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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.

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.

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.

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.

There have been two fascinating trends I’ve seen growing over the last couple of years. Analog horror in the Youtube space and the fake found game within the gaming sphere. While they can be separate, there is a tendency for overlap. It’s a new groundbreaking way to tell a story outside of the traditional pen/paper and film. These both use multi medium ARG’s (Alternate Reality Gaming) to tell an intricate story, create a mythos and develop something wholly new, but for those without this background knowledge, let me explain. Before we dig into the meat of this discussion, I’d also want to explain to you what an ARG is. This stands as the modern day scavenger hunt. Taking a series of dots and dashes seen in a Youtube video, and deciphering it in morse code to get a URL to a separate website with more puzzles to solve. These generally have a start and an end, but are usually community driven, as Reddit has become a popular place for people to convene and trade notes to progress the plot of the scavenger hunt. One of the more unknown mainstream ARGs was for the film Cloverfield, which had the community decoding and traveling sometimes in the real world, to get more story on the film before its release. These projects are massive undertakings but work as marketing tools in a lot of ways, leaving fans chomping at the bit. Now let’s talk about Analog Horror. The conceit of Analog Horror is using older technology, cryptic messages and late 20th century television style. Things like The Blair Witch Project. Not all analog horror is found footage, but the idea of camera scan lines, jump cuts, CRT static fuzz. There are dozens of different Analog Horror youtube series that are just clips of various cable access programs from the 90s but with hidden messages, secret URLs and an entire rabbit hole of codes to decipher leading you into a spooky tale of demonic invasions or serial killers coming through your TV. The level of polish and quality of these videos are fascinating because they are created out of love for storytelling. Watching clips of Local 58’s channel, you would be hard pressed to think that these weren’t anything but 90’s news briefings when really they are warnings about the moon watching us waiting to strike. I’ve never been one to join in on any active ARG’s but I can’t help but be in awe of it all. Watching explainer videos on The Mandela Catalogue, Don’t Huge Me I’m Scared or The Walten Files have been my late night ritual for a few years now. The stories are great, but the real appeal is  understanding the minds that are running numbers through decoders, or audio signals through spectrograms. Polybius ciphers are lost on me and digging into website HTML code never clicked in my brain but the fans persevere. Similarly, Found Game Storytelling, is another form of Analog Horror, but the old tech used is Videogames. Games like Amanda the Adventurer and Inscryption are promoted as long lost games of the NES and Floppy Disk era while Petscop, and Shipwrecked 64 are from the Nintendo 64 and Playstation 1 days. All seem fairly harmless but after a playthrough, the games all start to go off the rails in their own way. Amanda the Adventurer and Mr TomatoS both pose as edu-tainment styled learning games that when given incorrect answers, the characters in game react in extremely unnerving ways while Petscop’s backwards speech conversations and wall breaking gameplay can lead to mysterious graves. The newest in this trend, Shipwrecked 64, plays similarly to  Mario 64, where you are  Bucky Beaver trying to get his friends off an island full of bossy wolves. That seems simple enough as a premise, and traditionally the game can be completed in 30 minutes, the games in game description talks about its mysterious release and quick removal from store shelves. When failing quests, walking through walls and discovering hidden passcodes, a rivalry between a game publisher and developer is discovered. A sorted tale of suicide, murder and undead mascot monsters all lies underneath the surface for you. Also this year came Home Safety Hotline, a game of answering phone calls for a hotline service, giving people advice and services based on the pests they describe in their home. As you progress you find that the pests end up being more and more cryptids including hobs, slimes and mirror nymphs. It’s as mundane as it is surreal and leads to some very fun conversations, but it’s that shift from the humdrum to the supernatural that catches you off guard. What makes it Analog Horror is its use of the retro style Microsoft ‘95 interface to interact with the calls as well as its unassuming work-like appearance to hide something sinister. It’s the fake out that is common to the genre. I think that’s what makes these kinds of phenomena so bewitching to me. I love learning about niche cultures that lie just underneath the surface and that’s exactly what these games are. Face value means nothing, Analog Horror and the Found Game genre are the epitome of an iceberg. There’s a group of dedicated fans and creators, all working together to create and discover new stories to tell and new ways to tell them. Hell, there’s even a new ongoing series that’s neither Youtube nor Video Game but just a website that is an ARG all it’s own, with a rich unsettling lore inspired by Mr Rogers called Welcome Home. There’s just so much more to explore in this space as far as storytelling. All you have to do is just look a little deeper, I know I’ll continue to do so.

