While we wait for A Quiet Place 3, it’s time to turn our attention to a different family with a lighter tone during the apocalypse and we explain the meaning behind Netflix’s White Noise movie.
The film held its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in August 2022 and was then released in limited cinemas over November. White Noise then settled on Netflix when it debuted on December 30.
Directed by Noah Baumbach and adapting the 1985 novel of the same name by Don DeLillo, White Noise is Baumbach’s first movie not following his own, original work, and follows a professor and his family during the 80s when toxic contamination breaks out and they have to evacuate.
White Noise Movie Meaning – What Does the Title Refer To?
As we know, white noise is a sort of static sound akin to an old television that has no signal, or used to communicate with spirits in horror movies. In current society, however, white noise has also been used to help people get to sleep or focus on tasks.
This is where the Netflix movie gets its name from because the title symbolizes the constant distractions in place to comfort or even blinker us from home truths.
In White Noise’s case, the Gladney couple is terrified of dying, therefore, their white noise acted as a barrier against this morality. The film demonstrates the constant white noise around us to stop us from thinking about the scary facts of life and proposes what would happen if that noise suddenly stopped.
Movie buffs will immediately recognize Star Wars and Marriage Story actor, Adam Driver, who famously portrayed Kylo Ren in the galaxy far, far away.
Driver is joined by director and actor, Greta Gerwig, who helmed Lady Bird and the Little Women remake. Gerwig is also married to White Noise’s director Baumbach.
Below, we have included White Noise’s full cast list:
Adam Driver – Prof. Jack Gladney
Greta Gerwig – Babette Gladney
Don Cheadle – Prof. Murray Siskind
Raffey Cassidy – Denise Gladney
Sam Nivolav – Heinrich Gladney
May Nivola – Steffie Gladney
Jodie Turner-Smith – Winnie Richards
André Benjamin – Elliot Lasher
Sam Gold – Alfonse
Carlos Jacott – Grappa
Lars Eidinger – Mr. Gray
Bill Camp – Man with TV
Barbara Sukowa – Sister Hermann Marie
Francis Jue – Dr. Lu
Henry and Dean Moore – Wilder Gladney
Gideon Glick and Chloe Fineman – Simuvac Technicians
Despite the source material being considered difficult to adapt for live-action, average to positive reviews have surfaced for White Noise since its theatre release back in November.
Some have commented on the movie’s struggle to handle the source material at points but generally came through strong on the sentiment.
Moviegoers have also shared their elation for the project’s end-credits scene, which will have everyone on their feet.
I didn’t write a review for #WhiteNoise, but here’s how I looked during the film vs. during the end credits dance scene with LCD Soundsystem’s absolute banger blaring. pic.twitter.com/ylvvAKtaS7
Salesforce division Tableau was hit harder than other units in the company's largest-ever round of jobs cuts this week, adding to a major reorganization that signals the $15.7 billion acquisition hasn't lived up to expectations. Bloomberg reports: Chief Executive Officer Mark Nelson was ousted from the data analytics division in late December and more senior staff were axed Wednesday as part of Salesforce's announcement that it would eliminate 10% of its workforce. Job reductions at Tableau were greater, proportionally, than the company at large thus far. After a half-decade of fast hiring and large acquisitions, Salesforce is trying to cut costs and better integrate the companies it has purchased. The software maker, which lost almost half of its value in 2022, has been pressured by investors to improve profit. The job cuts made public Wednesday -- about 8,000 workers -- are less than half of the number of employees hired in the pandemic and followed the announced exit in December of co-CEO Bret Taylor and the elimination of hundreds of sales positions in November.
Acquisitions fueled the company's headcount growth. Tableau, then Salesforce's most expensive deal when it was bought in 2019, came with 4,200 employees while Slack, purchased in 2021, and Mulesoft, acquired in 2018, together brought another 3,700, according to company filings. The three deals combined cost almost $50 billion with the estimated $27.7 billion for Slack leading the way. Workers across these acquired divisions were pummeled by the job reductions, particularly in recruiting and customer success roles, according to company employees. Tableau is increasingly being treated as a visualization tool for data contained in Salesforce's other services rather than a standalone program -- co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff highlighted the new integrations in a December keynote speech. The division has trailed the rest of the company in sales growth since the acquisition.
Salesforce also plans to pare back its office footprint. The company currently has four offices in the Seattle area, more than any other city, according to the company website. Three were inherited in the Tableau deal. Salesforce declined to comment on whether it would be reducing space in the Seattle area. Asked about the effect of Wednesday's job cuts on Tableau, a Salesforce spokesperson said the unit "is a vital part of our product strategy." Tableau contributes to a product that "processes over 100 billion customer records, and helps our customers understand and act on their data," the spokesperson said.
Hail to the king, baby. Three decades ago, Sam Raimi's "Army of Darkness" was released in the U.S., capping the "Evil Dead" trilogy which grew from a low-budget cult hit into a horror-comedy mainstay with buckets of blood to spare. You might remember it: Bruce Campbell's Ash and his chainsaw arm, a literal blood geyser, Ray Harryhausen-esque stop-motion skeletons. But your experience may vary, depending on which version of the movie you've seen. With Lee Cronin's upcoming franchise installment "Evil Dead Rise" on its way to theaters in April of 2023, it's a good time to look back on Raimi's 1993 cult hit, in all of its presentations.
Picking up from "Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn," the trilogy capper brings its splatstick out of cabin-in-the-woods territory and into a castle on a hill, taking a cue from the likes of Mark Twain. Similar to the hero of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," our strong-chinned savior Ash finds himself transported into the Middle Ages. Captured and later freed by the local authorities, and with his boomstick in tow, the chainsaw-wielding everyman sets out to locate the flesh-bound book of the dead, the Necronomicon — his ticket back home — amid impending war with a Deadite army.
There are four iterations of "Army Of Darkness," depending on where it was shown. The four official versions are as follows:
The Director's Cut, 96 minutes
The international version, 88 minutes
The U.S. Theatrical Version, 81 minutes
The U.S. Television Version, 88 minutes
A journey through the quartet reveals differences, both subtle and grand, between each respective entry; it's more than alternate endings.
The Director's Cut
The Director's Cut runs 96 minutes long — the lengthiest and most orderly sanctioned version of "Army of Darkness" in existence. Before Anchor Bay's 2000 DVD release came along, the only way a fan could see it was via import laserdisc, or they could hoist the Jolly Roger and find a bootleg copy. Restored from two sources — a high-contrast Japanese print of the international cut and a ¾" video copy from Campbell's personal vault — its middling quality could get dimmer than a "Game of Thrones" night scene.
In 2003, MGM released a Hong Kong and Japan-specific director's cut DVD with improved elements. While it was a region 4 disc, this version came from an unedited original 35mm print, and the scuttlebutt is that it's the best version of the film available anywhere. It adds new scenes from the theatrical cut, re-calibrates established ones, alters a few signature Ash one-liners, and is the only cut to feature the ending Raimi wanted audiences to see.
Therein, Ash seals himself in a cave and takes a magic potion (its recipe from the retrieved Necronomicon) to return to his own time. This is the same guy who couldn't remember a simple three-word chant in the film, so naturally, he takes too much potion and overshoots his target date. Stumbling out of the cave, he discovers a post-apocalyptic London and falls to his knees shouting, "No! I slept too long!" The ending was deemed too much of a downer by Universal, and so it was nixed in favor of the S-Mart ending most fans know, but the alt ending would reverberate in the Rip Van Winkle-esque finale of the "Ash vs. Evil Dead" TV series.
