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The House voted Wednesday to approve a bill that would effectively ban TikTok, the wildly popular video app with some 170 million users in America and a billion worldwide. The bill, dubbed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,  would force TikTok’s parent company Bytedance to sell the app in six months. Should Bytedance be unable or refuse to comply, app stores would have to remove it and internet service providers would have to make it inaccessible. While its current user base who already have downloaded the app could keep it on their phones, they would not be able to download any new software updates. The bill passed with a 352-65 vote. Proponents of the bipartisan bill have taken a kitchen sink approach in arguing for banning or at least curbing TikTok’s influence in America. Members of both political parties and intelligence officials say the app could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans, interfere in elections, or push propaganda in the country. They also argue that TikTok use has and can have a negative impact on younger Americans. "You had member offices being deluged with calls, you know, teenagers crying and one threatening suicide and one impersonating one of my colleague's sons," Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WIS), lead Republican sponsor of the bill and Chair of the House Select Committee on China told NPR. "That, to me, demonstrates how the platform could be weaponized in the future." The bill's backers have also bizarrely argued that the legislation is not in fact, a ban. "What we're after is, it's not a ban, it's a forced separation," Gallagher told NPR. "The TikTok user experience can continue and improve so long as ByteDance doesn't own the company." Former Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said "this is not an attempt to ban TikTok, it's an attempt to make TikTok better. Tic-tac-toe, a winner.” Despite recently starting its own channel on the platform, the White House has signaled it would sign the bill if it clears the Senate. Officials say that classified and unclassified security assessments have shown the app is a threat to Americans, but have not offered any evidence publicly outside of theoretical possibilities. While TikTok’s data collection is more than troubling to anyone concerned about privacy, the only difference between it and other social media behemoths like Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Twitter (now known as X), YouTube, and others is that it’s not an American company scraping up all of your personal data. Apps are constantly scooping up massive amounts of data and selling them to third parties, and some of that makes its way to both the American and other governments, intelligence agencies, and even the military. Even the most mundane apps like ones for dating, weather, and directions are giving nearly real-time location data to all sorts of entities, according to a story published in Wired adapted from the book Means of Control: How the Hidden Alliance of Tech and Government Is Creating a New American Surveillance State by Byron Tau. Tau writes: “I’m here to tell you if you’ve ever been on a dating app that wanted your location or if you ever granted a weather app permission to know where you are 24/7, there is a good chance a detailed log of your precise movement patterns has been vacuumed up and saved in some data bank somewhere that tens of thousands of total strangers have access to. That includes intelligence agencies. It includes foreign governments. It includes private investigators. It even includes nosy journalists.” The influence social media can have on the public is equally troubling, but once again, the concern seems to be that if it’s an American company, attempting to push public perception in one way or another is completely fine. While officials are concerned about foreign entities influencing American elections, it seems that American companies that do so get a pass. In 2018, whistleblowers showed how a data firm, Cambridge Analytica, used Facebook to harvest the data of tens of millions of Americans and create personality profiles for them in the 2016 election, which helped lead to the election of Donald Trump as President. Privacy and free speech advocates argue that the bill is ineffective and sets a dangerous precedent. A letter signed by a coalition of groups including the ACLU, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Freedom of the Press Foundation, the Knight Institute, and others called the legislation “censorship - plain and simple,” and said that jeopardizing access to TikTok jeopardizes access to free expression. “Banning or requiring divestiture of TikTok would also set an alarming global precedent for excessive government control over social media platforms. The United States has rightfully condemned other countries when they have banned specific social media platforms, criticizing these efforts as infringing on the rights of their citizens. If the United States now bans a foreign-owned platform, that will invite copycat measures by other countries, banning American-owned speech intermediaries and companies from operating in their borders, with significant consequences for free expression globally.” The groups argue that an outright ban is not only “far from the least restrictive solution to the purported problem,” but ineffective because the Chinese government could just find a workaround to access the data. “If Congress wants to protect Americans’ data, it should pass comprehensive privacy legislation,” the letter reads. American tech and financial oligarchs are already chomping at the bit to acquire TikTok. According to Business Insider, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has expressed interest in buying the platform, as has OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday he’s building a group of investors to buy the site, CNBC reports. Should the forced sale of TikTok go through to any of those entities or another, it’s entirely possible Congress will continue to allow all its concerns about the platform to fade away, simply because it will have a “made in the USA” sticker stamped on it. The only way to really protect Americans from justifiable concerns over privacy, according to advocates, is to prevent any company from collecting it. The Electronic Frontier Foundation writes: “Instead of passing this overreaching and misguided bill, Congress should prevent any company—regardless of where it is based—from collecting massive amounts of our detailed personal data, which is then made available to data brokers, U.S. government agencies, and even foreign adversaries, China included. We shouldn’t waste time arguing over a law that will get thrown out for silencing the speech of millions of Americans. Instead, Congress should solve the real problem of out-of-control privacy invasions by enacting comprehensive consumer data privacy legislation.”