I appreciate the fact that video games of all eras are being represented by contemporary developers. It’s no surprise that even tried and true formulas will be tweaked by modern developers mixing up the formula a bit. WRATH: Aeon of Ruin is an example of a game that has a great retro feel with some “why’d they do it?” tweaks the developer made to the formula that actually end up not entirely ruining the whole experience. WRATH: Aeon of Ruin is a first person retro style shooter in the vein of Quake or other fast-paced 3D shooters that came out of the mid to late 90’s. It's set in a vague afterlife type world with a flimsy story that sets up the most important part: gibbing lots of low poly enemies with extreme prejudice. As with any other “boomer shooter” movement is fast, and enemies are plenty. There are a good variety of different enemy types with behaviors that will make you stay moving. Unfortunately, the enemy types stay the same between the multiple different zones you’ll fight across. There also aren’t many boss encounters, which is a bummer. One of the most important parts of a first person shooter is the shooting, and WRATH: Aeon of Ruin does a great job, even if its selection of weapons is unconventional. I’m not unused to strange weapons in first person shooters. The '90s, in fact, were a time when developers were trying to come up with the most unconventional arms you can imagine. That tradition stays alive in this title, with weapons that fire teeth instead of bullets, or globs of explosive acid instead of conventional grenades. There are normal firearms like the shotgun, and the pistol. But every weapon has an alternate fire mode that makes them more interesting than just a normal gun. And let’s talk about that blade. The Outsider also has an arm blade that is absolutely one of the most fun things I’ve had the pleasure of using in a retro themed first person shooter. While most default melee weapons are boring or just useful as tools, the arm blade is a powerful weapon that gibs enemies and even works as a traversal tool. Instead of rocket jumping, you can blade jump after charging up your blade. It’s very cool. Fights take place in a variety of environments, both tight corridors and open arenas. While there are the normal traps with walls sliding away to reveal enemies and such, I can’t say that any of the levels were particularly clever. They were competently made, and had a flow that made it so I never quite felt like I lost my bearing. I never spent too much time wandering around looking for where to go. The biggest departure that WRATH: Aeon of Ruin takes from conventional retro styled shooters is the save system. Traditionally you are allowed to save as much as you want in these games. However, WRATH: Aeon of Ruin incorporates an item-based system. You can only save when you have a soul tether to expend, or if you come across a single-use shrine. Having limited saves is a bold move, as it feels antithetical to the boomer shooter style. It doesn’t really add much to the gameplay, beyond having a bit of extra stress, but I find it didn’t really detract too much, either. Enemy encounters can be difficult, however–and dying does have the potential to derail gameplay significantly. There are power-ups to employ that can help stave off death, and armor/health pick-ups scattered around the level so you never feel too starved of resources. WRATH: Aeon of Ruin feels great to play. It has great shooting, strange but good feeling weapons, and a nice variety of enemies. I do wish there were different enemies for the different zones you fight through, but the limited enemy types kind of fits with the theme. I do wish there was an option for a conventional save system, however. And lack of controller support is a strange decision, especially since WRATH: Aeon of Ruin is exactly like something I’d want to play on the Steam Deck. If you’re into boomer shooters, WRATH: Aeon of Ruin is a no-brainer. I’d even argue it was essential if it didn’t make strange design decisions. WRATH: Aeon of Ruin leaves Early Access tomorrow and will be available for PC via Steam.

