbox Wireless Controller

Xbox Wireless Controller

Photo by Aaron Souppouris / Engadget

Xbox Wireless Controller

While not an all-time low, this is still a lower-than-usual price for Microsoft’s stock Xbox Series X/S controller. Note that this deal applies to the white, black and red models; additional colorways are available for $5 more. 

The standard Xbox Wireless Controller is down to $44 at Amazon and Walmart right now. That’s the lowest price its gone for since last year’s Black Friday sales, when it was $39. The discount applies to the controller in white, black or red. Other colorways are discounted too, but cost $5 more. The gamepads are compatible with the Series X and S consoles and offer a Bluetooth connection for PCs or mobile Android devices — you can also use it wired if you prefer. One hitch is its reliance on AA batteries, forcing you to buy a battery pack for $25 for the convenience of recharging.  

The Elite Series 2 controller is also on sale. It includes myriad ways to customize the controls including adjustable-tension, swappable thumbsticks, extra paddles and D-pads, wraparound rubberized grips and a charging dock. It’s down to $140 at Amazon or straight from Microsoft after a 22 percent discount, which is just a few dollars more than its all-time low. 

Razer, MSI and Acer gaming laptops

Acer Nitro 5 AN515-58-525P Gaming Laptop

acer

A bunch of Intel-powered gaming laptops are on sale right now at Amazon, including a few of our top picks from Acer and Razer. One call-out is the Acer Nitro 5, which is down to $640 instead of $800 and the steepest discount we’ve seen on one of our top budget gaming laptops. This configuration has a 12th-gen Intel Core i5-12500H CPU, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 graphics card and 8GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It supports WiFi 6 and has a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS display with a 144Hz refresh rate.

The Razer Blade 15, which is our favorite premium gaming laptop, is also on sale. A 33 percent discount brings the rather spendy $3,000 machine down to a more palatable $2,000. This version comes with a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti GPU, it has 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. Best of all it weighs just 4.4 pounds which is pretty lightweight for a high-powered gaming laptop.  

Google Pixel Buds Pro

Google Pixel Buds Pro

Photo by Billy Steele / Engadget

Google Pixel Buds Pro

We declared these Google’s best earbuds yet and right now they’re down to $139 at Amazon. 

Google’s Pixel Buds Pro are down to $139 at Amazon, which matches the Prime Day price they hit back in July. We named these the best wireless earbuds for Android users in our guide because they deliver deep punchy bass, great active noise cancelation and have responsive touch controls. The case gives you wireless charging abilities and the buds themselves are rated IPX4, which means they can handle a splash of water or a sweaty workout and keep churning out the music.  

Apple iPad (10th generation)

Apple iPad (10th Generation)

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Apple iPad (10th Generation)

The 10-generation Apple iPad is currently $50 off at Amazon in the pink colorway, and in all four hues at Best Buy. 

Apple’s standard iPad with WiFi connectivity and 64GB of storage is back down to $399 at Amazon and Best Buy, which is a $50 discount and the lowest price it’s sold for yet. All four colors are available from Best Buy, but Amazon currently only has it in pink. We’ve seen this sale come and go a few times now, so you my want to grab it before it pops back up to full price. 

We gave the tablet a score of 85 in our review thanks to the sleek modern design with thinner bezels and flatter edges. It now has a USB-C port, unlike the previous gen iPad, and Apple wisely gave it a landscape-oriented front camera. It uses the A14 Bionic chip, which isn’t Apple’s latest M-series, in-house silicon, but was powerful enough to handle a moderate workload of word processing, email, messaging apps and photo editing. The battery is also impressive, lasting for 11 hours and 45 minutes in our video run-down test.

Sony HT-A7000 Soundbar

Sony HT-A7000

Sony

Sony’s HT-A700 is down to $998 at Amazon, which is nearly a 30 percent discount off its $1,400 MSRP, though it often dips down to $1,198. This is the best premium pick in our guide because it’s a robust soundbar with Dolby Atmos and immersive 7.1.2 audio. You can use Chromecast, Spotify Connect or Apple AirPlay 2 to send music to the A700 and dual HDMI eARC ports let you connect gaming consoles or streaming boxes, which can pass along 8K and 4K at 120Hz video to your screen. While it doesn’t have a separate subwoofer, it does have one built in. And should you decide you’d like the fullness of separate speakers, Sony sells plenty of options that connect seamlessly. 

Sony 65-inch 4K X90L Series with PS5

Sony 65 Inch 4K Ultra HD TV X90L Series with Playstation 5 Console

Sony

Amazon is offering a bundle of a 65-inch Sony X90L 4K TV plus a PlayStation 5 console for $1,548. The TV by itself usually goes for $1,500 (though is currently discounted to $1,198) and the PS5 has a list price of $500. In total, the savings amount to $450 off the list price, which is sort of like getting the console for $50 — but only if you were already in the market for a new TV. The larger sizes are also discounted, including the massive 85-inch screen plus console going for 27 percent off, a savings of $1,050. 

The X90L is part of the 2023 Bravia XR TV lineup and is the more affordable option of the bunch. It has a full-array LED panel, a built-in smart TV with Google TV, and a few PlayStation-specific features such as Auto HDR Tone Mapping and an Auto Genre Picture Mode. The PlayStation 5 is the all-digital version without a disc drive, which shouldn’t make much difference in your life if you typically download your games from the PlayStation store.  

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet

Amazon

Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet

Our favorite tablet for kids is currently 30 percent off. That’s not an all time low, and the slate will likely go on sale again for Amazon’s next Prime Day, but if your kid needs a new screen now, this might be a good time to buy. 

The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the best tablet you can get for a kid, according to our latest buyer’s guide on the topic. Right now, Amazon is selling it for 30 percent off the list price, although that’s $20 more than it sold for during Prime Day in July. The company just confirmed there will indeed be another such sale in October, and Fire devices are likely to get deep discounts again. Still, if you can’t wait to get your kid a new and reliable screen, you’ll save $60 right now. 

The Fire HD 10 Kids Pro is the fastest kid-focused tablet Amazon makes and grants parental controls via a dashboard on your phone. It comes with a free year of Amazon Kids+, which has games, audio books, shows and more that are all suitable for young ones. A protective case doubles as a stand and the device comes with a two-year warranty against breakage. 

Amazon eero 6+ mesh Wi-Fi system

Amazon eero 6+ mesh Wi-Fi system (4-pack)

eero

If you’re a Prime member and in the market for a new mesh WiFi system, you may want to check out Amazon’s deal on their Eero 6+ routers. The four-pack usually sells for $440 but the deal brings it down to $285. These operate on the new WiFi 6 standard which brings efficiency upgrades and typically improves connection speeds and these claim to support speeds up to a Gigabit. The set should cover a house up to 6,000 square feet and the routers can also function as smart home hubs for certain connected devices. 

Keep in mind that these don’t operate on the WiFi 6E standard, which opens up access to the 6Ghz band, which can make your connections better in densely populated areas. The Eero routers that support 6E aren’t currently on sale, but a three-pack of the TP-Link Deco AXE5400 routers, which happen to be the best 6E routers according to our testing, are down to $396 after a clickable $40 coupon. That deal comes as part of a larger TP-Link router sale.  