The International Version
The 88-minute international version was assembled by Dino DeLaurentiis Communications for territories outside the U.S., with cuts amounting to, according to one source, 15 minutes and 19 seconds of excised footage.
In fact, the first 45 minutes of this "Army of Darkness" is the same as the Director's Cut, up until the Tiny Ashes show up in the old mill. It's one of the funniest sequences of the film entire, with Ash battling unholy Lilliputian copies of himself using, as the "Evil Dead" movies love to use, common objects on hand to dispatch victims. The international cut lets some oxygen out of the Tiny Ashes tank, a fissure worth over two minutes of cut footage. Viewers are denied the sight of Ash removing a fork from his buttcheek, threatening the Ashes repeatedly, and various Three Stooges-style injuries: the bucket of questionable fluids being dumped onto his head and the subsequent slip-n-slide that leads to Ash burning his buns on the stovetop, a head bump leading to his face being covered in soot, and the entire "London Bridge" taunt before Ash takes a nail to the foot. The full list of differences can be found on the comprehensive Book of the Dead website, where it becomes clear that, outside of the ending, DeLaurentiis' cut was focused more on time-shaving than anything else.
This version contains the S-Mart ending most fans are familiar with, in which Ash makes it back to the present and resumes his job at the S-Mart department store. As he talks up Bridget Fonda, a lingering Deadite attacks and Ash gives it both barrels, saving the day and getting the girl. This ending earned the movie the title "Captain Supermarket" in Japan, both for its theatrical release and home video.
The Theatrical And TV Versions
Naturally, the MPAA hit "Army of Darkness" with an R rating, a downer for Universal's plans to market to teenagers. Bill Warren's "The Evil Dead Companion" reports that the studio outsourced the movie to third-party film editors who chopped the film down to 81 minutes, not that it did much good; the movie sat on the back burner for six months due to "The Silence of the Lambs," and still got the R rating.
Nonetheless, the U.S. theatrical version is the best-known and most accessible iteration of the movie for those in North America. One of its major cuts is the lovemaking scene between Ash and Sheila (Embeth Davidtz, who would play Helen Hirsch in Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List"). Again, some of the most hilarious bits of the movie would be left on the cutting room floor. The Tiny Ashes sequence would be largely cleaved into a fraction of its pratfalls, and the scene where Ash splits into Good and Bad Ash is decimated and adds the line, "Good. Bad. I'm the guy with the gun." This, like the other versions, utilizes the S-Mart ending.
Finally, the TV version is shortened for both time and content as one would expect it to be. Coming in at 88 minutes, its most egregious changes are for language: "Yo, She-B****" becomes "She-Witch," "I never even saw these a******* before" is overdubbed to "I never even saw these eggheads before." In short, it's as defanged as a Raimi movie can get.
Book of the Dead chronicles that it was first shown on the NBC Universal circuit. The Sci-Fi Channel and USA Network aired the TV edit around 1997, and this version still runs on the boob tube to this day. For the grooviest viewing experience, though, it's Director's Cut or bust.
Modder ‘Andrey0007’ has released an HD Texture Pack for the first STALKER game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. As the modder noted, this pack features brand new textures (and not overhauled textures via AI techniques). Going into more details, the new textures were created exclusively for the OGSR Engine, as it works well with unloading a … Continue reading S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Rebuild Texture Pack V1.0 is available for download →
A customer wanted to create a user with a specific SID prefix:
We know that you can’t create a user with a specific SID, but can we at least create it with a specific SID prefix?
We naïvely tried this:
net user /add Fred
net localgroup "Cryptographic Operators" Fred /add
Since the Cryptographic Operators group SID is S-1-5-32-569, we expected that the newly-created user “Fred” would have a SID of the form S-1-5-32-569-(random)-1000, but it doesn’t.
How do we create a user with a specific SID prefix? We want Fred to be a member of the “Cryptographic Operators” group, so we need the user SID to be under the “Cryptographic Operators” SID.
Okay, that’s not how SID prefixes work.
Group membership is not controlled by SID prefixes. It is not the case that all members of the “Cryptographic Operators” group have a SID prefix of S-1-5-32-569, nor is it the case that you must have that prefix in order to be a member of the “Cryptographic Operators” group.
In fact, S-1-5-32-569 is not a legal SID prefix at all, since it is not a so-called domain identifier, which is the fancy name for “a thing that can produce new SIDs via suffixing.”
If you think about it, it makes sense that group membership is not controlled by SID prefixes. After all, a user can belong to multiple groups: You are probably a member of the local Administrators group (S-1-5-32-544), the Remote Desktop Users group (S-1-5-32-555), the Users group (S-1-5-32-545), the Authenticated Users group (S-1-5-11), and a whole bunch of others. But you have only one SID, so it can’t have all of those groups as a prefix.
Group membership is determined by entries in the user’s token, and those entries are placed there at token creation based on the group memberships. When the system later wants to check if a user is in a group, it does so by looking in the token to see if there is an entry for that group in the token. It doesn’t do it by doing a prefix check on the user SID.
You have your gym membership card in your wallet, but that doesn’t mean that you were born at the gym. Your national identity number was issued by Stockholm, but that doesn’t prevent you from being a registered resident of Göteborg.
The way to create a user in a group is to do exactly what the customer did: Create the user (which will assign them a SID), and then add the user to the groups you want them to be members of (which will add them in the group membership database).
The numeric properties of the SID are not important. As long as each entity gets a unique SID, that’s the important thing. The prefixing technique is just a way to make sure that separate SID-creating entities can create unique SIDs without colliding with each other: If you give each SID-creating entity a unique prefix to stamp onto its created SIDs, then you can be sure that their SIDs won’t collide.
Bonus chatter: Although the numeric properties are not important from a security standpoint, you can use knowledge of the SID-assignment algorithm to infer information about the circumstances of the SID’s creation, in the same way that looking at a person’s national identity number tells you where they were born.¹ For example, by looking at the SID, you can determine which SID-creating entity issued it, and from the RID you can infer which domain controller was used.
¹ In 1990, Sweden stopped encoding geographic information in the national identity number, so that trick works only for older people.
AMD's recently announced Ryzen 7000 X3D Zen 4 3D V-Cache CPUs may not feature overclocking support just like their predecessors.
AMD Ryzen 7000 X3D CPUs Don't Get Full Overclocking Support, Microsoft Working on Windows 11 Optimizations For Multi-CCD Chips
In the Q&A with the press, AMD confirmed that their Ryzen 7000 X3D 3D V-Cache CPUs will benefit from more advanced tuning features such as PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) and Curve optimizer but it looks like manual frequency overclocking or any voltage adjustments are still out of question.
AMD is recommending users go with Curve Optimizer as it delivers the best balance of overall CPU performance but hard frequency overclocking is locked just like the previous generation Zen 3D V-Cache chips. According to the red team, the voltages have gotten more aggressive this time around, going up to 1.4V versus the 1.1V limit on the Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU. The stacked L3 cache featured on the chip is very sensitive to high temperatures and additional voltage and it is possible that the chips can break if these are tweaked, hence there's a hard lock just like the previous gen. So AMD Ryzen 7000 X3D CPUs have to do with the limited voltage they have to benefit from PBO and Curve Optimizer.
Last year, when AMD launched its Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU, ex-Head of Technical Marketing, Robert Hallock stated that they were quick in rolling out the Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU in the gaming market so it is likely that given enough time to mature, AMD could have future generations of 3D V-Cache chips that support overclocking just like any other CPU. Now AMD has definitely improved upon its first-generation designs, offering more auto-tuning options and higher clock speeds to work with but for full manual overclocking, it looks like we will have to wait a bit more.