So Night Country won’t be the last season of True Detective afterall. Which isn’t really surprising to anyone who has been paying attention to the sheer amount of viewers that Night Country has attracted due to its controversies. Audiences don’t seem fooled, with Night Country’s fresh rating sitting around a rotten 58% as of this writing. However, critics were much more generous with the Issa López driven season, with the majority of critics giving it a 92 percent fresh rating on RottenTomatoes.com. I wish I could have watched the same show they did, because despite Night Country’s careful depiction of Native Alaskans, I didn’t find the portrayal particularly flattering for that group, and the story itself was a jumbled, illogical mess. The only thing saving the season was the great portrayals of Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) and Officer Carol Danvers (Jodie Foster) who really played the hell out of their roles. “From conception to release, Night Country has been the most beautiful collaboration and adventure of my entire creative life," López said. "HBO trusted my vision all the way, and the idea of bringing to life a new incarnation of True Detective with Casey, Francesca, and the whole team is a dream come true. I can’t wait to go again.” Pizzolatto, the show’s original creator, has taken to social media to create backlash against the show. Which, to me, is a baffling move bound to hurt his career more than anything else. And while there are a lot of fans and some critics that didn’t enjoy Night Country, there are some fans (and most critics) that did. Francesca Orsi, EVP, HBO Programming, Head of HBO Drama Series and Films had nothing but kind words to say about Night Country and its creator: “Issa López is that one-of-a-kind, rare talent that speaks directly to HBO’s creative spirit," she said. "She helmed True Detective: Night Country from start to finish, never once faltering from her own commendable vision, and inspiring us with her resilience both on the page and behind the camera. Alongside Jodie and Kali’s impeccable performances, she’s made this installation of the franchise a massive success, we are so lucky to have her as part of our family.” This controversy has definitely led to higher viewership for Night Country. Will this trend follow through the 5th season of True Detective? Or is it the curse of that show’s lead to only strike gold once? Only time will tell.

I'll be honest, there was no way I was heading into Madame Web with an open mind and that kinda sucks. But it's not entirely on me. Sony have sculpted a very, VERY, bad superhero reputation after accidentally stumbling upon a good one in the 2000s. Spiderman and Spiderman 2 were fantastic movies that really let Sam Raimi go wild in creating his particular vision of Spider-man, that 60s nerd turned hero but somehow jettisoned into modern day, and made it work. But almost immediately after Spiderman 2, that gold started to tarnish. The Punisher is not the worst thing ever, but it's far from great. Nicolas Cage Ghost Rider? That's wholeheartedly in the so bad they're good spectrum. The rebooted Amazing Spider-man? So many great ideas overstuffed into two movies, making for an exhausting unfinished experience. For every Spider-man Into the Spiderverse there's Morbius and two Venoms. Pretty much literally. So instead of giving you an in depth review about how bad this movie is (and boy is it terrible) and how much I actively enjoyed watching it (I love this dumb movie), I'm going to give you my slightly abridged notes that I took while watching Madame Web in theatres. I've omitted any of my acting comments (just assume the actors were bored or confused throughout) and focused mostly on plot point so spoilers ahead. But if we're still being honest, it doesn't matter. I could rundown every bit of the movie and they way it actually happens on screen is so unbelievably silly that spoilers may improve it. Also here's the trailer for Madame Web, which after watching the movie I am incredibly confused as to what movie they thought they were advertising. This driving seems erratic for an emergency vehicle Is that supposed to be Ben Parker? Why can't you bend cardboard? Are they not allowed to mention Aunt May? Hey, Mike Epps! If this is Pespi product placement, why does she not want Pepsi? I would say all those names are pretty close to Peter... Wait are they not allowed to mention Peter Parker? These goofy future whispers don't work Is that a Spider-man S (spoilers its better (?)) This ADR or dubbing or completely replacing a characters voice is done REALLY badly. Like old martial arts movie badly. NO MIKE EPPS! Why is she watching a Christmas movie in the summer? FEET Spider-Person? FEET Is he switching in and out of that costume or are they all hallucinating? Wait, those are the only connections between all the characters? Just leaving the teens in the woods huh? The cat doesn't care about your embarrassment Madame Webb. OMG HER NECK I know it's a movie but they probably shouldn't have made the trek to the diner on foot be shorter than a car racing to it from the same spot, short cut or not. Hit more Evil Spider-Persons with cars Why are you returning to the scene of the crime? oh its a dream sequence but also a thing that actually happened because they are psychically connected? HOW ARE YOU LEAVING THE COUNTRY? YOU'RE WANTED FOR KIDNAPPING! Do the spiders slow aging? Didn't Mother Webb write anything about her unborn child's illness in her diary? or did you not read it Madame Webb? WHY BLOW UP THE BUILDING? WHY ARE YOU MAGIC? WHY IS THE "S" FROM A PEPSI SIGN? FIREWORKS ARE DANGEROUS ...Madame Webb is Batman but her wards' families are just assholes and not dead. But the high-tech wheelchair is giving Professor X vibes so maybe that's a more apt analogy. Much like the Fast and Furious series this movie is about FAMILY