Beats Studio Pro headphones

Beats Studio Pro

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

Beats Studio Pro

The latest headphones from Beats are $100 off at multiple retailers.  

The Beats Studio Pro headphones debuted this July and are getting a first discount at Amazon, Target and Walmart, bringing the price down from $350 to $250, a sizable 29 percent discount. Engadget’s Billy Steele gave the set an 81 in his review, appreciating the updated design, useful transparency mode and solid voice pickup. The sound quality improved over the previous generation, with the addition of new 40mm drivers that can push out loud volume with little distortion. But even more impressive is the improvements to the overall balance, with ample, but not heavy-handed, bass and immersive clarity. They aren’t the most comfortable cans you can wear and the lack of an auto-pause feature when you take them off is a little disappointing.

Sony WH-CH520 wireless headphones

Sony WH-CH520 wireless headphones

Sony

If you’re looking for a recently released pair of headphones from a reputable brand for under $40, this is your chance to buy. Sony’s WH-CH520 are currently $38 after a 37 percent discount. This set debuted at the same time as the mid-range WH-CH720N and we mentioned them as a budget alternative in our review of those headphones. The WH-CH520s don’t have ANC, but they do have an impressive 50-hour battery life and include DSEE and multipoint connection. 

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Amazon

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max

Amazon’s fastest streaming device is on sale for just $2 more than it was during Prime Day, but this time, anyone — not just Prime members — can snag the deal. 

Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K Max has dropped down to $27, which is a 51 percent discount and just $2 more than it sold for during the company’s Prime Day sale in July. This is the speediest of the Fire TV dongles and supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos audio. The remote has Alexa built in, so you can use your voice to find your next show. The Fire TV interface is simple enough to use, though we notice it tends to favor Prime Video and related content. Our favorite streaming device and interface, however, happens to be Roku’s Streaming Stick 4K, which is $10 off right now, both at Amazon and directly from Roku. 

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 + $50 Amazon gift card

Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 (40mm) with an $50 Amazon gift card and Fabric Band

Samsung

Amazon is continuing the deal it offered during pre-orders of Samsung’s latest wearable, giving you a $50 gift card when you order the now-available Galaxy Watch 6. The watch on its own goes for $300, which is the same price as the bundle. Provided you plan to buy more stuff from Amazon, you could compare this to a $50 discount. The retailer is also throwing in a fabric watch band. Our video review dives into the improved health and fitness features of the watch, which are impressive, even if the Galaxy Watch 6 is a modest upgrade over its predecessor. 

Blink sale

Blink Video Doorbell

Blink

Blink Video Doorbell

Get the Blink Video Doorbell for 35 percent off as part of a larger Labor Day sale on the security brand’s devices. 

Blink devices are currently on sale at Amazon, with up to 40 percent off video doorbells, cameras and other security devices. The Blink Video Doorbell is down to $39 from its original $60. You can also save on a bundle that includes the doorbell and an indoor Blink Mini camera. The camera acts as a doorbell chime inside your house and supports two-way audio with whoever is at your door. The set is currently $64 instead of $95. If you only want the Blink Mini, you can grab one for just $25 after a 29 percent discount or go for a set of three for $64 instead of $100. The Blink Wired Floodlight is $60 which is 40 percent off its regular $100. It packs a 2600 lumen, motion-activated LED light and also shoots 1080p video and supports two-way audio and a siren feature.  

If you’d prefer to use Amazon’s other security brand for your porch-observation needs, the company is also hosting a sale on Ring devices, including 30 percent off the Ring Video Doorbell and 42 percent off the Ring Indoor Cam.

Instant Pot Duo (3-quart)

Instant Pot Duo (3-quart)

Instant Pot

Instant Pot Duo (3-quart)

While not an all-time low, this deal matches the best price we’ve seen in 2023 for this Instant Pot model that we recommend for individual use. 

The 3-quart Instant Pot Duo is on sale for $60, or $20 below its typical price at both Amazon and directly from the Instant Brands website. It’s not the lowest price the multi-cooker has sold for, but it’s is the best price we’ve seen this year. This is what we recommend in our Instant Pot buying guide for people who do a lot of cooking for one or simply have a smaller kitchen. The larger, 6-quart version is our overall pick, but that’s seeing a slimmer, 12 percent discount, making it $88, which is about average for its street price this year. 

Anker 622 Magnetic Battery

Anker 622 Magnetic Battery

Photo by Nicole Lee / Engadget

Anker 622 Magnetic Battery

Amazon is selling Anker’s MagSafe-compatible battery for $40 after a 29 percent discount and a clickable $10 coupon. 

The Anker 622 Magnetic Battery is back on sale for $40 at Amazon. That’s not its lowest price ever, but still about $10 less than its average price lately and a full $30 less than its list price. Just be sure to click the on-page coupon to get the full deal. The 5,000mAh charger snaps onto the back of a MagSafe iPhone and has a built-in kickstand to prop it up for viewing while you charge. The battery should give you about a 50 percent charge, depending on the size and age of your phone.  

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

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Labor Day weekend doesn't hit until next

Film

Jennie Gow, one of the star commentators in Drive to Survive is back at work this weekend, eight months after suffering a stroke deprived her of her speech.

Gow, who presents the BBC’s Formula One motor-racing coverage as well as appearing in the hit Netflix series, suffered a stroke at her home on December 29, triggered by a bad cough.

The Times of London reports that Gow spent New Year’s Eve in hospital unable to move or speak, while her family was told the stroke was “possibly fatal.”

But this weekend, she is back on duty, reporting on the Dutch Grand Prix, where the current world champion Max Verstappen will be competing in front of his home crowd.

Gow tells The Times her memory of experiencing the stroke remains hazy, and that she has had to re-learn how to pronounce words, after being given a whiteboard to write messages: “It was like a bad game of Christmas charades. Even now I’m having to learn words that aren’t common. Charades isn’t something we normally play.”

Gow was buoyed by a nurse who advised her to try getting angry and start shouting. “I thought I couldn’t do that,” she told the paper. “I definitely could have imagined myself not speaking for a lot longer, maybe months.”

She says now that speech is “slowly coming back to normal . . . some of the words still don’t come out.”

The paper reports that doctors explained Gow’s stroke had been caused by a rare occurrence, her carotid artery on the left side of her neck being torn because of her persistent coughing. They told her a blood clot flew up the damaged vessel and caused the stroke on the left side of her brain.

Of her return to the world of F1, she reveals: “You lose your confidence a lot. That’s one of those things about coming back from a stroke. It would definitely be easier to not try and do this. I feel like I had to.”

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Jennie Gow, one of the star commentators

TV

Gareth Richards died in a car crash in April of this year. Now he has been honoured at the Edinburgh Comedy Fringe Festival in Scotland, UK, becoming the first ever recipient of the Victoria Wood award.

The BBC reports that Richards, who had been appearing at the Fringe Festival since 2010, was due to perform again this year before he was killed in April. Instead, his friends Dan Ward and Mark Simmons staged  “A Show for Gareth Richards” in his name, recruiting some of the country’s biggest comedy names to perform.

The show raised almost £20,000 ($25,000) which will go to a trust fund for Richards’ two sons.

Ward told the BBC: “It feels really sensational to have won this award for Gareth.