There were also a few reports that the overclocking lock was bypassed by a few overclockers and we know for certain that a few motherboard vendors were working on a BIOS for the Ryzen 7 5800X3D to enable overclock support but that didn't pan out and AMD hit hard with the restrictions which mean those plans had to go down the drain.
AMD & Microsoft To Optimize Windows 11 For Hybrid Chiplet Architecture Designs
In addition to that, Microsoft and AMD are also working to optimize the dual-CCD Ryzen 7000 X3D configurations within Windows 11. This is the first time that AMD is launching a CPU with two very different chiplets. One CCD will be configured with a 3D V-Cache (plus lower clocks) while the other will be configured with a standard Non-V-Cache die but run at faster clocks (up to 5.7 GHz). This is also the first time the boost clocks are rated just as high as the Non-3D parts but it remains to be seen how Windows 11 optimizes the workloads and usage across those CCDs as games will clearly benefit from the 3D V-Cache die while single-threaded workloads will benefit more from the other non-3D die.
The optimizations will come through AMD's own chipset drivers which will select from a range of games that benefit from the increased V-Cache solution. This is a process that requires time to mature so it is likely that we will see improvements months into the launch of the Ryzen 7000 X3D CPUs.
The PlayStation 5 console is known for being able to be placed on a vertical or horizontal position depending on the user's preferences and space needs. Unfortunately, it seems like the former position is going to be the cause of some major issues that will happen down the line for several users, according to several hardware repair experts.
Here's the deal. A repair shop owner has shared that using the PlayStation 5 vertically can make permanent damage to the console due to a critical design flaw. See, the problem is that the liquid metal used to cool the APU can sometimes spill, and become uneven, which impacts (at least) the cooling.
Do not put your Ps5 upright, here is the result the liquid moves and the freezes are there pic.twitter.com/A4Do3TkcXk
Ben Montana, the owner of the specialized repair shop ILoveMyConsole in France, has also been trying to bring attention to this issue for months. He says these are not isolated cases. According to him, the risk is high for PS5s that have been standing vertically for a long time, and he says all models are impacted. This includes Digital and Standard versions of the console.
Several cases of this problem have shown that the PS5’s “seal” between the APU and its cooler can sometimes move or be damaged. When that is the case, if your PS5 sits horizontally, the liquid metal will stay flat and keep most of its thermal properties to help cool the PS5. But suppose your PS5 is vertical, and “something” bad happens to the seal. In that case, there is a risk the liquid metal will progressively fall down, becoming uneven, impacting its cooling ability and possibly reaching components it shouldn’t.
It's worth noting that this is a case-by-case issue, and it's highly dependant on whether or not the seal is damaged. However, this issue can still permanently damage your PlayStation 5 so the best suggestion would be to set it horizontally for now until Sony makes a statement regarding this issue. The video below by YouTuber user TheCod3r can show this design flaw problem in action as well as further explain the reason behind the PlayStation 5 design flaw.
Once again, this problem depends on whether or not the seal is damaged. This is why multiple users will definitely report that they have been using their consoles vertically without any issues since launch. However, if you're able to set your console horizontally, this might be the better approach to take to make the console have a longer lifetime.
NVIDIA has rolled out their latest GeForce Game Ready Driver (528.02 WHQL) and this will be an important one to download if you’ve got yourself a spiffy GeForce RTX 4070 Ti graphics card (check out Wccftech’s full review of the new GPU here). The new driver also allow you to get the best out of DLSS 3 when playing Conqueror’s Blade and Dakar Desert Rally, which are both adding support for the upscaling tech this month.
Gaming Technology - The GeForce RTX 4070 Ti will max out your 1440p monitor, delivering over 120 FPS in modern games. Today, this super fast new graphics card arrives on shelves - to unlock its full potential, you’ll need our new Game Ready Driver.
Game Ready - This new Game Ready Driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for the latest new games supporting NVIDIA DLSS 3 technology including Conqueror’s Blade and Dakar Desert Rally.
Applications - The January NVIDIA Studio Driver provides optimal support for the latest new creative applications and updates announced at CES including a new Eye Contact feature for NVIDIA Broadcast and a myriad of new functionality for NVIDIA Omniverse. In addition, this NVIDIA Studio Driver also introduces support for the new GeForce RTX 4070 Ti.
Of course, as usual, the update includes a variety of fixes…
Portal RTX hang during resolution/mode change and GFE recording [3894168]
DirectX 12 - Shadowplay recordings may appear over exposed when Use HDR is enabled from the Windows display settings. [200742937]
AVS4You monochrome video preview [3890225]
Players report black/grey screens in Outer Wilds with 522.25 driver [3841593]
Lumion Pro 12.3 - Heavy corruption observed on app window [3784371]
Fixed brightness issue on some Notebooks [3765244]
GeForce Game Ready Driver 528.02 should be available to download now. Failing that, you can always manually download the update here.
If you’ve dropped something heavy on your dining table or smacked the surface of a board with a tool by accident, you might think the only recourse is to fill the dent and sand it. But there’s another fix to try first if the dent isn’t too deep: Many minor dents can be fixed with the power of steam, and it’s much…
Content warning: This film depicts sexual assault.
CANDY LAND probably isn’t what you think it is. At least, it isn’t only what you think it is. It’s a grindhouse slasher that takes a sensitive approach to sex work and sexual assault. It’s a surprising religious horror film that doesn’t shy away from the ugly parts of humanity. It’s a stylish, sly, and nuanced thriller that really makes you care about its characters. Most of all, it’s a refreshing new genre entry and an exciting film from writer-director John Swab.
“Candy Land” is a truck stop at exit 17, a popular spot for truckers and other travelers to find a sex worker with little police interference. Riley (Eden Brolin), Levi (Owen Campbell), Sadie (Sam Quartin), and Sadie’s girlfriend Liv (Virginia Rand) work Candy Land, and they’ve formed a family. They protect each other and keep each other company during the stretches between clients pulling up to the truck stop. One day, Remy (Olivia Luccardi), a refugee from a small Christian cult, shows up alone with nowhere else to go. The friends take Remy in and try to keep her safe from the serial killer who is prowling Candy Land and making life difficult for corrupt local sheriff Rex (William Baldwin).
CANDY LAND takes its time letting you get to know its characters. Remy’s reluctant introduction to the world of sex work gets just as much room to breathe as the serial killer storyline. The film never judges this found family, even when all the people around them do. When Remy asks Sadie how they can do what they do, she scoffs while Liv and Levi laugh and roll their eyes. “I hate that question,” Sadie tells an apologetic Remy, just before they all answer it honestly and without shame. Liv says it beats working a ‘respectable’ job for $6 an hour, and Levi half-jokingly says he just likes to party.
Each scene with the friends hanging out is naturalistic and lived-in. The characters truly feel like a family, with equal parts love and familiarity, and it’s a pleasure to watch them playfully bicker over truck stop junk food and cigarettes. The movie never wants us to pity or judge them; rather, it saves its judgment for the hypocritical Rex, who forces Levi to perform sex acts for him, and the Christian fundamentalist cult that sanctimoniously prays over Riley when she makes a suggestive remark.