2023 was packed full of great video games, so it makes sense if you missed a few. I know I did–I’m still playing catch-up. That means I missed some great games, and Howl is definitely one of them. A delightful hand drawn surprise, more people should be talking about this game. Howl is a turn-based tactics game that is set in a hand drawn fantasy world. You play as a deaf protagonist making her way across a world beset by a “howling” plague–one that turns all who hear it into ferocious beasts. You’re not a trained warrior, but you’re not exactly helpless either, as you have your crossbow, wits, a hell of a strong push and a few other tricks that you’ll pick up along the way. Howl is extremely tight little game, with most of the chaff removed and the meat being a neat hand drawn experience that even manages to eke out some poignancy through its moody music and dramatic voice overs. It also has a sleepy, casual quality to it–but it doesn’t skimp on the challenge. She only has three arrows at a time, so you have to plan your encounters wisely. Two hits and you’re dead, so you can’t suffer too much damage. If you take too many moves to complete a level you exceed “prophecy” you'll receive a lower score based on how much over prophecy you went. It’s best to stay within the prophecy, since you get more points that way to spend on upgrades. There is an assist mode that can be turned on to make some of your tasks easier. While Howl is technically a tactics game, it’s such a tight game it can be argued that it’s a puzzle game foremost. There aren’t many tactical decisions you can make since the margin of error is so low. There was usually room for me to find a more optimal solution, and that was through trial and error. I may not have been playing “correctly” but I found myself playing each level a few times so I can see how the enemies react and respond accordingly. There isn’t much hand holding, so I found myself experimenting with abilities before I locked in my optimal run. Different enemies have different behavior. At first you’ll encounter wolves that can attack adjacent spaces only, but soon you’ll be encountering fiercer beasts that can attack from a distance, while running into scenarios where you have to meet a certain goal–like protecting innocent bystanders. Upgrades are bought with points you earn through level completion. The better you do, the more upgrade points you  have. This is a bit of a novel concept, as I don't remember explicitly running across a system that uses the star rating you earned for the level for currency you use to upgrade your abilities. However, this also gives those who are already apt to do better an advantage over those who may be struggling Its story is told in voice over narration. Unfortunately, for a game touting to be “folklore” there is little lore here. What you read on the tin is pretty much what you get, with the story boiling down to “the prophecy says go here and stop wolves.” I do enjoy its art style, but the hand drawn animated roguelike/turn-based game is pretty commonplace at this point. Howl is an underrated game from a year full of great games. If you’re looking for a tight puzzle-like turn-based tactics game that is close in play style to games like Into the Breach, Howl is a safe bet. It is, however, a game that sits on the shorter end of the time scale–I was able to get through it in about six hours. But because it’s puzzle adjacent, your mileage may vary. Howl is available now for PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, for Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series S|X and PlayStation 5.