We've all been holding our breaths waiting for Pitchfork Music Festival's lineup announcement. With the sudden changes at the festival's namesake, there's been a worry about what this years fest will hold. After a leak, some clues, and just a little more waiting, we finally have some news as the lauded festival returns to Union Park on July 19-21 with a lineup headlined by Black Pumas, JaimeXX, and Alanis Morissette! While the indie and eclectic sounds will still dominate the majority of the festival, there is a strong lean toward more pop and mainstream forward acts this year. Add to that some very prominent legacy acts and you have a much wider scope for the festival. The number of local acts remains a little low with only Black Duck, Akenya, Angry Blackmen, Lifeguard, Kara Jackson, representing the Chicagoland area. Nonetheless, these are some amazing acts that deserve to be spotlighted on the Pitchfork stages. Of course there are some incredible touring bands set to hit the stage including 100 Gecs, Billy Woods & Kenny Segal, Carly Rae Jepsen, Jessie Ware, De La Soul, Brittany Howard, Muna, Grandmaster Flash and so many more! This year also brings some changes to the ticketing tiers. Regular GA and Plus tickets are still around at the same price (or a little less in the case of Plus), but they have opened up their VIP passes to the public. VIP tickets will offer a backstage VIP lounge with A/C bathrooms, photo portraits and special festival amenities including bar with preferred pricing and a daily curated meal. VIP will also be home to the front-of-stage viewing & double-decker Viewing Decks with elevated sightlines, both at the two main stages. Check out their full lineup below and snag your tickets asap as they are on sale NOW! Single day passes are $109 ($199 for Plus, $379 for VIP) and 3-day passes for $219 ($399 for Plus, $699 for VIP)! Check out the full lineup below or at their website! Friday July 19 Black Pumas Jai Paul 100 Gecs Jeff Rosenstock Yaeji Sudan Archives Amen Dunes Billy Woods & Kenny Segal Tkay Maidza ML Buch Doss Rosali Angry Blackmen Black Duck Saturday July 20 Jaime XX Carly Rae Jepsen Jessie Ware De La Soul Unwound Bratmobile Wednesday Water From Your Eyes Sweeping Promises Feeble Little Horse Hotline TNT Kara Jackson L'Rain Lifeguard Sunday July 21 Alanis Morissette Brittany Howard Muna Grandmaster Flash Les Savy Fav Crumb Jessica Pratt Mannequin Pussy Hailu Mergia Model/Actriz Nala Sinephro Maxo Joanna Sternberg Akenya This post was originally posted on Third Coast Review.

Donald Glover, creator of other hit shows Atlanta and Swam comes a reimagining of Mr and Mrs Smith. The original film was released in 2005 starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the heights of their careers. It focused on a married couple who were secretly spy assassins but the trouble comes when they are tasked with assassinating each other. It’s a fun premise that mixes in normal marital squabbling with high intensity espionage action. This current Donald Glover iteration, streaming on Amazon Prime, skews from the template but keeps the spirit of what makes the original a cult classic. and Mrs. Smith (2024) begins with our main characters, John and Jane, separately applying for a super secret spy position, both having previous military backgrounds. The catch is you get paired up with a stranger and there is to be no contact with your family and friends ever again. From here, the show mixes romcom elements, with high stakes action. The performances of Donald Glover and Maya Erskine give emotional nuance to their characters which in turn adds to their fantastic chemistry. There’s more at stake here between two strangers who actually want to make their marriage work. Unlike the original, the action sequences here are paced out sparingly, used more for emphasizing the relationship dynamics between John and Jane. While the series doesn’t stray from creating big action set pieces, they are few and far between with some episodes being completely devoid of action entirely. There’s a great deal of restraint used so when the action does pop off, it’s that much more meaningful. Also, considering the season takes place over the course of a year, the action also serves as a catch up as to where our agents are in both their skill level as well as their relationship status. What shines most are Donald and Maya. They give depth and gravity to their characters as well as have a great interplay between each other. It’s evident in how serious moments shift to comedy so naturally between the two. The season also benefits from a bevy of guest stars such as Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Paul Dano, Alexander Skarsgard, Ron Pearlman and Parker Posey, who all fit into that universe as naturally as our leads. Donald is cool as a cucumber and Maya gives a level of eccentricity subtle yet charming. The one knock against the series has to be the amount of mysteries they start, but save for a possible future season. Obviously most creators are optimistic for more seasons, but I was definitely dying for a few more answers than I was given. All the more reason to hope for more of the show. I can’t recommend Mr. and Mrs. Smith enough. Its action is used effectively, the characters are emotionally nuanced and the comedy moments are genuinely well done. The pacing is slower than the original but that’s because it’s absolutely different. It’s more in depth, it’s a character piece, and less of an action thriller. Like a lot of Glover's work, Mr. and Mrs. Smith is thoughtful and lets moments breathe when necessary. At the end of the day, remakes are remakes, but this one should just have a different title because it’s something very different and very worth your time.