Though the film doesn’t spend a lot of time with the cult, their presence hangs heavy over the story. One important detail that viewers might miss is Swab’s focus on the characters’ feet. Many Christian groups, especially evangelical denominations in the South, practice foot-washing as a religious practice. By focusing on the feet — whether it’s in a scene where Sadie, Liv, Riley, and Remy are all sleeping in the same bed, their bare feet poking out from under the blanket; a view of a corpse’s bound feet as they bounce around in the bed of a truck; or a character caressing the feet of a deceased loved one — Swab forces the viewer to question their notions of holiness. The film shows the sex workers’ feet the most often, constantly reminding us to put aside misplaced judgment and see these characters for who they really are: normal people doing what they can to survive. Swab’s film works hard to destigmatize sex work, especially in its naturalistic touches, but nowhere is this effort sharper or subtler than in its evocation of religious foot-washing.
Riley says they’re “unlocking the Bible Belt” at Candy Land, and she’s doubly right. CANDY LAND uncovers the fear and desire bubbling underneath the evangelical exterior of Christian America. It paints a portrait of sex workers who — in a world of corrupt cops, dangerous clients, and people eager to exploit them — can only rely on each other. It examines what happens when you trust the wrong people. Most importantly, it asks us to look deep inside to find out what we really mean when we say “the wrong people.” Equal parts slasher, religious horror, grindhouse film, and character-based drama, CANDY LAND is a genre film that belongs on your radar.
CANDY LAND will be released on Digital and in select theaters on January 6, 2022.
Any time there’s a cold snap, my brother races madly around his house until just about every faucet in the place dripping. We all abide by this ancient practice because we’ve been told it will save our pipes from freezing. And there’s good reason to worry about that: A frozen water pipe can burst, and that can mean…
Among those pointing fingers at NVIDIA over melting power cables for the RTX 4090 was AMD, whom are finding themselves in a somewhat similar situation. While the power cables for the RTX…
During AMD’s CES 2023 presentation, when the CPU manufacturer announced its Ryzen 7000 lineup of mobile processors to be used in various classes of laptops, the company also compared its high-end part, the Ryzen 9 7940HS, to Apple’s M1 Pro, stating that its latest chip is 30 percent faster.
While giving its presentation, one eagle-eyed individual spotted that the company employed people using a 14-inch MacBook Pro to show off the performance slides, the same machine featuring either the M1 Pro or the M1 Max. The irony will certainly make some people laugh.
Third-party production teams use MacBook Pro models for certain presentations, and AMD was caught off guard here
The comical findings of AMD’s CES 2023 presentation were provided by Ian Zelbo on Twitter. He later spots two more Macs being used to show the Ryzen processors’ performance slides and comparing several metrics to the M1 Pro.
While one would point the finger at AMD in an impulse action, it is not their fault. When preparing for such an event, companies will often recruit third-party production teams, and these contracted employees are equipped with high-end MacBook Pro models.
Bruh AMD is running their CES keynote on 14’’ MacBook Pro’s after roasting the M1 Pro pic.twitter.com/E9JWUBJLZp
The reason for owning such products is simple; for reliable work that requires machines to function flawlessly without interruption, consumers will switch to a MacBook. For intensive tasks, a MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro or M1 Max will be used thanks to their higher CPU and GPU core count.
Other Twitter users were kind enough to point out that this blunder was not AMD’s fault since the company cannot decide what machines separate production teams will use during the actual presentation.
If AMD had hired a separate production team, it is likely that these people would have been equipped with Windows-powered machines, possibly sporting AMD processors. Then again, suppose even one of those laptops stopped working due to a BSOD or random crash? AMD would be the center of negative attention once more.
If the story of one man against an army of thieves in the upper floors of an unfinished building sounds familiar, it is because it is. Yet somehow, it still entertains.
From the moment we meet Kate Hudson's Birdie in the opening minutes of Rian Johnson's new whodunit "Glass Onion," there is something all too familiar about her. In order to fully explain, I have to circle back to the beginning of Hudson's career, when she was simply a nepo baby who may or may not make it in Hollywood despite being the child of Goldie Hawn. She had only done a couple of films before getting cast as the whimsical groupie goddess Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous," and the part quite literally put her on the map.
The film premiered in 2000 after two years of Hudson putting her nose to the grindstone. It couldn't have paid off better. Though still relatively unknown at the time, Hudson garnered a Golden Globe for best supporting actress and even earned an Oscar nom in the same category. The movie has gone on to be a cultural touchstone, so much so that not only has it stayed alive through generational word of mouth, but it is still being reimagined and recontextualized for new audiences. Hell, there's a Broadway production of "Almost Famous" playing right now. But the Cameron Crowe story — despite it being semi-autobiographical — wouldn't be where it is today without Hudson and the magic she brought to the persona of Penny Lane.
Vivacious And Slightly Spacey
Fast forwarding again to the premiere of "Glass Onion," it was hard not to be immediately struck by the Penny Lane-ness of Hudson's ditzy model part in Rian Johnson's new film. In fact, the two characters could be sisters they're so alike. They both share a childlike, go-getter attitude that they fuse with their own personal strengths to get what they want. Penny Lane was more of a big fish in a small pond, but Birdie Jay was an international sensation, so it goes to show that personality can go a long way. Plus, it's crucial to the foundation of both of Hudson's characters.
Hudson tends to be most successful when she is leaning into this extroverted and confident funny charmer archetype, and you could argue these two roles aren't the only ones where she's flexed this muscle. "How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days," anyone? The point is that both Penny and Birdie, two characters with big dreams and even bigger mouths, need to live within that archetype in order to function successfully in both films. Penny's drive inspires the "Almost Famous" lead, young William Miller (Patrick Fugit). Birdie's previous push to expand her career, despite coming from money anyway, is admired by "Glass Onion" billionaire boy Miles Bron (Edward Norton). Their vivacious, slightly spacey personalities lure people in, and their smarts and intrigue keep them there.
Integrity And Values
But like any sister (or, in this case, faux sister) duo, they have their key differences, ones I think ultimately set them far apart from one another despite Hudson's acting choices feeling familiar in both roles. Their morals are, of course, what draws a dividing line between them. In Penny's introductory scene — one that will probably always be remembered for its strength in both Hudson's acting and Crowe's writing — one of the most striking things about her is her impassioned way of speaking and her fierce determination to stay true to her one real love: music (and, as we find out, everything that comes with it).
It's key to meet her this way, because it sets her apart from the stereotypes perpetuated about groupies, and gives her a clean slate to build an impression on. The impression she chooses to present is one of integrity and values. Yeah, she messes up a bit in that area throughout the course of the film, but it's less to do with her convictions and more with the uncontrollable push and pull of love and infatuation.
Where They Differ
Birdie, on the other hand, is dubious at best from the start. OK, fine, not entirely from the start, but our introduction to her is filled with the complete opposite sentiment from when we meet Penny. She's totally "bored" at a raucous party when she receives her box of puzzles from Bron at the opening of the film. She's flippant and petulant and spoiled, but with that same Penny Lane-style charm that ties these character personifications together. As "Glass Onion" progresses, we come to find out that Birdie is more than willing to toss integrity and values to the side if it keeps her a seat at the table. Further, she's even willing to completely ruin her reputation to stay comfortable. These aren't decisions I see Penny Lane making. I don't see her backing down from her beliefs or letting her values be determined by a situation that goes against what she knows is right. Access, yes, it's something both characters want. After all, remember the scene where Penny lightly roasts the kid who is touring with Led Zeppelin "but not with them?" The difference is the depths to which they will stoop to get it.
After 20-plus years, it's good to see Hudson circle back to the charms that made her a movie star in the first place. Penny Lane was an on-screen revelation as a character, and it's clear Hudson's work on that role is something that has stayed with her throughout her career. Weaving bits of the iconic part into her later work allows Hudson to do what she does best—wrapping us around her hilarious finger—while exploring new motives that broaden the scope of what she can do. Birdie and Penny probably wouldn't have been friends, but Hudson manages to make them meet in the middle anyway ... with pitch-perfect results.