“Victoria Wood was the queen of musical comedy, and Gareth was our legend.

“Gareth’s name will be forever associated with this award, and that just means everything.”

The Victoria Wood Foundation said: “A Show For Gareth is an extraordinary initiative by his fellow friends and comics Mark Simmons and Danny Ward and embraced by the comedy community and audiences alike.

“Victoria would have been part of it had she been here. We are delighted that this is the first of the Victoria Wood Awards and combines her spirit with that of the Fringe.”

Other recipients at this year’s Fringe Festival – the biggest of its kind in the UK – include Urooj Ashfaq, named best newcomer, and Ahir Shar, winning Sky Best Comedy Show at the third time of trying.

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Gareth Richards died in a car crash

What to Watch

Whenever “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift comes on, after she does her little monologue about why she’ll never get back together with the man in the song, it’s almost obligatory to yell “like ever” as sassily as you can. During the Eras Tour, after the singer laments about this guy one of her dancers pops up and says the iconic last line “LIKE EVER” with so much sass, and it’s iconic. Well, now that the tour has gone global, they’ve made a small change to this moment in the show, and it’s such a fun way for the singer and her dancers to show their love for the country they’re in – which in this case was Mexico.

While Taylor Swift did make a few comments in Spanish while addressing the crowd in Mexico City, my favorite moment of appreciation for the country came when she and her dancer Kameron Saunders were performing “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Instead of saying “like ever,” Saunders said “nunca” with gusto on the Eras Tour stage, which translates to “never.” It was the perfect little nod to Mexico, and you can see it for yourself in a fan’s TikTok of the moment:

@michellelartigue
♬ original sound – Michelle Lartigue

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Whenever “We Are Never Ever Getting Back

Awards

Lauren Sánchez was honored at This is About Humanity’s 5th annual fundraising soirée on Saturday, where she gave a special shout-out to fiancé Jeff Bezos during her speech.

This is About Humanity is an organization dedicated to raising awareness and support for separated and reunified families at the U.S.-Mexico border, and the group toasted Sánchez after she donated over $1 million to its cause. At the annual event, held at Henry Winkler’s house in Los Angeles (Winkler’s daughter Zoe Winkler Reinis is among the organization’s co-founders), Sánchez took the podium to “thank my family and Jeff for being here tonight, I really appreciate you — not as much though as I appreciate the tacos,” nodding to the elaborate Mexican-themed menu.

“I never thought I would be up here,” Sánchez admitted, recalling growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she would go with her grandmother to her two jobs of cleaning homes and working in a restaurant. She said she got lost in the school system, as she was dyslexic, but no one knew what that was at the time. She later got a job as an accountant, before quickly getting fired and going back to school, where her journalism teacher took notice of her.

“She encouraged me to write a story, assuring me that punctuation and spelling didn’t matter. Despite my insecurities, I poured my heart into that essay. After reading it, my teacher uttered the words that would change my life forever; she said, ‘You’re not dumb, you just can’t spell,’” Sánchez continued. “It was at that point I was tested for dyslexia and everything changed. The doors that once seemed shut flung wide open.”

She noted that it took just “one person who believed in me and I learned how to believe in myself. This is the essence of what This is About Humanity is all about, just treating people with love, compassion and humanity and giving them a crucial step up.” Sánchez ended with another acknowledgment to Bezos, saying, “And Jeff, I just wanted to say thank you for inspiring me to go out into the world and make a difference.”

The event also featured a starry turnout that included Winkler, Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Eva Longoria, Brian Grazer, Leslie Grossman, D-Arcy Carden, Jordana Brewster, Kimora Lee Simmons, Rachel Zoe and David Foster and Katherine McPhee Foster. Longoria, a longtime friend to Sánchez, presented her with her honor, acknowledging, “I’m so blown away by the woman that Lauren is.”

“You choose hope over convenience, you choose others over time on yourself,” Longoria said of the honoree. “Lauren does things without any desire to be recognized but isn’t it amazing that we can, we can say thank you tonight for being the woman that you are and showing us what giving back with purpose looks like.”

Winkler closed out the night by thanking guests for attending and leading a call for donations, with Grazer and Jenner each pledging $50,000. And in noting that all donations would be matched by the Bezos family, Winkler joked, “I’d like to be adopted!”

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Lauren Sánchez was honored at This is

Music

Your weekly horoscope is here. Catch those full moon beams midweek by going with the flow, while adding discipline to your mystic pursuits and creative goals. Sensitivity is heightened, so structure or formalize a path to your dreams, rather than just dreaming about them. Think group, a mentor, daily checklist, and a roadmap. In moments of solitude do a ‘vibe check’ to mindfully connect with yourself and your subtle environment; remember, where your attention goes, energy flows.

Read on to discover your weekly horoscope and what’s in store for your sign during the week of August 27 through September 2, 2023.

Aries

Your ruling planet, Mars, is all about direct action, and it’s energizing your relationship sector through to October 11. So don’t be surprised if your closest get all up in your grill; maybe it’s time to share driving duties. A dynamic duo may be the best use of this team effort energy. Keep active to let off extra steam. Wednesday’s full moon in your zone of dreams suggests you listen to your inner voice and note meaningful symbols. Creating a schedule or structure around rest, sleep, or creative practice is beneficial, and so is embracing your ‘me’ time. Slow the pace rather than speed through your day. Make this week about mindfulness and simplicity.

Taurus

The build-up to a full moon midweek is all about your social life, groups, memberships, and friends. Since this is where the action is, note who shows up and what desire or type of connection you’re aiming for, running from, or otherwise wanting, needing, or experiencing. It may be time to commit, take on responsibility, or set a boundary with friends or peers. Generally, themes are around empathy, arts, spirituality, and perhaps a feeling you can’t quite pin down: a longing, nostalgia? Pay special attention and go with what the Luna beams reveal. Balance this zone with your personal dating, creativity, or leisure interests, as they don’t always mesh with friends or trends.

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Your weekly horoscope is here. Catch those

Docs

As South Asians increasingly make their mark on the world film and TV stage, an initiative to find emerging talent from the region and propel them globally is being launched.

South Asian Rising Stars is an initiative from U.A.E.-based Action Consultancy, a celebrity talent agency managing a large roster of South Asian talent from the film and television industry for international projects. The program aims to “recognize and elevate exceptional individuals from the South Asian film and television sphere onto the global stage.”

The initiative will have two separate chapters for India and Pakistan. Each chapter of the inaugural talent spotlight edition will shortlist six individuals (a mix of actors, directors and producers) who have regional work in films or television to their credit and are in need of that final push towards their first international breakthrough. All actors, directors and producers with at least one project to their credit in their home country can apply.

Hamid Hussain, CEO of Action Consultancy who has co-founded the program along with Muhammad Yaqoob, said: “South Asia has a huge talent pool that has been underutilized and underrepresented in international film and TV projects. Over the years I have realized there are two reasons behind this, first being no proper representation and guidance available for South Asian talent from the film and television industry internationally and second being the lack of awareness about this talent pool in the international market and concerns amongst international producers regarding obtaining visas due to which there seems to be a bias towards talent holding American, British, Canadian or similar nationalities.”