This is probably old news by now, but there was a time when Star Wars fans would have rather had EA release the old Battlefront games with a few modern touches than do to the series what it did with Battlefront  2015 and Battlefront 2 in 2017. The latter has actually gone on to have a bit of a loyal following, and has a “Very Positive” review score on Steam at the time of this writing. But there were still hardcore fans of the original Battlefront games asking for a remake. And while this release isn’t quite a remake, it brings these games back for people who might want to revisit the past. Nostalgia distorts a bit, I think. And when I got into the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection I was in for a bit of a reality check while I readjusted to these games. But once I did, it was like I was back playing on my OG Xbox. These games are pretty damn fun. If you don’t know what they are, here’s the gist: you can play as opposing factions in two of Star Wars’ eras, the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. That means you can roll around as a droideka in the drone army or blast rebel scum as a Stormtrooper with up to 63 other players. If you’re thinking, “how is that possible, those games came out in 2004 and 2005 (respectively) how can that be?” and my answer is: get off my lawn. Multiplayer games of this scale were relatively new at the time, and Battlefront was the first Star Wars game to really take advantage of this. And it did so on a massively impressive scale which was only ramped up with its sequel, Battlefront 2. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection includes both of the classic Battlefront games, all of the bonus maps, and even some alterations to play modes, like letting you play the Hero Assault game mode on all ground maps–something that wasn’t possible before. This collection isn’t really a remaster so much as it is Aspyr bringing these Battlefront games to a contemporary gaming audience. And while these servers will probably be filled with crusty old guys reliving their youth, there are some great epic battles to be had in space, on the ground, on foot or in vehicles. If you don’t like playing online, that’s okay too: you can jump into instant action against bots, or play the single player campaigns from both games which span many iconic battles. You can even play in split screen modes or over a local area network with its LAN. Both of these features are less common these days, but I’m glad they made their way back for this release. While both of these Star Wars Battlefront games are similar in ways, I would say that Battlefront 2 is the more robust experience. Building off of the first game, it introduces progression and features more refined gameplay. Aspyr seems to realize this too, as they have far more dedicated servers for the sequel than they do the original. I would have liked to see these games get a full remake treatment, or even the full remaster treatment. But what we got is good enough for me to want to jump into a few matches. Nostalgia is a huge draw, however, and you can’t expect these games to pry modern gamers away from the likes of Helldivers II. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection features two classic games that aren’t really like anything that exists today. They might even be seen as janky by today’s standards, but they’re still damn fun. Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection is available tomorrow on PC via Steam and on Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. A Steam key was provided to us for this review

I’m wary, probably because of my advanced age, of the “hot” new thing. I mean, I played some Lethal Company and beyond a few proximity chat laughs, I didn’t see the long term appeal of that game. I thought Helldivers II was more streamer bait: semi-emergent with “funny” physics when your character inevitably meets their demise. I am okay to admit when I’m wrong. I was wrong about Helldivers II. And I just have to say: how undemocratic of me. If Lady Liberty heard what I had to say, I couldn’t even complain about being sent off to one of the rumored detention camps. Democracy is being threatened, and Super Earth is calling for Helldivers to help wage their galactic war. I’ve taken up the call to Liberty, and man it’s fun to spread democracy. If for some reason you’ve been living under a rock and missed the Helldivers II phenomenon, here's a primer: A sequel to Arrowhead studios Helldivers, Helldivers II is a third person action game where you can play with a squad of up to 4 people as you unleash extreme firepower unto your enemies. Each drop is procedurally generated, so you’ll never get exactly the same experience twice. It’s also pure chaos on higher difficulties, with increasingly difficult armored enemies threatening to deplete your reinforcements. There are a lot of opportunities for emergent gameplay, as well, making Helldivers II a perfect game to mess around in with friends. The gameplay is simple to grasp: jump into a hellpod, choose your strategems, and then spread managed democracy to whatever backwater planet is being overrun with tyranny. Objectives, despite their varied names, are very same-y, however: go to a place, do a thing that usually involves a D-Pad style quicktime event, and kill enemies until that task is complete. Sometimes you’ll have to turn a wheel or push an extra button or two, but it’s all pretty much the same. So what’s the draw? Combat bliss. With friends! Combat in Helldivers II is fun as hell. Waves of bugs or automatons are nothing compared to the steel resolve of the Helldivers–and that’s because they have some of the best weaponry Super Earth can muster. If you’ve unlocked it using requisition points, that is. Guns feel great to shoot, and Helldivers are able to call in airstrikes and orbital bombardments to blanket an area with Democracy. Each Helldiver can employ what are called stratagems to even out the odds on the battlefield. To employ a stratagem you have to employ its specific code–thankfully written on the screen–and throw it in a (hopefully) advantageous spot. This harkens back to Magicka and Arrowhead’s earliest forays into games where friends can kill each other easily. Stratagems aren’t just airstrikes and orbitals, however–you can call down defensive turrets, gun emplacements, shields, advanced weaponry and more. Helldivers II is a more physics-based, sandboxy type game. Each mission you drop into a semi-open world style environment where you can choose objectives at whim. If you want to spend your time destroying every outpost and finding every item you can–if time allows. Or if you want to just do the main objectives and extract, that’s up to you. Time is your only real constraint. When you run out of time you lose access to reinforcements and all other stratagems. Enemies in Helldivers II are relentless, and even a bit terrifying. There are two main threats: the robotic Automatons and the Starship Trooper adjacent Terminids. Whether you’re shooting robots or bugs, they explode in the appropriate amount of parts and (where applicable) gore. Each faction of enemies have an array of melee versus ranged enemies with the Automatons employing guns while the Terminids overwhelm and get into your lines with jumping bugs. Each has their larger armored variants. Helldivers II has a promising future, too. It makes sense: sales of Helldivers II have been steadily increasing since its release about three weeks ago. That’s incredible for any game, let alone one that wasn’t technically AAA. Developer Arrowhead studio has great plans for Helldivers II, as well. Some of these promises will