I don't have a steady history of creating end-of-the-year Top 10 lists for Destructoid because, well, it's very rare that I actually play 10 games I'd want to write about and celebrate at the end of the year. Such is the life of a part-time games journalist. Most of my free time is locked up playing through games for review, and I think all my reviews for 2022 averaged out to around a 7, which doesn't exactly make for an exciting, OMG kind of list.
My actual game of the year, Immortality, has already popped up on several of these things and I don't think we need yet another writer droning on about its greatness. So I say to hell with actually ranking the games I played last year and instead show the world how shallow I can be by picking the 10 best games based solely on their outward appearance. Inner beauty doesn't matter here, folks, it's all about how sexy you are on the outside. And some of these game covers are goddamn gorgeous.
Besides, with more and more buying games digitally these days, we should celebrate the physical box art while we still can.
10. AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative -
AI: The Somnium Files is a series that always seems to be playing the bridesmaid but never the bride. Kotaro Uchikoshi’s follow-ups to his celebrated Zero Escape franchise are some of the best adventure games on the market, with slick production values, whirlwind stories, and excellent voice acting. And yet, when it comes time for GotY time, they always seem to drop off everyone’s radar. It happened in 2019 with the original Somnium Files and it happened again this year with - nirvanA Initiative -. I’ll admit, I chose not to bring it up when we debated the nominees for Destructoid’s yearly awards. Thankfully, I really like what Spike Chunsoft did with the box art for - nirvanA Initiative -, so I’m happy to include it here on my stupid little gimmicky top 10 list.
9. Ghostwire Tokyo (Deluxe Edition)
Ghostwire Tokyo had a blink-and-you-miss-it brief bit of relevancy earlier this year when it launched on the PS5. Sadly, Elden Ring basically drank the milkshake of every non-Nintendo published title over the first four or five months of the year. A lot of people swear by the game, though. Me, I haven’t played it, but I do quite like the box art of the deluxe edition of the game. Great use of hues, shadows, and neon glow. Someday I’ll make the time to play this game, but probably only after it’s deeply discounted.
8. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
I love me a good sci-fi box art (or poster art), and in my opinion, nobody did it better this year than Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. This box art just screams, "An amazing adventure awaits." It’s just a fun cover all around.
7. Atari 50
As a child of the '80s and '90s, I tend to latch onto nearly every retro collection from those decades that gets released on modern hardware. Sure, I barely play my copy of The Cowabunga Collection, but just seeing it on my shelf brings back such warm memories that I like having it around. I don’t have any such memories when it comes to Atari. The Atari 2600 burned out just a few years before I came into the world, and as such, I have no nostalgia for the games. I do, however, have a longstanding love of its name and logo.
The Atari brand is somehow both eternally retro and evergreen, the type of logo that is entirely of its era but also one some up-and-coming app developer would sketch out today. Any use of that logo gets me excited, which is why I love the Atari 50 box art. It’s clean, simple, and absolutely stellar. The multi-line font on the 50 is a beautiful touch. I have zero intention of ever buying this game because there are no good Atari titles, but I wouldn’t mind seeing that box art in my collection.
6. MLB The Show 22 (MVP Edition)
It’s not often an annual sports game has a great cover, but then again, it’s not often we see a player as brilliant as Shohei Ohtani. Shotime is arguably the most exciting player in the MLB right now (sorry, Aaron Judge) and an absolute hunk at that. The standard cover for the game is no different than what we’ve seen in years past, but the MVP Edition cover stands out. You might think it’s a bit cliche and predictable to give a Japanese player anime-inspired box art, but I think this looks amazing and I would love to see this kind of creativity moving forward.
5. Castlevania Anniversary Collection (Limited Run Games Best Buy Exclusive)
Okay, now we’re getting into the good shit. I mean, just look at that fucking box art. That’s not video game box art, that’s the cover of a dogeared copy of an early ’80s Dungeons & Dragons handbook. The standard cover from Limited Run Games was a fine recreation of the iconic Castlevania box art, but in my eye this blows it out of the water. And that’s not always something you can expect from the Best Buy copies of Limited Run Games titles. Just look at what they did with the Windjammers 2 cover.
4. Evil West
I’m going to keep it 100 and admit I didn’t know what Evil West was until I started searching box art for this list. Maybe somebody had mentioned it before, but I probably mixed it up with Hard West and forgot about it. I truly don’t know what this game is about — and given that it’s $60, I likely won’t until it pops up on Game Pass or PS+ — but I do know that I am 100% down with that box art. Just look at that beauty and tell me it's not some glorious piece of art you’d find on the cover of a SNES title that’s now considered a rare gem.
3. NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition (Reversible Cover)
The Switch port of NieR:Automata The End of YoRHa Edition is an absolute work of art and arguably one of the best ports ever to hit the platform. It also has some of the most beautiful box art of the year. Of course, you have to actually buy the game and flip it over to see it. But like the very best alternative box art, you likely won’t switch back to the original. The lush greens on the front of the alt cover absolutely draw you into this world, while the painted grays of the rear artwork tell a story of their own. Sadly, my cover art got a small tear in it when I switched to the alt cover, and I have the type of personality that will absolutely be driven insane by that minuscule imperfection until my time on this Earth is complete.
2. Save me Mr Tako: Definitive Edition (Limited Run Games)
This one might be cheating seeing as Save me Mr Tako: Definitive Edition actually came out last year. However, the physical edition didn’t launch this year. In fact, the game arrived on my doorstep just days before Christmas, barely making the cut for a 2022 release. And that worked out well for me because this is actually the box art that inspired this whole Top 10 concept. I LOVE the artwork on this cover. I think it is some of the most beautiful and enchanting cover art I have ever seen. Just imagine the box art we could have got for Kirby and the Forgotten Land if Nintendo put this kind of effort into designing its packaging.
1. Card Shark (Special Reserve Games Standard Edition)
Card Shark turned out to be a love-it-or-hate-it type of game, but I think one thing everyone can agree on is how outstanding the artwork is for its physical edition from Special Reserve Games. In fact, I think the box art is so great, it’s the only reason I bought the game. I haven’t even bothered taking it out of the shrink-wrap. I just love looking at that box. I’m sure the game is fine, but this box art: wow. I am in love with this artwork. Get rid of the logos and nameplate and you have a piece of art I’d love to have framed on my wall.
This article containsmajor spoilersfor "Terrifier 2."
If "Terrifier 2" has taught me anything, it's that I would rather face a number of deadly obstacles than ever run into Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). At least there's the possibility of survival with slasher villains like Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger, whereas Art will stop at nothing to obliterate you once he's locked onto your presence. Throughout the film's nearly two and a half-hour runtime, which is unheard of for a slasher flick, we get to see Art dismember folks by means of some jaw-dropping practical gore effects. That's practically what sold the film beyond the traditional horror crowd, who largely knew what they were in for.
Whether it be the harrowing bedroom kill or ferocious final girl Sienna (Lauren LaVera) doing what needs to be done, "Terrifier 2" is built upon one memorably gory sequence after the other. But one of the film's more standout moments involves Sienna waking up in a vibrant location called the Clown Café. The scene is underscored by a real earworm of a jingle sung by Leah Voysey, which sets the mood for a cartoonish nightmare that's only manages to get even weirder.
Given the complicated, yet ambiguous nature of Sienna and her father, I initially interpreted the Clown Café sequence to be an extension of her childhood trauma, with the nightmare world resembling a twisted memory. She's even dressed in a Pippi Longstocking-esque garment too, while sitting in a jungle gym. But according to director Damien Leone, the nightmare has a much more ethereal meaning.