The initiative will also be used as a tool to create awareness about this talent pool with international casting directors, producers and filmmakers and also to address their concerns over visas. Each shortlisted rising star from both the chapters will get an opportunity to interact with international industry experts. They will receive bespoke support programs for each individual’s professional development for the next one year after selection. This will include giving them agency representation for international projects, connecting them with key international decision makers and mentoring them on increasing their international profile and progressing their career aims.

The shortlisted South Asian Rising Stars will be revealed at an event on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival 2024.

There are no age restrictions for the program. A few high profile mentors have already been signed up. Further details will be revealed in October.

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As South Asians increasingly make their mark

Trending

Blake Lively joked that she and Gigi Hadid aren’t just besties but also coparents.

The model, 28, took to Instagram on Saturday, August 26, to pay tribute to Lively after her 36th birthday, which was one day prior.

“Pretty sure this pic is before her (our) baby number 1 but I just love it bc I still feel like the baby of the group,” Hadid captioned a throwback snap of a her and Lively, who had a prominent baby bump, via Instagram Story.

“Lots-o-angelbabies later, u are a magical friend and mamma — protective, warm, witty, thoughtful, talented, HOT!” she continued. “Ur made of all the good stuff like rainbow sprinkles and butter and bourbon whipped creme. And lobster salad. Lots of lobster salad.”

Hadid concluded: “Thank you for your light and example sister @blakelively. Wishing you the best year yet. ? u know ily!”

Lively shared the post, adding: “This was before baby #3 for me and #1 for you. ❤️ Coparenting with you whether you agree to raise my children or not is one of my life’s greatest joys. Love you, mama, sister, friend.”


Blake Lively and Gigi Hadid. Courtesy of Blake Lively/Instagram

Hadid shares Khai, 2, with ex Zayn Malik, who she dated from late 2015 to fall 2021. Meanwhile, Lively shares four children — daughters James, 8, Inez, 6, and Betty 3, and a fourth child whose name has not been revealed — with husband Ryan Reynolds, who she married in 2012.

While their friendship goes back years, Hadid has been particularly vocal on social media this summer as she supported Lively’s new business endeavor, Betty Booze canned cocktails, a spinoff of her Betty Buzz mixers.

Hadid commented, “U da best ?,” on Lively’s new Betty Booze promo with Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood, released on her birthday.

The Gossip Girl alum also promoted her nonalcoholic beverages earlier this month with a steamy swimsuit shots. Lively wore in a red bikini and a various visors in different photos to match her beverages — green for Sparkling Lemon Lime, yellow for Meyer Lemon Club Soda and red for Sparkling Grapefruit.

“Hotty mommyyyyy,” Hadid commented on the sexy snaps.

Hadid isn’t the only one who gushed over Lively on her big day. Reynolds, 46, also shared a surprisingly heartfelt tribute in lieu of his usual tongue-in-cheek post.

“The only thing irrevocably mine in the world is the love and appreciation and awe I feel for this person,” the Deadpool star captioned several photos of his wife. “Witnessing her life is something I couldn’t take for granted if I tried. And believe me, I try. Happy Birthday, @blakelively. You hung the damn moon.”

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Blake Lively joked that she and Gigi

Tech

It is powered into flight by a rocket engine. It can fly a distance equal to the width of China. It has a stealthy design and is capable of carrying missiles that can hit enemy targets far beyond its visual range.

But what really distinguishes the Air Force’s pilotless XQ-58A Valkyrie experimental aircraft is that it is run by artificial intelligence, putting it at the forefront of efforts by the U.S. military to harness the capacities of an emerging technology whose vast potential benefits are tempered by deep concerns about how much autonomy to grant to a lethal weapon.

Essentially a next-generation drone, the Valkyrie is a prototype for what the Air Force hopes can become a potent supplement to its fleet of traditional fighter jets, giving human pilots a swarm of highly capable robot wingmen to deploy in battle. Its mission is to marry artificial intelligence and its sensors to identify and evaluate enemy threats and then, after getting human sign-off, to move in for the kill.

On a recent day at Eglin Air Force Base on Florida’s Gulf Coast, Maj. Ross Elder, 34, a test pilot from West Virginia, was preparing for an exercise in which he would fly his F-16 fighter alongside the Valkyrie.

“It’s a very strange feeling,” Major Elder said, as other members of the Air Force team prepared to test the engine on the Valkyrie. “I’m flying off the wing of something that’s making its own decisions. And it’s not a human brain.”

The Valkyrie program provides a glimpse into how the U.S. weapons business, military culture, combat tactics and competition with rival nations are being reshaped in possibly far-reaching ways by rapid advances in technology.

The emergence of artificial intelligence is helping to spawn a new generation of Pentagon contractors who are seeking to undercut, or at least disrupt, the longstanding primacy of the handful of giant firms who supply the armed forces with planes, missiles, tanks and ships.

The possibility of building fleets of smart but relatively inexpensive weapons that could be deployed in large numbers is allowing Pentagon officials to think in new ways about taking on enemy forces.

It also is forcing them to confront questions about what role humans should play in conflicts waged with software that is written to kill, a question that is especially fraught for the United States given its record of errant strikes by conventional drones that inflict civilian casualties.

And gaining and maintaining an edge in artificial intelligence is one element of an increasingly open race with China for technological superiority in national security.

That is where the new generation of A.I. drones, known as collaborative combat aircraft, will come in. The Air Force is planning to build 1,000 to 2,000 of them for as little as $3 million apiece, or a fraction of the cost of an advanced fighter, which is why some at the Air Force call the program “affordable mass.”

There will be a range of specialized types of these robot aircraft. Some will focus on surveillance or resupply missions, others will fly in attack swarms and still others will serve as a “loyal wingman” to a human pilot.

The drones, for example, could fly in front of piloted combat aircraft, doing early, high-risk surveillance. They could also play a major role in disabling enemy air defenses, taking risks to knock out land-based missile targets that would be considered too dangerous for a human-piloted plane.

The A.I. — a more sophisticated version of the type of programming now best known for powering chat bots — would assemble and evaluate information from its sensors as it approaches enemy forces to identify other threats and high-value targets, asking the human pilot for authorization before launching any attack with its bombs or missiles.

The cheapest ones will be considered expendable, meaning they likely will only have one mission. The more sophisticated of these robot aircraft might cost as much as $25 million, according to an estimate by the House of Representatives, still far less than a piloted fighter jet.

“Is it a perfect answer? It is never a perfect answer when you look into the future,” said Maj. Gen. R. Scott Jobe, who until this summer was in charge of setting requirements for the air combat program, as the Air Force works to incorporate A.I. into its fighter jets and drones.

“But you can present potential adversaries with dilemmas — and one of those dilemmas is mass,” General Jobe said in an interview at the Pentagon, referring to the deployment of large numbers of drones against enemy forces. “You can bring mass to the battle space with potentially fewer people.”

The effort represents the beginning of a seismic shift in the way the Air Force buys some of its most important tools. After decades in which the Pentagon has focused on buying hardware built by traditional contractors like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, the emphasis is shifting to software that can enhance the capabilities of weapons systems, creating an opening for newer technology firms to grab pieces of the Pentagon’s vast procurement budget.