be delivered soon, with mechs and vehicles to add even more chaos to the battlefield. There have even been a few tweaks that the community is having a hard time with, like the recent nerfs to the Railgun, Breaker Shotgun, and Shield Backpack. But that just shows that the development team is ready to tweak things behind the scenes as they’re needed. That also turns out to be true when it comes to Helldivers II’s campaign map. This map represents the ongoing war efforts. But there is a game master tweaking numbers and making it a hard fought battle for Super Earth. I really like the concept of developer game masters actively participating with their players. It’s something I wish more games would do. Helldivers II also excels at its presentation. It has a depiction of fascism that Paul Verhoeven would appreciate, and is no doubt inspired by Starship Troopers. Helldivers II also has a fantastic soundtrack that really makes you feel like you’re ridding the galaxy of tyranny–when it could be that you’re just as tyrannical. Even the player lobbies are over-the-top as each player gets their own destroyer. I mean, those orbital bombardments come from somewhere. And deploying onto planets as a literal shooting bullet can’t be too feasible in reality, but it’s rad as hell. Like I said. I was wrong about Helldivers II. After some democratic re-education I’m now doing my part for Democracy–and so should you. Bring friends, because freedom carries a lofty price, and remember, if you shall fall there’s another Helldiver ready to thaw out to take your place. Helldivers II is out now for PC and PlayStation 5

Back in 2022, The Strokes made their way to Chicago for a fundraiser concert at Metro (or Metro Cabaret or The Metro, or however you'd like to refer to the iconic venue) for Congressional candidate Kina Collins. Tonight, they are back for the same cause at the Credit Union 1 Arena on the UIC Campus. In celebration, we're republishing the Third Coast Review coverage and photos from that fateful night at Metro. It's been a little over 20 years since The Strokes stopped by the Metro stage, right at the height of their Is This It release. That album is filled with songs that have been cemented in the modern rock canon. Over the years, The Strokes' fanbase has only grown larger, which has made another Metro show a little harder to come by. But after a a chance meeting with Kina Collins, who is running for the 7th Congressional district seat, an intimate show with the Strokes came to life. This past Friday night, The Strokes filled up Metro for Kina Collins and reinforced their storied legacy. When Kina Collins initially came to the stage, the crowd erupted in cheers. At first may have just been appreciation of getting The Strokes back in the building, but quickly turned to solidarity. The 31-year-old Collins is running to unseat the incumbent congressman in her 7th Congressional district, who she frustratingly noted has been in that position since she was 5 years old. She laid it out very clearly: "I’m running for Congress because we need representation that gives a damn about us!” Collins proceeded to outline exactly what she's fighting for: unionization (specifically pointing out Starbucks and Amazon), universal healthcare, body autonomy, gun control, the Green New Deal, and continually more progressive ideals. With every passing point of her platform, the crowd cheered louder. The show was originally planned for late May, just in time to get people to get registered to vote by mail. However a case of COVID struck the band and the fundraiser had to be delayed. But that wouldn't stop Collins or the The Strokes, who then spoke about the impetus of the night. “I was at a party in New York and I met a tall guy named Julian.” The mere mention of the Stroke's frontman had the crowd aching for the concert to start. However, that time wouldn't come for another hour or so. But once it did, it was pure bliss. The Strokes immediately followed with "Juicebox," a massively invigorating song that sparked an early ramp up in the crowd. The set featured plenty of The New Abnormal tracks, an album that definitely felt like a return to form of sorts, but it was the older and lesser heard tracks that really hit with the crowd. The bright guitars of "Automatic Stop" had the crowd continuing their groove after "Juicebox." "The Modern Age" seamed to catch them by surprise in the latter half of the set, but nowhere near as much as "Electricityscape," which they have only recently rotated back into their sets. However, it's impossible not to note out the obvious highlights of the night as The Strokes' setlist seemed to revolve around them. "You Only Live Once" popped the crowd half way through their set, giving the crowd another moment bliss. "Someday," another one of those songs that has just persevered and grown better with time took the crowd into overdrive, letting them bop around with enthusiastic carelessness. However, the loudest and most exuberant moment of the proper set came for the regular set's closer. The blistering "Reptilia" with its opening drums and bass leading into into electrifying guitars that surge for a moment before Casablancas' voice takes over was a breathtaking experience. Throughout the night, Casablancas made sure to reiterate the purpose of the evening. While he's always had a political leaning, Casablancas has further entrenched himself in progressive politics in recent years. He and the Strokes endorsed Bernie Sanders in 2020, New York mayoral candidate Maya Wiley last year, and Casablancas even started an interview series S.O.S.–Earth is a Mess, delving further into progressive ideas. His passion was met positively at Metro as he pointed out Kina Collins' non-corporate nature and her looking out for everyone, emphasizing that makes her a worthy representative for a city like Chicago. The Strokes have a special aura about them, equal parts carefree and care far too much. The five steadfast members (Julian Casablancas, Albert Hammond Jr., Nikolai Fraiture, Fabrizio Moretti, and Nick Valensi) emerged from backstage to a sea of cheers sprinkled with a few tired jeers. The band was definitely late to the show, but that wasn't going to stop them from putting on one hell of a night. Opening with "Bad Decisions" off their latest album The New Abnormal, all that uncomfortable waiting melted away. They didn't need much to make the crowd feel their energy, it was pouring into the room from the get go. By the time The Strokes' encore came there were only a few tracks that could close the night out right. Considering just how well the show had gone, there was no doubt in the crowd mind that they would stick the landing and stick the landing they did. The high-pitched notes of "Eternal Summer" off The New Abnormal warmed the crowd up for "What Ever Happened." The crowd burst loudy again for the latter, jamming out to Room on Fire's opening track with all the energy that had been exponentially growing all night long. All the hype and enthusiasm was finally able to be released as The Strokes left the crowd a chill little Abraham Lincoln-inspired jam before diving in head first into "Last Nite," the band's second single off their debut album. It's a song that has endured for the band, a staple of their sound that is so instantly recognizable. The opening strum was enough to send everyone into a frenzy, bouncing in their spot waiting for Casablancas' gravelly voice to snarl "Last night she said, Oh, baby, I feel so down" at the top of his lungs. It was an utter delight to see and hear this iconic band give it their all, not only for a packed Metro full of devoted fans, but to Kina Collins as well.