A Divine Test Of Courage
On the recently released 4K Blu-ray for "Terrifier 2," Damien Leone spends his director's commentary talking about all of the secrets he had to keep hidden while the film was still in theaters, most notably the Clown Café sequence. On top of it being one of his favorites, according to a report from Bloody Disgusting, Leone describes the scene as "a divine test that manifests itself within Sienna's subconscious." He even talks about how the background extras with suitcases standing next to a flight attendant is also a transcendent reflection of the wings of Sienna's warrior princess Halloween costume.
Going off of how Leone describes it, Sienna's perseverance to survive is like a deranged twist on the story of King Arthur. Rather than trying to lift a sword from stone, she instead has to dig her hands through a box of deadly cereal filled with maggots, glass, and razor blades, which gives her the weapon she needs to deflect Art's mini flamethrower.
It essentially places more weight on her final confrontation with Art in the finale, as Sienna fights tooth and nail to take out the seemingly immortal being of chaos. If that final decapitation was her victory, then the Clown Café was the ultimate test. "If she's not courageous at the end and doesn't decide to fight back against Art, then she will not be the one," says Leone.
I still think there's more to this sequence that Leone is holding over for the inevitable "Terrifier 3," but as it stands, the film is loads of fun, and possibly one of the best spiritual "Nightmare on Elm Street" sequels in ages.
"Terrifier 2" is currently streaming on Screambox.
Rejoice, "Evil Dead" fans, as the first trailer for the highly anticipated "Evil Dead Rise" has hit the web. This series has never missed the mark, which puts a lot of pressure on "The Hole in the Ground" director Lee Cronin to get it right.
It can be difficult for some horror folk to accept new blood stepping into the shoes of a franchise that had been defined by a creative team for so long, but "Evil Dead" has proved that it can sustain itself. For over 30 years, director Sam Raimi, producer Robert Tapert, and the very groovy Chin himself, Bruce Campbell, were the DNA behind one of the most influential horror films of all time. The trio returned with over three excellent seasons of the television series "Ash vs. Evil Dead," but in the meantime, "Don't Breathe" director Fede Álvarez blessed us with his 2013 reimagining of the original, which I consider one of the greatest horror remakes ever made. It was actually my personal introduction to the world of "Evil Dead," and I've been on board ever since.
Despite Campbell's absence in front of the camera, he's made it explicitly clear that he's not only a behind-the-scenes contributor but that "Evil Dead Rise" is "the scariest one yet." Going off of what I see here, this entry looks like a gloriously gory good time that pays tribute to the effects-driven madness of the evil cabin in the woods classic, while paving its own path.
Deadly Serious Gore With Some Demented Laughs
"The Evil Dead" is still a show-stopper of a splatter film that doesn't quite match the series' more famous all-out horror comedy DNA from "Evil Dead 2." Where Raimi's film comes up short in terms of scares, Álvarez brings its intentions to terrifying fruition in "Evil Dead" with a burning intensity. Enter "Evil Dead Rise," which looks like it will capture the tense yet playful spirit of the 1981 original while leaning into the darker spirit of the 2013 remake.
The ruthless new trailer indicates that, in addition to the good stuff we've come to expect from these movies, "Evil Dead Rise" is going to provide a disturbing mirror of the fears and anxieties that come with being a parent. Álvarez's film attempted a similar personal reckoning, as Mia (Jane Levy) comes into contact with the Deadites in the midst of trying to detox off of heroin.
The children here are going to see their mother, Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland), brutalize people by means of needles and cheese graters, in addition to their aunt, Beth (Lily Sullivan) wielding a bloody chainsaw. But at the same time, the few jabs at humor indicate that's not going to be all gloomy. It looks like Deadite Ellie has a sly sense of humor too, giving the impression that a kiss from her daughter is all the cure she needs. Of course, she says this while standing in front of the door covered in blood, with a haunting grimace on her face.
If this is just what they're showing us now, then I can't wait to see what else this long-awaited sequel has in store for us.
"Evil Dead Rise" is set to hit theaters on April 21, 2023.
Computers using Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will no longer get the latest version of Google Chrome, beginning with the latest version, Chrome 110, which will be launched on Feb. 7. From a report: The new version is designed to run on Windows 10 or later.ÂGoogle support announced the move in October 2022. As with most programs whose updates won't work on older operating systems, you can use the older version of Chrome, you just won't get the newer stuff Google is working on.
The problem with game of the year lists, if your feet are suitably submerged in the PC Gaming swamp, is that they don't tend to highlight anything you won't have already heard about. That's less true for ModDB's Mod of the Year Awards, which can shine a light on experiences that may have slipped under your radar.
This year's publicly voted for crop (as with most year's crops) was heavy on mods for old-school shooters, though mostly not too old-school for me to skip them. Second place was won by impressive S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call Of Pripyat overhaul Anomaly, while first place went to Half-Life 2 mod Entropy: Zero 2. Check 'em out below, along with the runner ups.
"Evil Dead Rise." That's it ... that's the introduction.
Seriously, do I need to say more? The first trailer for the highly-anticipated return to the "Evil Dead" franchise has arrived, and it has exceeded even my wildest expectations. If you thought that writer-director Lee Cronin was exaggerating the amount of blood that would be in the film, consider yourself proven wrong. Seriously, it's a good thing everyone that follows the franchise's Twitter account voted for the release of the red-band trailer instead of the green-band one.
"Evil Dead Rise" has been a long, long time coming, and its recently-released trailer gives us so much to discuss. Was that window exploding with blood a "Shining" reference? Does this dire and bleak atmosphere feel more similar to the 1981 classic or its 2013 continuation? Is the influence of the Necronomicon really going to take over an apartment complex ala "Demons 2?" Wait, speaking of which, are those actual human teeth attached to the Necronomicon? What the hell?
Unfortunately, the answers to these questions and the thousands of other ones that will inevitably come up will have to go unanswered for a couple of months. Thankfully, this newest trailer is chock-full of details to obsess over in the meantime.
When I Was Just A Little Girl
We have known for some time that the central characters of "Evil Dead Rise" would be a pair of estranged sisters, Beth (Lily Sullivan) and Ellie (Alyssa Sutherland). The latter is a single mother of three living in a Los Angeles apartment complex, and her eldest son (Morgan Davies) finds a mysterious book in its cellar. Needless to say, futzing around with that and a creepy vinyl recording becomes a recipe for disaster. Ellie gets possessed at some point not seen in the trailer, and she's just a little bit out of it.
A case in point is the way she cooks her eggs. What kind of person just throws whole eggs onto a pan and fries them that way? Well, a person that's possessed by a Deadite spirit, that's who. Her children and estranged sister are understandably worried for Ellie, but according to her, she's just fine. Just ignore the scabbing, the yellow eyes, and the fact that she's fantasizing about cutting them all up like carcasses.
Back To The Cabin
It looks like the apartment complex won't be the only major setting where "Evil Dead Rise" takes place. Throughout the trailer, we see scenes from what appears to be an updated take on the original film's cabin in the woods. This cabin looks more like a vacation AirBnB or Vrbo rental than an abandoned family property, and it appears that a family is taking some time to relax.
Unfortunately, that relaxation doesn't last forever. While it's unclear whether the family seen in the trailer is connected to Beth and Ellie, they clearly have a similar demonic possession on their hands. One vacationer looks to have gotten into a fight with another, leading to her entire scalp getting torn off. Even though it cuts away just as it happens, it is still a brutal sight made even worse by it getting casually dropped on the cabin's river dock. Don't worry, though, because you're about to see a whole lot more stomach-churning imagery in this trailer.