“Machines are actually drawing on the data and then creating their own outcomes,” said Brig. Gen. Dale White, the Pentagon official who has been in charge of the new acquisition program.

The Air Force realizes it must also confront deep concerns about military use of artificial intelligence, whether fear that the technology might turn against its human creators (like Skynet in the “Terminator” film series) or more immediate misgivings about allowing algorithms to guide the use of lethal force.

“You’re stepping over a moral line by outsourcing killing to machines — by allowing computer sensors rather than humans to take human life,” said Mary Wareham, the advocacy director of the arms division of Human Rights Watch, which is pushing for international limits on so-called lethally autonomous weapons.

A recently revised Pentagon policy on the use of artificial intelligence in weapons systems allows for the autonomous use of lethal force — but any particular plan to build or deploy such a weapon must first be reviewed and approved by a special military panel.

Asked if Air Force drones might eventually be able to conduct lethal strikes like this without explicit human sign-off on each attack, a Pentagon spokeswoman said in a statement to The New York Times that the question was too hypothetical to answer.

Any autonomous Air Force drone, the statement said, would have to be “designed to allow commanders and operators to exercise appropriate levels of human judgment over the use of force.”

Air Force officials said they fully understand that machines are not intelligent in the same way humans are. A.I. technology can also make mistakes — as has happened repeatedly in recent years with driverless cars — and machines have no built-in moral compass. The officials said they were considering those factors while building the system.

“It is an awesome responsibility,” said Col. Tucker Hamilton, the Air Force chief of A.I. Test and Operations, who also helps oversee the flight-test crews at Eglin Air Force Base, noting that “dystopian storytelling and pop culture has created a kind of frenzy” around artificial intelligence.

“We just need to get there methodically, deliberately, ethically — in baby steps,” he said.

The long, wood-paneled corridor in the Pentagon where the Air Force top brass have their offices is lined with portraits of a century’s worth of leaders, mixed with images of the flying machines that have given the United States global dominance in the air since World War II.

A common theme emerges from the images: the iconic role of the pilot.

Humans will continue to play a central role in the new vision for the Air Force, top Pentagon officials said, but they will increasingly be teamed with software engineers and machine learning experts, who will be constantly refining algorithms governing the operation of the robot wingmen that will fly alongside them.

Almost every aspect of Air Force operations will have to be revised to embrace this shift. It’s a task that through this summer had been largely been entrusted to Generals White and Jobe, whose partnership Air Force officers nicknamed the Dale and Frag Show (General Jobe’s call sign as a pilot is Frag).

The Pentagon, through its research divisions like DARPA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, has already spent several years building prototypes like the Valkyrie and the software that runs it. But the experiment is now graduating to a so-called program of record, meaning if Congress approves, substantial taxpayer dollars will be allocated to buying the vehicles: a total of $5.8 billion over the next five years, according to the Air Force plan.

Unlike F-35 fighter jets, which are delivered as a package by Lockheed Martin and its subcontractors, the Air Force is planning to split up the aircraft and the software as separate purchases.

Kratos, the builder of the Valkyrie, is already preparing to bid on any future contract, as are other major companies such as General Atomics, which for years has built attack drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Boeing, which has its own experimental autonomous fighter jet prototype, the MQ-28 Ghost Bat.

A separate set of software-first companies — tech start-ups such as Shield AI and Anduril that are funded by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital — are vying for the right to sell the Pentagon the artificial intelligence algorithms that will handle mission decisions.

The list of hurdles that must be cleared is long.

The Pentagon has a miserable record on building advanced software and trying to start its own artificial intelligence program. Over the years, it has cycled through various acronym-laden program offices that are created and then shut down with little to show.

There is constant turnover among leaders at the Pentagon, complicating efforts to keep moving ahead on schedule. General Jobe has already been assigned to a new role and General White soon will be.

The Pentagon also is going to need to disrupt the iron-fisted control that the major defense contractors have on the flow of military spending. As the structure of the Valkyrie program suggests, the military wants to do more to harness the expertise of a new generation of software companies to deliver key parts of the package, introducing more competition, entrepreneurial speed and creativity into what has long been a risk-averse and slow-moving system.

The most important job, at least until recently, rested with General Jobe, who first made a name for himself in the Air Force two decades ago when he helped devise a bombing strategy to knock out deeply buried bunkers in Iraq that held critical military communication switches.

He was asked to make key decisions setting the framework for how the A.I.-powered robot airplanes will be built. During a Pentagon interview, and at other recent events, Generals Jobe and White both said one clear imperative is that humans will remain the ultimate decision makers — not the robot drones, known as C.C.A.s, the acronym for collaborative combat aircraft.

“I’m not going to have this robot go out and just start shooting at things,” General Jobe said during a briefing with Pentagon reporters late last year.

He added that a human would always be deciding when and how to have an A.I.-enabled aircraft engage with an enemy and that developers are building a firewall around certain A.I. functions to limit what the devices will be able to do on their own.

“Think of it as just an extension to your weapons bay if you’re in an F-22, F-35 or whatnot,” he said.

Back in 1947, Chuck Yeager, then a young test pilot from Myra, W. Va., became the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound.

Seventy-six years later, another test pilot from West Virginia has become one of the first Air Force pilots to fly alongside an autonomous, A.I.-empowered combat drone.

Tall and lanky, with a slight Appalachian accent, Major Elder last month flew his F-15 Strike Eagle within 1,000 feet of the experimental XQ-58A Valkyrie — watching closely, like a parent running alongside a child learning how to ride a bike, as the drone flew on its own, reaching certain assigned speeds and altitudes.

The basic functional tests of the drone were just the lead-up to the real show, where the Valkyrie gets beyond using advanced autopilot tools and begins testing the war-fighting capabilities of its artificial intelligence. In a test slated for later this year, the combat drone will be asked to chase and then kill a simulated enemy target while out over the Gulf of Mexico, coming up with its own strategy for the mission.

During the current phase, the goal is to test the Valkyrie’s flight capacity and the A.I. software, so the aircraft is not carrying any weapons. The planned dogfight will be with a “constructed” enemy, although the A.I. agent onboard the Valkyrie will believe it is real.

Major Elder had no way to communicate directly with the autonomous drone at this early stage of development, so he had to watch very carefully as it set off on its mission.

“It wants to kill and survive,” Major Elder said of the training the drone has been given.

An unusual team of Air Force officers and civilians has been assembled at Eglin, which is one of the largest Air Force bases in the world. They include Capt. Rachel Price from Glendale, Az., who is wrapping up a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on computer deep learning, as well as Maj. Trent McMullen from Marietta, Ga., who has a master’s degree in machine learning from Stanford University.

One of the things Major Elder watches for is any discrepancies between simulations run by computer before the flight and the actions by the drone when it is actually in the air — a “sim to real” problem, they call it — or even more worrisome, any sign of “emergent behavior,” where the robot drone is acting in a potentially harmful way.

During test flights, Major Elder or the team manager in the Eglin Air Force Base control tower can power down the A.I. platform while keeping the basic autopilot on the Valkyrie running. So can Capt. Abraham Eaton of Gorham, Maine, who serves as a flight test engineer on the project and is charged with helping evaluate the drone’s performance.