Playing a thaumaturge as the main character in a game doesn't sound like it would be that impressive. Thaumaturges are basically magicians that perform parlor tricks, and I’ve gotten used to mages wielding elements and hurling them at my enemies in flashy graphics. It turns out, however, that having what is equal to a magician’s power can make for some pretty compelling gameplay, especially from a storytelling and investigatory point of view. The Thaumaturge is a top down CRPG style roleplaying game. In it, you play as Wiktor Szulski–a thaumaturge that is Polish as hell. In fact, most of the game takes place in and around the streets of Warsaw, Wiktor’s old stomping grounds. He’s come back because of the death of his father who was also a powerful thaumaturge. Wiktor, who is returning after decades travelling the world, has to contend with family and old friends as he explores Warsaw, being haunted by figurative and literal demons. I bet you’re wondering what a thaumaturge can do–trust me, I was too. It almost feels like you’re a clairvoyant Sherlock Holmes who is able to call upon horrific entities to aid him in combat. By horrific entities, I mean the demons that follow around Wiktor–and do his bidding. These creatures known by many names–including demons—are called salutors. They enhance Wiktor’s fighting abilities while enabling him to manipulate people–if you can pass the proper skill check. As a thaumaturge you mostly engage in investigations, aided by your clairvoyant abilities. If you touch an object, you can get a sense of who it belonged to through its “trace.” You can also glean information off of it that would be impossible otherwise. As you investigate items and/or talk to people, Wiktor can eventually draw a conclusion–leading you to be able to find a missing object, confront someone who is lying, etc. It sounds great on paper–and would make an interesting TV show or Movie–but in practicality, in game, it means there’s a lot of hitting the “thaumaturge button” so you can continuously sense items around you. Much like the Batman vision in the Arkham games, it was a mechanic that I felt compelled to use everywhere I went. When you press the button Wiktor snaps his fingers and red petal-like particles float out. If there is a point of interest the petals linger around it. Investigations, therefore, are a lot of clicking–both for the thaumaturge powers, and all the investigations. It sounds like something that would bore me to death, but the story intrigued me enough to keep going. It’s really unlike anything I’ve encountered, and I think that’s mainly due to its pedigree. It’s not something that I was exposed to much in western media, but this is a Polish made game that lovingly emphasizes its roots. In fact, the parts of the game that weren’t crafted for the story were made as an homage to Warsaw itself.  Unlike other RPGs where you get most of your XP through skill checks like combat or social interactions, in The Thaumaturge you can get it just by wandering the streets of Warsaw and interacting with the environment where indicated. Just buying doughnuts, looking at a pretty building, reading notes or listening to a street performer will yield XP. While there are multiple paths you can choose via dialogue, you’ll eventually find yourself fighting. Or, if you’re like me, and play Wiktor as a no nonsense asshole, you’ll be fighting a whole lot. In fact, Wiktor will be stopped at random to perform in novel combat more often than you think would be possible in a day. Combat in The Thaumaturge is a little strange, and can be a bit samey. It’s turn based, and Wiktor always has the first move. Enemies will cue up their moves as shown in an action order bar at the top. Wiktor himself can use his thaumaturgey to disrupt and hurt enemies, or he can go in for damage either with his fists or pistol. You can’t change what weapon he uses: Wiktor will do whatever attack makes the most sense for his distance from the enemies. Fine.  But you don’t change your distance to enemies, even though spacing matters because enemies are forced to move up to you. The best part, however, is the ability to use your salutors in combat. While combat in The Thaumaturge can feel tedious, having salutors do your bidding really helps create some fun moments that are actually visually exciting. Watching a golem smash a man into the ground, or using your wraith-like salutor to freeze your enemies is fun as hell. It’s strange, however, when it comes to story implications. Sometimes combat is deadly, while other times you merely knock people out. You can’t choose what the outcome will be–the game decides that for you. It really lends itself to the feeling of being a “choose your own adventure” type game instead of a full fledged roleplaying game. The Thaumaturge’s story unfolds over multiple acts–and your actions have consequences that will shift the entire story. Even offhand remarks can lead to repercussions down the line. And in my playthrough, I made a lot of enemies as Wiktor. Diplomacy was not an option. I don’t want to spoil any major story elements–but let’s just say Wiktor ends up spending a lot of time with Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin, of course, has his own goals and machinations that leads to some interesting dilemmas. There are skill points you can distribute as you gain levels, but I found that I levelled so quickly and often I could spread my points around to all trees instead of specializing in one. Combat abilities are gained through the skill tree, but they can be tweaked using skills you purchased. For instance, you can use a skill that reduces the enemy’s focus, and use an ability to modify that power to give a 50 percent chance of interrupting your target’s action. It’s a fun way to modify your abilities, and come up with some powerful synergies as you're brawling through the streets of Warsaw. I really liked the concept of salutors in The Thaumaturge, and I made it my goal to seek out all of them. The optional salutors have some amazingly brutal combat abilities, and are definitely worth pursuing. Despite the enemies it made along the way, I ended up playing The Thaumaturge like a Pokemon game. When it came to Salutors, I had to catch them all. The Thauamaturge isn’t going to make waves like Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s definitely a solid story-based CRPG. For someone that isn’t too familiar with Polish folklore, there is a bunch of novel concepts here that elevated it beyond a traditional roleplaying game. I really liked catching salutors, and the investigations that lead up to those moments. While not a perfect game, I found myself compelled through it just to find out how it ends. If you’re interested in a more story focused roleplaying game, you should definitely check it out. A Steam key was provided to us for this review The Thaumaturge is a available now on PC via Steam, and coming soon to the Epic Games Store.