Crash Course In Motherhood
From the looks of it, Beth appears to be a bit of a loner. Not only does she not have a partner or family of her own, but it also looks like her relationship with Ellie isn't exactly the most well-maintained. We don't know the cause of this strained relationship, but it'll likely become a point of contention once Ellie gets possessed by a Deadite.
As a result of the new demon problem around the apartment, Beth looks to become a protector of Ellie's children. Unfortunately, it looks like only one of them is currently safe from the Necronomicon's grasp, and that is Ellie's youngest daughter. In order to survive the rampage, Beth must protect the young girl from whatever evils the book conjures, even holding up a signature franchise chainsaw to protect her. The bond between a woman and her niece looks to be an important one for "Evil Dead Rise," especially when the girl comments to Beth that she'd be a good mother (because she knows how to lie to kids).
Do You Want Cheese With That?
We've stalled long enough — there seem to be some genuinely terrifying mutilations happening in "Evil Dead Rise," and that's saying something. The franchise has always been known for its brutal kills and possessions. However, the new methods of killing these Deadites are dishing out seem to be next level.
In one shot, it appears that Ellie is about to stab one of her children in the eye with a tattoo needle. Not only is this a disturbing tool to get stabbed with, but it could also give more insight into the characters. Astute fans might have noticed that Ellie has an elaborate vine tattoo on her hand on the film's first official poster, and tattooing needles aren't exactly common household gadgets. Perhaps Ellie is a tattoo artist that brought home her tools at the worst possible time.
However, arguably the most disturbing tool of torture is something we all have in our kitchens — a cheese grater. It looks to be wielded by one of Ellie's older children after Beth throws it in self-defense. Unfortunately, the newly-possessed teen has heightened reflexes, catching the grater and slamming it down on Beth's leg. I'm squirming in my desk seat just typing this out!
Okay, let's stop here before my stomach decides to churn again. "Evil Dead Rise" will swallow your soul in theaters on April 21, 2023.
It’s salad season. Not because of the produce currently available—though I love a winter salad—but because now is the time of resolutions, and meal planning, and “getting it together.” A lot of people associate those things with eating bowls—big metal bowls—of raw greens and other vegetables, and bagged salad kits are…
One of the prominent developers behind the bitcoin blockchain said he has asked the FBI to assist him in recovering $3.6 million worth of the digital coin that was stolen from his storage wallets on New Year's Eve. From a report: Luke Dashjr is a developer of the Bitcoin Core, an app that runs 97 percent of the nodes making up the bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin Core derives from the software developed by the anonymous bitcoin inventor who uses the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. That software was called simply Bitcoin but was later changed to Bitcoin Core to distinguish it from the coin. Dashjr has been contributing to the Bitcoin Core since 2011 and has long championed the concept of decentralization that the cryptocurrency was founded on.
On New Year's Day, Dashjr took to Twitter to report that his entire bitcoin holdings -- worth roughly $3.6 million -- were "basically all gone." He said the hack stemmed from the compromise of a PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) key that he used to ensure that his downloads of Bitcoin Core and a smaller app known as Bitcoin Knots weren't laced with malware. He said all his computers were compromised and urged people to hold off downloading new versions for the time being. "So to be clear: DO NOT DOWNLOAD BITCOIN KNOTS AND TRUST IT UNTIL THIS IS RESOLVED," he wrote. "If you already did in the last few months, consider shutting that system down for now." In the same thread, the developer said he had contacted the FBI and police but hadn't received a response. "What the heck @FBI @ic3. Why can't I reach anyone???" he wrote. "I paid those taxes and the police don't care. What a scam."
The Mediterranean diet has made that silly list of “best diets” once again, which always makes me wonder: Does anybody ever "go on" the Mediterranean diet? Like as something to commit to and follow through on? There’s no straightforward app to track it, and no easy-to-read book that gives simplistic rules to say yes or no to a given meal.
For that matter, do any of us know what the Mediterranean diet actually consists of? There’s olive oil, for sure, and fish. But then what? “My understanding is almost entirely based on the stock images for those articles,” said a member of the Lifehacker staff who shall remain nameless, but who was saying what we were all thinking.
So let’s dig in. First, I'll tell you how to follow the Mediterranean diet—which is probably what you came here to read. But then I'd like to discuss some major caveats that relate to this diet's status as the "best" or as being scientifically backed.
What to eat each day to follow the Mediterranean diet
All that said, the Mediterranean diet seems to be a perfectly fine way to eat. If you’d like to try it, go for it. The vagueness of the diet’s description is both a pro and a con. The good news is that no food groups are cut out and nothing is officially off-limits. Unfortunately, without strict rules or definitions, it’s hard to know exactly what to have at your next meal if you want to stay on the diet.
The scorecard above is not the only way to judge the Mediterranean-ness of a diet, but it’s as good a starting place as any. Here’s approximately what it would look like as a day’s eating:
Vegetables: it’s still hard to measure out 250 grams of different sizes and shapes of veggies, but the familiar American recommendation of 3 cups of vegetables should get you in the right ballpark.
Fruits and nuts: Two pieces of fresh fruit, like an apple and an orange, will hit the 300 gram target easily. Swap in other fruits as you prefer, and try to get a handful of nuts in your day somewhere—maybe as a topping to a salad or another dish, or maybe just a handful on their own.
Legumes: 140 grams per week is just 20 grams a day when you average it out. One can of chickpeas or black beans will check off this requirement for the week.
Cereals (grains): You can meet the 195-gram daily requirement with a cup of cooked brown rice. If you think of it as two 100-gram servings, you could have one meal with half a cup of rice or farro, and one meal with a 2-ounce side of pasta. More is fine, according to the scorecard, but you’ll want to make sure to leave room for everything else.
Fish: 250 grams per week means a quarter-pound serving twice per week—but that’s a minimum. You can have more.
Meat: The 80 gram average per day is a little under three ounces (the famous “palm sized” or “deck of cards” serving). This is the size of a quarter-pounder patty, or half a chicken breast. Unlike fish, this is meant as a maximum, so you may want to do a meatless day each week to bring the daily average down.
Dairy: 180 grams is about six ounces. So a container of yogurt that weighs in at five to six ounces would be considered plenty for the day. Or go with feta or mozzarella in a meal.
Alcohol: the recommended amount works out to one to two drinks per day. A glass of wine with dinner would meet the recommendation.
Olive oil can be used as needed for cooking.
Add that together, and a day’s meals might include a breakfast of yogurt and fruit; a lunch salad with fish and veggies; and a dinner with meat, rice, and more veggies; and some hummus and whole-grain bread for a snack.
For recipe inspiration, Oldways (an organization that promotes traditional eating patterns, including but not limited to the Mediterranean diet) has a database of recipes here that you can filter by diet. OliveTomato has a printable shopping list (identifying typical “Mediterranean” groceries you might want to stock up on) and a sample 5-day meal plan. There is also a Mediterranean diet subreddit where people post meal ideas and recipes.
What you need to know about the studies that inspired the Mediterranean diet
First, a little background on where the definition of the Mediterranean diet comes from. Scientists used the term to describe the typical diets of people in certain Mediterranean communities, and then extended the definition to include similar-ish diets in other places. But it’s important to know that many of the studies on the Mediterranean diet’s effect on diabetes, cancer, heart disease, dementia, and other health conditions are observational studies.