“How do you grade an artificial intelligence agent?” he asked rhetorically. “Do you grade it on a human scale? Probably not, right?”

Real adversaries will likely try to fool the artificial intelligence, for example by creating a virtual camouflage for enemy planes or targets to make the robot believe it is seeing something else.

The initial version of the A.I. software is more “deterministic,” meaning it is largely following scripts that it has been trained with, based on computer simulations the Air Force has run millions of times as it builds the system. Eventually, the A.I. software will have to be able to perceive the world around it — and learn to understand these kinds of tricks and overcome them, skills that will require massive data collection to train the algorithms. The software will have to be heavily protected against hacking by an enemy.

The hardest part of this task, Major Elder and other pilots said, is the vital trust building that is such a central element of the bond between a pilot and wingman — their lives depend on each other, and how each of them react. It is a concern back at the Pentagon too.

“I need to know that those C.C.A.s are going to do what I expect them to do, because if they don’t, it could end badly for me,” General White said.

In early tests, the autonomous drones already have shown that they will act in unusual ways, with the Valkyrie in one case going into a series of rolls. At first, Major Elder thought something was off, but it turned out that the software had determined that its infrared sensors could get a clearer picture if it did continuous flips. The maneuver would have been like a stomach-turning roller coaster ride for a human pilot, but the team later concluded the drone had achieved a better outcome for the mission.

Air Force pilots have experience with learning to trust computer automation — like the collision avoidance systems that take over if a fighter jet is headed into the ground or set to collide with another aircraft — two of the leading causes of death among pilots.

The pilots were initially reluctant to go into the air with the system engaged, as it would allow computers to take control of the planes, several pilots said in interviews. As evidence grew that the system saved lives, it was broadly embraced. But learning to trust robot combat drones will be an even bigger hurdle, senior Air Force officials acknowledged.

Air Force officials used the word “trust” dozens of times in a series of interviews about the challenges they face in building acceptance among pilots. They have already started flying the prototype robot drones with test pilots nearby, so they can get this process started.

The Air Force has also begun a second test program called Project Venom that will put pilots in six F-16 fighter jets equipped with artificial intelligence software that will handle key mission decisions.

The goal, Pentagon officials said, is an Air Force that is more unpredictable and lethal, creating greater deterrence for any moves by China, and a less deadly fight, at least for the United States Air Force.

Officials estimate that it could take five to 10 years to develop a functioning A.I.-based system for air combat. Air Force commanders are pushing to accelerate the effort — but recognize that speed cannot be the only objective.

“We’re not going to be there right away, but we’re going to get there,” General Jobe said. “It’s advanced and getting better every day as you continue to train these algorithms.”

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EXCLUSIVE: With less than a week to go until the 80th Venice Film Festival kick-off, Deadline can reveal the international trailer for Italian director Edoardo De Angelis’s opening picture Comandante.

Top Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, who was on the awards circuit last year with Nostalgia, plays real-life WW2 submarine commander Salvatore Todaro.

The Italian naval officer and submariner earned himself a place in history for his decision to save 26 Belgian merchant seamen rather than leave them to perish after his submarine, the Cappellini, sunk their ship in the Atlantic in October 1940.

Under naval conventions, warships attacking merchant ships were supposed to ensure the safety of those on board, but there were no set rules for submarines at the time, and in the height of war, such acts of humanity were rare.

De Angelis first heard about Todaro during a speech by Italian Admiral Giovanni Pettorino in 2018, marking the 123rd anniversary of the Italian Coast Guard.

Pettorino alluded to Todaro in relation to the coast guard’s contemporary role in rescuing migrants as they attempt to cross the Mediterranean for a better life in Europe.

“Pettorino, at a time when Italian ports were being closed to shipwreck survivors, and defenceless women, children and men were drowning at sea, needed to tell his sailors how to behave,” recounts De Angelis.

“He chose the road of the parable and told the extraordinary story of Salvatore Todaro, the Italian submariner who sank enemy ships during the war but saved men. This is what the law of the sea demands, this is how it has always been done, this is how it will always be done.”

Favino is joined in the cast by Belgian actor Johan Heldenbergh (Quo Vadis Aida, Broken Circle Breakdown) and fellow Italian actor Massimiliano Rossi (Indivisible, Gomorrah).

Comandante was originally announced in competition only at Venice but was moved into the opening slot after the world premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s Zendaya tennis drama Challengers was pulled due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Favino is a Venice habitué and won the festival’s Best Actor prize in 2020 for his performance in Padrenostre.

De Angelis was last in Venice in 2016 with Indivisible, which world premiered in parallel section Giornate degli Autori and then played in Toronto.

Comandante was adapted as a novel by Edoardo De Angelis and Sandro Veronesi, published by Bompiani.

The film is produced by Indigo film, O’Groove with Rai Cinema, Tramp Ltd, V-Groove, Wise Pictures in association with Beside Productions in collaboration with Paramount +.

01 Distribution will release the film in Italy and True Colours is handling international rights.

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EXCLUSIVE: With less than a week to

Entertaintment

Henry Winkler took a few moments away from Saturday night’s This is About Humanity’s 5th annual fundraising soirée — which he hosted at his Los Angeles home alongside daughter Zoe Winkler Reinis — to weigh in on the ongoing writers and actors strikes.

“I have said this many times, but if it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage. In New York, the playwright is supreme; here, the writer is dismissed. That’s crazy,” Winkler told The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s No. 1. No. 2, I love my job, I am very lucky. Most of the people in my industry don’t have enough. It is very important that we all make sure everybody has enough. That’s my feeling.”

“Here’s what I feel: it’s going to end. How it ends, I have no idea. But until it ends, I’m very, very fortunate,” Winkler continued. In the meantime, he is staying plenty busy, noting that he has his 39th children’s book coming out soon, as well as his autobiography, Being Henry: The Fonz . . . and Beyond, which is due out on Oct. 31.

The star was also recently nominated for his ninth Emmy, and fourth for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for his role as acting teacher Gene Cousineau in the final season of Barry — which he will now be waiting until January to see if he’s won, after the awards show was delayed four months due to the strikes. The Writers Guild of America has been on strike since May 2, with SAG-AFTRA joining the picket line on July 13.

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Henry Winkler took a few moments away

Movies

In the Jewish faith you become an adult at the most awkward possible moment: when you turn 13. Sure, in the eyes of God and your Hebrew school, you are mature enough to read from the Torah and embrace the responsibilities of grown-up life. But in reality you’re probably a scared kid for whom true maturity is far off, despite all those uncomfortable hormones.

That was the case when I was bat mitzvahed in 2003 — mortifyingly (but also with a hint of pride) getting my first period shortly before the event — and that’s the case in the new Netflix film “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” based on the 2005 young adult novel by Fiona Rosenbloom.

The movie, directed by Sammi Cohen, is the story of Stacy Friedman, played by Sunny Sandler. (Sunny is the daughter of Adam Sandler, who plays her dad in the film. Her real life-sister, Sadie, has been cast as her movie sibling, Ronnie. Their mother, Jackie Sandler, also in the cast, portrays a different girl’s mom — the role of Stacy’s mom went to Idina Menzel, who played Adam’s wife in “Uncut Gems.” Got all that?)