You know it's going to be a great day when an amazing band like Finom releases a a new single and announces a brand new album. Finom, formally known as OHMME (and even longer ago as HOMME) is the musical project of Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham. The pair are an ever evolving musical powerhouse, shifting their sound with every release into stranger and more exciting territory. This latest album, Not God, has Finom continuing on that trajectory, enlisting Jeff Tweedy to produce the record and kicking things off with lead single "Haircut". A quick burst of drums ushers in "Haircut" before Stewart and Cunningham's intertwined voices stroll in. The pair sing lines "written following the stream of suggested words" from Stewart’s phone, making for a dizzying and distorted experience. The strangeness somehow creates some entertaining lyricism that reaches a preposterous excuse in it's chorus: "Yeah, I’m sorry but I’m not gonna wanna. It’s the time of day I can get my haircut." It's as odd as Finom have gotten and it makes for a damn fine earworm of a song. Pair it with the off the wall and eccentric video directed by Alex Grelle and you have yourself an overwhelmingly great experience. You can pre-order Finom's Not God over at their Bandcamp or directly from their label Joyful Noise Recordings. Finom will also be performing at The Hideout on May 24th. Tickets are $20, so don't miss this fantastic show.

With my (almost) weekly "Lets Get Physical" posts reminding why I adore the physical media world, I felt like it would be a good idea to look ahead in the world of the hobby. So once a moth I'll be taking a look at the upcoming Blu-Ray releases for the month and giving my two cents on which you should be keeping an eye on. You can see a good chunk of the upcoming releases over at Blu-Ray.com's site! The James Cameron Trio: The Abyss, True Lies, & Aliens Theses have been a long time coming. The Abyss and True Lies have been out of print or just hard to find in the US for quite a while, so they are sights for sore eyes! Now, not all James Cameron 4k transfers are created equal and some are just out right bad (Terminator 2: Judgement Day I;m not just looking at you, I'm YELLING). Screen shots are showing a bit DNR (digital noise reduction) at hand, making for softer textures and film grain going out the window, but I hope the experience will be better than the stills. Event Horizon 4K Steelbook (re-release) Yes this is a rerelease from the fallen Best Buy movie section, but it bears repeating. I subscribe to the fan canon that Event Horizon is a sneaky Warhammer 40k movie depictibg a particularly hellish piece of lore. Even if you don't, its a pretty fun horror movie set in space! Are there elements of Alien, 2001: a Space Odyssey, and more littered throughout the film? Yeah, but it's probably Paul W.S. Anderson's best movie and every actor is giving it their all. Plus who doesn't want to see Sam Neill in another fantastic horror film! (side note: Sam Neill's horror catalog is pretty damn impressive.) River Terror Vision, your purveyor of lesser seen genre films, recently announced their new sub label Graveface Films. Focusing on the more arthouse/indie/non-genre films overall more "palatable" releases that the far out genre playground of Terror Vision, Graveface Films is set to be a very welcome new boutique label. Their kick off release, River, is touted as a time-looping narrative full of heartwarming and funny moments. As a fan of time travel stories, this one is close to the top of my more anticipated releases. Mexican Lucha Trio from Indicator: The Panther Women, The Bat Woman, & Santo vs. the Riders of Terror Indicator puts out some fantastic collections ranging from old Hollywood classics, forgotten gems from the modern age, to completely off the beaten track treasures. This month it's closer ot the latter with a trio of their releases based on the Lucha Libre exploitation flicks of Mexico. Each one of these is perfect for those who want a taste of the grindhouse that we normally would get in the US (or UK for that matter). While these releases don't have individual posters like their jam packed Enter El Santo , each one still features an 80 page booklet and some exciting extras (including the softcore verison of  Santo vs. the Riders of Terror, Lepers and Sex) Check out  Blu-Ray.com for even more upcoming releases.