In other words, when you see a headline about the Mediterranean diet, it’s not necessarily from a study that assigned one group of people to a Mediterranean diet and another group to a different diet (although those studies do exist). More typically, the studies survey people—sometimes in the Mediterranean region, sometimes not—on what they typically eat. Their answers are used to come up with a score (2 points if you eat more than 250 grams of vegetables on an average day, for example), and the people with the highest scores are contrasted against the people with the lowest scores.
Where do these scores come from? Here’s a paper describing one of the common systems. The numbers were determined by reviewing several dozen studies, each with their own definitions of the diet, studying people in a variety of areas—some in the Mediterranean, but others in other parts of Europe and occasionally on other continents.
You can read the scoring criteria here. Some of the targets are per week and others are per day, so read carefully. You get two points for each of the following:
At least 250 grams (about half a pound) of vegetables per day (1 point for 100-250)
At least 300 grams of fruits and nuts per day (1 point for 150-300)
At least 140 grams of legumes (beans and lentils) per week (1 point for 70-140)
At least 195 grams of cereals (that is, grains) per day (1 point for 130-195)
At least 250 grams of fish per week (1 point for 100-250)
Less than 80 grams of meat per day (1 point for 81-120)
Less than 180 grams of dairy (1 point for 181-270)
Alcohol in the range of 12 to 24 grams per day, which is about 1 to 2 standard drinks (1 point if you’re under 12 grams, no points if you’re over 24)
You also get one additional point if you cook with olive oil.
As you can see, it’s not exactly straightforward to use this system as a measure of your diet. Cheese and skim milk are both dairy products, but they’ll weigh different amounts. The same goes for fruit and nuts: are we talking a fresh apple, or a bag of pistachios? You’d also need to convert your units if you’re not used to grams—250 grams of fish is half a pound, easy to ask for at the fish counter, but 250 grams of vegetables could look very different depending on what the vegetable is. For example, that could be two and a half cups of broccoli, or it could be one large onion.
Alcohol is a bit simpler: 12 grams is considered a standard drink, so that’s roughly one to two drinks per day, depending on alcohol content. A 12-ounce beer at 5% ABV has 14 grams of alcohol.
I find all this counting to be a hilarious counterpoint to U.S. News’s description of the diet as a set of "general guidelines." In previous years, they wrote that “no counting carbs, points, or calories” is a pro of the Mediterranean diet. You have to count a heck of a lot of stuff to figure out if you are even on the Mediterranean diet. I think what they're trying to say is that you can adopt general principles like "more vegetables" and "less meat" to make your diet more Mediterranean-ish. But that's so vague it's hard to call it a diet at all.
Some more caveats
Before you douse your first fillet of fish in olive oil, you should know that a group of epidemiologists wrote in 2019 that while observational studies seem to make a good case for the Mediterranean diet, the trial evidence—studies of people who went on the diet, having not followed it before—is only “promising (though not conclusive)” when it comes to reducing heart disease risk.
It’s also important to remember that the scientific understanding of the Mediterranean diet has been cobbled together from foods that are considered traditional in Greece, Italy, and neighboring areas. Foods are included, or not, based on how typical they are deemed to be of that traditional eating pattern.
This means that when people say the Mediterranean diet is scientifically backed, they are referring to the studies that have been done on people who sorta-mostly follow it. It does not mean that scientists constructed it from scratch, specifying olive oil because they deemed it healthier than other oils, or determined 250+ grams to be the perfect amount of vegetables for some particular reason.
If Allison Williams is starring in a horror movie, it's a guarantee that we're in for one hell of a ride. After her breakthrough performance on the hit HBO series "Girls," Williams cemented herself in horror history by starring opposite Daniel Kaluuya in "Get Out," Jordan Peele's masterwork debut feature that completely changed the game for studio horror films. Her follow-up feature performance was in the twisty Netflix exploitation thriller, "The Perfection," a criminally underseen gem that needs to be at the top of your watch list.
Now, Williams is returning for her third venture into the genre with the newest Blumhouse flick boasting a horror dream team of creatives, "M3GAN." Williams stars as Gemma, a brilliant roboticist who invents a lifelike robotic companion meant to act as a child's best friend and a parent's "greatest ally." There's only one massive problem: M3GAN is protective, defensive, and learning. I recently sat down with Allison Williams to learn a bit more about why she keeps coming back to horror, and figure out if she's just as creeped out about AI as I am.
Note: This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
On Horror And Playing 'Cool' Women
Between "Get Out," my personal favorite "The Perfection," and now "M3GAN," what is drawing you back to horror over and over again?
I think I must be dark in some way that I don't understand [laughs]. I think the true answer is that all of those movies have a couple of things in common. They all engage with a subject matter that is real and serious, and something that people talk about with a lot of weight that kind of lifts it into a genre that can have a little bit more fun with it. Which sounds messed up when you're talking about things like sexual assault, and race, and loss, and trauma. But this genre has a way of taking those subjects and kind of messing with the way we usually talk about them and loosening up the area with which we can engage with it.
Oh, totally.
Which I love, because I think that sometimes, as Jordan [Peele] used to say a lot when we were promoting "Get Out," the way we talk about race is broken and we needed new language for things to be able to make the conversation more meaningful, deeper, revive it for this new generation that doesn't know how to talk about it. So that's one thing.
The other thing is that the women in these movies, these women that I've played, are just cool. And I read these scripts and I engage with the characters that I'm being asked to read for. And so often they don't have time in the thematic world of the movie or in the story to become meaty and three-dimensional and someone I feel existed before the movie and continues to exist after, let alone someone I feel like I know. So that combination, plus the fact that filmmakers really get to just make what they imagine in this world, they get to let their genre freak flags fly, and these movies live lives that are very specific and very much lived in the spirit of the filmmaker. I just find that experience to be thrilling. So I think that's a very long-winded answer.
The Memeable M3GAN
Oh, but it's a perfect answer. When the first trailer for "M3GAN" dropped, the internet exploded, and I'm just curious what your response was to seeing people just immediately gravitate toward it.
We were all just cheering because it's a very specific movie tonally. She's a very specific kind of gal. And our challenge marketing and promoting the movie is just making sure that people get her and they go into the theater understanding who she is, and people just got it. They were doing the dance and watching that happen with such a thrill, but also just seeing her face in memes where it was just someone serving attitude and being sort of doubtful. And I just loved it. It made us so happy because we just thought, "They're already having fun with her." People are dressing up like her for Halloween and the movie hasn't even come out yet. It's just such a delight. What more could you ask for? It's the best.
On The Horrors Of AI
Has working on this movie made you more hesitant about the future AI overlords taking us all over?
Yes, but it has in a very interesting way. I feel like we have a lot of responsibility for the AI that we bring into the world, that people in AI understand, for the most part, but consumers of it don't really think about a lot. So there is of course this element that something's being taken from us if something's listening and learning, et cetera. And there's also the question of, if we are building these things, they're our responsibility. That's Gemma's whole arc. She basically has two children, one of which she comes into the custody of and the other one that she builds from scratch. And the question is what does she owe to each? And I think that is part of it that I didn't think about a lot before, but I think about a ton now. When you build something that can think for itself, you're its parent. You have to take care of it and make sure it learns ethics, for example, which M3GAN could have used. I'll just put it that way. But yeah, I definitely look at smart devices with a little bit more skepticism now."M3GAN" arrives in theaters on January 6, 2023.
AMD is running their CES keynote on 14’’ MacBook Pro’s after roasting the M1 Pro pic.twitter.com/E9JWUBJLZp
If the story of one man against an army of thieves in the upper floors of an unfinished building sounds familiar, it is because it is. Yet somehow, it still entertains.