Stacy has long dreamed of a blowout bat mitzvah alongside her best friend, Lydia Rodriguez Katz (Samantha Lorraine), but the messy realities of middle school meddle with their party plans. There are ill-advised crushes, moments of embarrassing flirtation and the kind of humiliating cruelty that only a 13-year-old with a grudge can muster. Eventually, Stacy takes the bimah at her bat mitzvah to read her Torah portion, and she learns the kinds of life lessons that come when you’ve emerged from the navel-gazing cocoon of youth.

“You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah” proves, as other movies and shows have before it, that when a bar or bat mitzvah is depicted onscreen, it can often be a savvy vessel for exploring the funny, strange or even traumatic transition from childhood to teenagedom.

“Figuring out, who am I, who I want to be — such a Jewish experience,” Cohen, who uses they/them pronouns, told me in an interview, adding that it’s “also just a human experience.”

“We don’t all have a bat mitzvah,” they continued, “but we all feel awkward when we have to step out in front of our friends and family and try not to make a mistake.”

At the same time, Hollywood can get too caught up in the lavish spectacle of these affairs, with depictions that sap them of their cultural or emotional significance in favor of gags about the superficiality of the post-service party. The spoiled bar or bat mitzvah boy or girl is a trope that comes up repeatedly. In a 2000 “Sex and the City” episode, Samantha (Kim Cattrall) faces off against a rich brat (Kat Dennings) who is hiring a publicist for her bat mitzvah party. “I want it all, I want it now, and I want you to get it for me,” the girl says.

During a 2012 episode of “30 Rock,” Tracy (Tracy Morgan) and Jenna (Jane Krakowski) humiliate themselves at a bar mitzvah playing Transformer robots for the demanding son of their accountant. The films “Starsky & Hutch” (2004) and “Safe Men” (1998) found gags in criminals attending bat and bar mitzvahs.

The b’nai mitzvah party gone wild — celebrating a bat or bar mitzvah — is another staple of the genre. “Keeping Up With the Steins” (2006), directed by Scott Marshall, starts from a place of absurdity with an outlandish “Titanic” movie-themed soirée attended by the Fiedler family. The dad, an “Entourage”-era Jeremy Piven essentially playing a flavor of Ari Gold, does all he can to match the grandiosity of that event for his son. In the process he reconnects with his own father (Garry Marshall), a reunion facilitated by his child (Daryl Sabara). It’s a thin narrative that uses the hook of the over-the-top bar mitzvah for a trite family tale.

Financial anxiety is a feature of similar narratives, and it is possible to find nuance in the strange mix of faith and capitalism that b’nai mitzvah spur in Jewish American culture — mostly when the writers, directors and performers lean into what a confusing time it is for the teenagers for whom these ceremonies are ostensibly intended.

The Hulu series “Pen15” is a masterpiece of discomfort — augmented by the fact that its creators and stars, Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine, are 30-something actors playing 13-year-olds in middle school. Their characters are not Jewish, but the gawky unease they cultivate is on full display during the episode chronicling the bat mitzvah of a popular girl named Becca (Sami Rappoport), a moment that coincides with their class learning about the Holocaust. The lesson about genocide makes Anna (Konkle) contemplate the very existence of God. The occasion brings on a different kind of unease for Maya (Erskine), who is desperate to impress Becca with a fancy gift despite the fact that it’s a stretch for her parents. “Pen15,” which takes place in the early 2000s, nails the cringe-worthy elements of bat mitzvah-going, whether it’s Becca entering her party belting a song from “Damn Yankees” or the mechanical slow dancing. But at the same time it explores how fraught the tradition can be when it comes to social class.

Still, the episode focuses on an outsider’s experience of a bat mitzvah, not an actual Jew’s. So does Cooper Raiff’s 2022 directorial effort, “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” in which he also stars. It’s a bar mitzvah movie with thin acknowledgment of Jewish tradition. Raiff’s aimless college grad Andrew — who is not Jewish — gets a job as a party starter for b’nai mitzvah receptions. It’s a good backdrop for Andrew’s own insecurities; he knows just as little about life as the much younger people around him. But it’s also just that: a backdrop.

To find a movie that incorporates a bar mitzvah in the fabric of its Jewishness, look to the Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man” (2009), a chronicle of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a professor in 1967 Minnesota. Larry’s son Danny (Aaron Wolff) gets extremely stoned before his bar mitzvah. It’s the kind of stupid thing a little twerp would do, but the disorienting way the Coens film this sequence — with fuzzy visuals and oblique angles — feels like an introduction to a faith of questioning that can itself be disorienting, especially as Danny meets with the aged Rabbi Marshak (Alan Mandell), who starts reciting Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” as a prayer.

For an even bleaker depiction, there’s Todd Solondz’s “Life During Wartime” (2010), where the bar mitzvah of Timmy (Dylan Riley Snyder) coincides with horrific realizations about his father. Timmy’s perception of becoming a man, as he describes in a speech he’s writing for the occasion, is standing up for yourself even if it means getting “just plain tortured.” Solondz’s view is clear: Growing up is pain. There’s less of an engagement with the nature of Judaism here than there is in “A Serious Man,” but Solondz scores sequences with Avinu Malkeinu, a Jewish prayer of repentance usually uttered on the High Holy Days, which serves as a reminder of the human failure on which the director fixates.

It’s hard to get darker than what Solondz delivers, but even some of the cheeriest b’nai mitzvah stories can have a touch of the grim. In “You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah,” Stacy lashes out at Lydia over a boy, spreading gossip about her and making an embarrassing video that ends up being played on Lydia’s big night. Her petulant acts may seem minor but they have real stakes, as anyone who has ever been betrayed by a friend knows. “Real kids are complicated and messy,” Cohen told me.

And it’s true. I have warmly nostalgic memories of my own bat mitzvah that are mixed up with more complicated feelings. I think about a connection to faith that I let lapse and relatives who are no longer alive. I think about the friends with whom I have lost touch. I remember the world in front of me and it being exciting but also so scary. That’s the thematic potential in a b’nai mitzvah, and it’s nice to see that occasionally filmmakers get it right.

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The Burbank offices of the film-crew union International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 80 remained closed Saturday and at least one weekend event there was canceled after the group received a threatening letter.

Burbank police detectives are investigating the threat, Sgt. Stephen Turner told The Times. No arrest has been made, and no additional information about the letter is being released at this time, he said.

The letter, which the industry website Puck characterized as a “death threat,” closed the IATSE office Friday. DeJon Ellis Jr., IATSE’s business manager, told Variety that the letter, allegedly written by a grip struggling with unemployment, was postmarked Wednesday and primarily addressed to Local 80, which represents grips and below-line workers.

IATSE is not on strike, but many of its members are unable to work because of productions shut down by strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.

Repsentatives for IATSE did not immediately return requests for comment Saturday. In addition to Local 80, the national union temporarily closed its West Coast headquarters, also in Burbank. Justine Bateman tweeted (and then deleted) a post that said a weekend panel discussion scheduled at Local 80 had been canceled.

The economic impact of the writers’ and actors’ strikes, while broadly supported by industry workers, has been felt not only collectively in the L.A. economy but also individually by tens of thousands of actors, writers and film crews who are unable to work. The Entertainment Community Fund, which supports out-of-work film and TV professionals, has distributed more than $4.7 million since May 2.