Our writer Julian Ramirez is a big proponent of physical media, always lauding formats new and old (mostly old nowadays). Whether is vinyl, cassettes or CDs; 4k UHD, Blu-ray, or VHS, he believes that physical media is an important part of preserving art and imbues another dimension of appreciating the work.  This series will focus on some of his favorite pieces of physical media in his collection. I love Twin Peaks. It's easily my favorite TV show of all time as it somehow manages to be funny, awkward, harrowing, disturbing, and so deep with lore that it still begs to be deciphered even after 30 years. Created by Mark Frost and David Lynch, the show follows the town of Twin Peaks as they mourn the loss of Laura Palmer, a young pillar of the community that has as many dark secrets as the town itself. Twin Peaks just scratches every itch I have when it comes to a good time watching TV. And while I adore Lynch (he's a top 5 director for me and I've attended every Retrospective the Music Box Theatre has put on), the show is as much his as it is his collaborators from top to bottom regardless of what other diehard Lynch fans think. So over the years I have amassed a LOT of the physical releases of Twin Peaks. I didn't stumble on to the show until my early teens, so I missed out on the first DVD release that for a little while felt impossible to find (I have since acquired a copy). Instead I was satiated with bootleg DVDs purchased at comic book conventions. My first exposure to the show was here and it completely hooked me from the first episode. My first official collection was the The Definitive Gold Box Edition which even at the time wasn't entirely true. Even the later Complete Mystery edition which featured the prequel sequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and the long awaiting Missing Pieces wasn't exactly everything (those initial audio commentaries are only available on the first official DVD release). But it came close especially as those Missing Pieces were deleted scenes from the film that many fans dreamed would contain answers and just as many figured would be just as labyrinthine (its actually both). But with The Return, all these releases would be just a little less complete. The Return saw Twin Peaks expand with another 18 episodes, all written by Frost and Lynch and directed entirely by Lynch. Its truly an near 18 hour long film that explores the world of Twin Peaks 25 years after the end of the second season. For some its a frustrating experience, indulging in Lynch's more esoteric ramblings. For me, it's Lynch at his best, exploring the frighting evil the humanity is capable of in the modern age. So with the end of the series it was time for another collection and Twin Peaks: Z - A, for the time being, is as complete as it's gonna get (those damn audio commentaries still elude us! ) Twin Peaks: Z - A features every episode of the show, including the European version of the pilot which acts a singular film and encompasses the supernatural layer of the story pretty well. It also has Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and the Missing Pieces in all their oddball glory. The Return is also here with a 4k version of "Episode 8" or "Got a Light" which for my money eclipses previous best episodes of Twin Peaks ("Episode 2"/"Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer", "Episode 14"/"Lonely Souls" and "Episode 29"/"Beyond Life and Death""). It's a beautiful collection, housed in a cube adorned with imagery familiar with the series: trees, red velvet curtains, black and white zig-zag patterns. Inside is an acrylic standee of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) evoking the original image of her whispering the answer to the show's integral mystery into Agent Dale Cooper's (Kyle MacLachlan) ear, but instead kissing him as she is seen during The Return. Even further in we discover a collection of square images from the show and behind the scenes, perfect to decorate anyone's Lynch Obsesses home. The discs are housed in the bane of every collector's bane: cardboard slips that don't secure the discs. While I've never had an issue with this sort of packaging, but I know it's not perfect and I get a little nervous every time I slip a disc out. As is tradition, I began a rematch of the series last weekend on Twin Peaks day (February 24) and was just as enthralled by the quirky townspeople being terrorized by otherworldly forces as I was during my first time. I won't pretend to know exactly what is going on with every bit of lore or the true meaning of the show (unlike some slightly too self assured and arrogant 4 hour and a half long videos) but I have my theories and will be discussing some of them in the coming weeks. In the meantime, I highly encourage you to watch Twin Peaks. The Z to A edition is currently out of print, but there are plenty of regular edition copies of Twin Peaks on physical media online. It's a wonderful show and you won't regret it. The show is also streaming on Paramount+ if that's your bag.

Despite being almost 20 years old at this point (seriously!), Avatar: The Last Airbender still has a passionate fan base. And thanks to streaming services, new fans have been discovering Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender in waves as it has gone on and off of sites like Netflix. It’s not surprise, then, that Netflix would want to create a live action adaptation of The Last Airbender. While fans are quick to disown M. Night Symalan’s The Last Airbender for his depressing portrayal of the “Uhvatar” and its clumsy adaptation of the source material’s first season. It’s no wonder, then, that news of this live action show was met with some trepidation. Especially when original series showrunners Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino decided to leave over creative differences. But it couldn’t be that bad, right? Well… I just finished binging the Netflix series, and while it does a few things right, it is a disappointing adaptation that fumbles major characters, and suffers from a strange format, poor direction, bad writing, and a whole lots of other strange story mishandling that detracted from the show’s serious potential. I do have some bias. As I mentioned, I’m a huge fan of Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show is nearly perfect, even if it did have a semi-rough first season as it was finding its footing. But it’s a show full of heart, subverted expectations, and some great characters that grow believably over the course of three seasons. The source material for the Netflix adaptation is so beloved that even the animated show’s creators couldn’t win fans over with the follow-up The Legend of Korra in the same was as they did the original. The Netflix show, therefore, was probably never going to make everyone happy. I can’t say that Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender didn’t have a rocky start. From the very first episode it was hard for me to get away from some of the costuming choices and set designs. They also didn’t do enough to establish Aang as a potentially worldly kid. In fact, they do a bad job establishing him as a “kid” at all, immediately showing him flying through the air as the other Air Nomads look on in awe. Aang, portrayed here by Gordon Cormier is a child, like as in the source material–and while I don’t want to bash child actors, Aang’s portrayal is stilted and lacks the main character's trademark charisma and charm. Taking Aang into live action is tough, and while Cormier looks like him well enough, it’s hard to get behind this incarnation. Let me get this out of the way right now: any of the acting decisions, line deliveries, and anything like that may have been at the behest of the director. And, frankly, some of these actors are kids–so there is a certain amount of leeway that I think should be given. However, the real blame here lies on the directors and the writers. Despite the live action show and the source