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The Burbank offices of the film-crew

MCU

A new announcement from Disney+ could be the first hint at a release date change for the premiere of Loki Season 2. 

The Marvel Studios streaming series is set to debut this coming October, marking the franchise’s first second season of one of its Disney+ shows. 

While most tentpole content to hit Disney’s streaming platform has dropped on Wednesdays as of late, Loki Season 2 will harken back to the early days of the streamer, debuting on Fridays rather than Wednesdays. 

Usually, these drops happen in the middle of the night (at 3 a.m. ET/midnight PT), but that also could be on the move as Disney re-evaluates how it releases streaming content. 

Loki’s Season 2 Release Date Could Be on the Move

Disney+

Following the reveal that Disney’s latest mega-tonne streaming show Ahsoka will change its release timing from the traditional 3 a.m. slot, some have pondered if Loki Season 2 will be next. 

In anticipation of Ahsoka‘s premiere, it was announced that the Star Wars series would drop at a new time, debuting at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT), the day before its technical release day. 

This could signal plans for Loki to follow suit when it comes to Disney+ on October 6, dropping at 9 p.m. ET on Thursday, October 5 rather than the usual late-night release.  

Disney experimented with these early releases before, putting out the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi onto the platform three hours earlier than expected at midnight ET. 

However, that was only for the premiere, with the rest of its run going back to the usual 3 a.m. slot. Ahsoka‘s release schedule is so significant because the entire series will occupy that 9 p.m. window, something never before done on the platform.

It remains unclear if this is a one-time thing for Disney+, but it could indicate a change in strategy from the streaming giant, meaning that Loki would be the next to follow the trend if that were the case. 

Why Would Disney+ Change Loki’s Release Time?

With this potential sea-change at Disney, some may be wondering why the House of Mouse would mess around with the way it releases content after so many years of doing the same thing. 

Well, as Disney – and the rest of Hollywood – re-evaluate the streaming landscape, this could be an effort from the studio to get more eyes on its platform all at once. 

By bringing these releases forward and having them premiere in primetime rather than stealth-dropping overnight, it conjures a sense that this content is an event. It is important and needs to be viewed right then and there. 

If the studio were to continue this trend for the second season of Loki, it would create this air of appointment viewing around the show, perhaps putting it up as a higher standing in people’s minds. 

Over time, it seems audience interest has started to dwindle when it comes to the Marvel content hitting Disney+; this has resulted in a dip in subscribers to the service and a feeling of franchise fatigue amongst some fans. 

However, putting it front and center in the middle of the living room right during prime TV viewing time could help to recapture audiences, as these sorts of 9 p.m. ET slots are usually reserved for the best of the best. 

While no official announcement has yet been made about Loki Season 2 getting this kind of Disney release bump, it would not be surprising if the super-powered series got a similar treatment. 

Loki Season 2 is currently set to debut at 3 a.m. ET (midnight PT) on October 6. 

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DCU

Over its three decades on television, The Simpsons has produced some very memorable memes. There’s probably a whole generation out there that primarily knows these characters only from memes, which is mildly mortifying. Yes kids, “Old Man Yells at Cloud” is from an actual episode of TV. But the most famous one of these has got to be the one of Homer Simpson backing up into a hedge. Well, now they are preserving that iconic moment…as tennis shoes. We’ve learned, via the folks at DesignTaxi, that Adidas has incorporated this moment into one of their Stan Smith sneakers. You can check out images of this new Homer-inspired footwear down below:

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Adidas

While the entire style of this shoe keeps its classic barebones look, they animate the heel tab with embroidered artwork of the Simpson family’s perpetually befuddled patriarch retreating into a lush backdrop of green fleece. Although this moment usually signifies shame or embarrassment on social media, no one would feel shame wearing this amazing vegan leather shoe. The shoe’s tongue also features a reference to this Simpsons moment, with Homer’s face partially hidden underneath the laces. The sides now feature his name in place of the Stan Smith logo.

New Adidas Stan Smith shoes inspired by the Homer Simpson backing into the hedges moment from The Simpsons.
Adidas

Along with some custom sock liners, these shoes arrive in a specially designed box memorializing the Homer meme. And that truly completes the package. Also, there are the iconic Adidas triple stripes envisioned as a part of the foliage that Homer retreats into. This Homer Simpson tennis shoe is actually the second Stan Smith shoe drawing inspiration from the legendary series. Homer’s wife Marge got her own special shoe last year. These specially designed The Simpsons Stan Smith shoes come at a price of $120.00, this amusing edition to the timeless footwear is now available for purchase via various Adidas retailers and online.











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Over its three decades on television,

Comics

An indie wrestling game designed to be the spiritual successor of WWF No Mercy has shown off its latest gameplay footage.

Ultra Pro Wrestling is being made by Scottish studio Hyperfocus Games and was originally supposed to be a licensed game for “a popular Scottish wrestling promotion”, before the promotion backed out of the project.

Rather than abandoning two years of work, Hyperfocus Games has repurposed the game into Ultra Pro Wrestling, which will launch with a selection of fictional wrestlers.

A new Showcase video for the game was posted on YouTube today, showing the game running in a pre-alpha state.

Even in this state, the game’s attempt to replicate the gameplay of N64 title WWF No Mercy – which many believe to be the best wrestling game ever – is clear, right down to the animations used and the HUD.

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The game will also include a number of real-life ‘free agent’ wrestlers, who will be available as paid DLC. These include:

  • 2 Cold Scorpio
  • Al Snow
  • Arn Anderson
  • Barbarian
  • The Blue Meanie
  • Bryan Clark / Adam Bomb / Wrath
  • Buff Bagwell
  • Bull Nakano
  • Chris Candido
  • Crowbar
  • Demolition
  • Devon Dudley
  • Dynamite Kid
  • Francine
  • Gangrel
  • Glacier
  • ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan
  • Hayabusa
  • Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts
  • Kanyon / Mortis
  • Krusher Kruschev
  • Louie Spicolli
  • The Masked Superstar
  • Matt Cardona
  • ‘Mr Wonderful’ Paul Orndorff
  • Nova
  • Sandman
  • Tito Santana
  • Warhorse
  • Warlord

According to Hyperfocus Games, each of these wrestlers will be paid DLC and will go straight to the real-life wrestlers themselves (or presumably their families if they’ve passed).

“UPW extends an open invitation to all the incredible talents in the wrestling industry, offering an opportunity to collaborate and preserve their remarkable legacies while gaining exposure to new generations of fans,” a statement on the game’s website reads.

“We recognize the immeasurable contributions made by wrestlers who have dedicated their lives to entertaining and inspiring audiences around the world. With a deep respect for wrestling history, UPW aims to provide a platform where these iconic figures can showcase their skills, boost their profiles, and leave a lasting impact on the industry.

“Together, we can ensure that the rich tapestry of wrestling’s past is cherished and celebrated. Join us in this collective endeavour to honour the wrestling legends and pave the way for a vibrant future where their extraordinary stories continue to captivate audiences worldwide.

“Our unique payment model will see your cash go directly to the wrestlers you choose to support, so every penny spent acts as a ‘thank you’ for all their contributions.”