material’s first seasons having similar runtimes, the format of the show required lots of truncation of stories. This lead to a whole lot of expository narrative dumps–and everyone knows that in storytelling it’s always best to show, and not tell. Unfortunately., there's a hell of a lot of telling here. Characters frequently make references to exciting adventures they had offscreen, instead of showing us these moments. This means that a lot of the bonding that is happening between the main characters is happening off screen. And a lot of their growth as characters–their bending abilities getting better, and how they deal with their predicament emotionally–is left for the characters to talk about instead of perform. The direction itself is pretty wanting, too. There are lots of character reactions that are literally missing. There aren’t many reaction shots in the show–at least none that shows the character’s face in close-up. This gives action sequences a cheap, stage play feel to them. And the costuming only helps lend to that feeling. Some of the characters are portrayed well, and some of the casting is spot on. Zuko and Iroh are portrayed well–even despite some significant changes to Iroh’s character. There is a lot of screen time dedicated to showing the audience why Iroh would go on this journey with Zuko, when most of that could have been shown in their relationship in real-time, and not through flashbacks. In fact, a lot of these flashbacks give us too much information about what happened before, while we only get quips about what is happening now. I understand why some of the story decisions were made. And it was interesting to see major plotlines from the source material being mashed together to form new stories. But to do this there were some major sacrifices made to the messages behind those stories, and sadly, to beloved characters. Bumi, especially, was done dirty by the show. There were some changes I appreciated, however, even if they required some contrivances to exist. Seeing Avatar Kyoshi go ham on that group of Fire Nation soldiers was pretty fun. But a lot of Aang’s eagerness and fun lovingness was left behind here for the sake of the narrative. Tonally, Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is a lot darker than the cartoon. I don’t know if the show needed to focus on the horror of war. Maybe the showrunners wanted to make a point of how a world that has been in conflict for 100 years would react. Spoilers: everyone has PTSD. And how can you blame them? The Fire Nation is pretty ruthless, with people burning to death screaming pretty frequently on this show. But the showrunners can’t grasp a global conflict of this scale, and they don’t realize that the entire world wouldn't be plunged into constant war for 100 years. This is further proved by a sweet (but dumb) story beat where Zuko saved a “divison” of troops, only for them to be ordered to accompany him on his exile instead of die needlessly. Except, a division of soldiers is way more crew than is needed for a boat. I guess I can’t say how the Fire Nation divides its forces, but even so, the battle plan made it sound like this “division” would be a significant force, not just like 20-40 dudes. And the entire show is littered with writing issues like this. Overall, this first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender felt a lot less epic than its source material’s first season. The characters grew, but it was all offscreen. They bonded–again, offscreen. Except for Iroh and Zuko, who had extensive screen time dedicated to making them sympathetic characters–instead of just having it naturally through their actions as the story progressed. It also suffers from a horribly uneven tone–with people burning to death and others suffering PTSD, and the writers still trying to inject some of the lighthearted fun that permeated the source material. They failed. It also doesn’t help that the showrunners felt it necessary to change significant portions of the source material’s lore, as well as character’s personalities and even motivations. What’s left is something that I’d probably enjoy watching on Ember Island, but not really what I wanted out of a live action Avatar. Did anyone even really ask for this? Avatar the Last Airbender is streaming now on Netflix.

Fast food giant Wendy’s plans to test out its own form of surge pricing in 2025, according to comments made by its CEO during the company’s February earnings call. "Beginning as early as 2025, we will begin testing more enhanced features like dynamic pricing,” Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner said on the call, according to Gizmodo. Tanner said the company plans to invest approximately $20 million in digital menus, with an additional $10 million “over the next two years to support digital menu board enhancements for the global system.” The digital menus will allow the company to change its prices easily at any time of day or night, depending on whatever arbitrary justification they feel allows for a “dynamic” shift in price. Tanner also said the company plans to move forward with “AI enabled menu changes and suggestive selling,” according to Nation’s Restaurant News. Wendy’s will also reportedly spend $55 million over the next two years to market its breakfast menu in the US and Canada. Thanks to rideshare behemoths like Uber and Lyft consumers have become forced to accept companies worming surge pricing into more parts of our lives. While price changes based on whims has been common in industries like travel and hospitality, with airlines charging more for tickets based on peak travel times and hotels charging more based on peak tourism numbers in an area, the practice is becoming increasingly common in other sectors. As if there isn’t enough price gouging already when it comes to concerts and sporting events, surge pricing dynamic pricing is becoming increasingly common when purchasing tickets. Changing prices based on vibes is a practice designed to extract as much wealth from both consumer and worker, especially when it comes to goods and services. We’ve already begrudgingly accepted that a Dave’s Single in New York City ($6.99) will be a couple bucks more than in other places like its flagship location in Dublin, Ohio ($5.49). Drivers pay more at the pump based on geographic location and time of year. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, 36 percent of toilet paper increased by 20 percent, and 11 percent at least doubled in price, with the highest price increase coming in at just under $80 ($30.95 to $109.99) for a 36 roll package. Wendy’s seems to believe that people will embrace and even celebrate the move. "We expect our digital menu boards will drive immediate benefits to order accuracy, improve crew experience, and [prompt] sales growth from upselling and consistent merchandising execution,” said Tanner. But the reason why surge pricing works for ride sharing or concert tickets is because a very small amount of companies have a near monopoly on the good or service. If you need a ride and are out of other options like public transit or cycling and can’t find a cab, Uber and Lyft are the only games in town. Almost every major tour sells through Ticketmaster. But in a good chunk of America, you can throw a rock in almost any direction and hit a car in a drive-thu. Many times, if there’s a Wendy’s, there’s also a McDonald’s, a Burger King, and probably a KFC or Taco Bell, not to mention any number of regional chains or independent owned fast food joints. Whether or not surge pricing will be the windfall the company’s executives hope it will be is up in the air, but the really unfortunate part for all of us is that if one of the fast food chains is toying with the idea, it probably means more of them are. Which means as we march bravely into the future, we need to be prepared for a sea of digital signs screaming ever changing prices in our faces that are most likely far too high for what they’re offering.