Robert Eggerss Nosferatu (in theaters December 25) is the third film to bear this name. F.W. Murnaus and Werner Herzogs adaptations share the same premise, which basically goes like this: In the late 19th century, real estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) embarks on a voyage from Wisberg, Germany, to the Transylvanian castle of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgrd), to sell him a property. Upon arrival, Hutter enters a somnabulent hellscape punctuated and induced by Orlok taking gulps of blood from his chest. Back at home, his wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) has a sick inkling about the rendezvouspartially because shes been haunted by a demonic entity all her life. This, in fact, is Orlok, who makes his way across the sea to collect her as his bride. He brings with him not only his lust for Ellen, but The Plague.The Nosferatu coffin bed, now available for purchase.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCAs a director seeking to revive the historical horror genre, Eggers is well acquainted with the dark folklore inherent to Nosferatus plot. His films explore the psychic underbelly of times and places pastand often revolve around a supernatural antagonist. Eggers and his go-to production designer Craig Lathrop also put a unique emphasis on building realistic worldstheir production design strives extra hard to close gaps between Eggerss olden aesthetic and the modern audiences perception.The more that the physical world and the inner world of the characters articulates a period in a convincing way, the more the audience can buy into and feel like the world is credible, and therefore invest in metaphysical things like vampires, Eggers says. And its easier for me to get scared by these iconic monsters if its in a period when people actually believed in them, right?A street in Wisberg, designed with Gothic brick buildings in mind by Lathrop.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCThis convincing process is painfully detail-oriented. For each movie, it seems like the director and his team sponge up enough pre-modern religion and folklore to constitute a liberal arts minors syllabus. For 2015s The Witch, Eggers recreated a 17th-century farm in New England: We tried to find a way to fake it, and we just absolutely couldnt, he said of the process. The solution was using period techniques, tools, and materials to build the farm exactly the way they wouldve done it. No big deal.As a brainstorm for Nosferatu, Eggers wrote full novellas for each of the main characters. Before it began filming in Prague two years ago, Lathrop went on scouting trips to Lubeck, Wismar, Gdansk, and Transylvaniahome to the Poeneri castle, which was exterior inspiration for Orloksand looked at lots of paintingsCaspar David Friedrichs, notablywhen designing the back lot sets of the town. They filmed on real streets too, which boasted brick Gothic buildings. Since stone wasnt common in Prague, the team brought it in to lay the large streets and some exterior details. All the buildings have a personality. I wanted to make sure that things were leaning in or out appropriately, that the medieval buildings were sagging properly, says Lathrop. Regarding interiors, the sets required sourcing Biedermeier furniture, and replicating existing frescoes from monasteries in Moldova. I didnt have the time or the money to paint them, Lathrop laughs. Also, asking somebody to paint a 15th-century masterpiece is probably a little bit tricky.Most PopularArchitecture + DesignAD100 Interior DesignersBy The Editors of ADArchitecture + DesignInside a West Village Town House Awash in Rosy HuesBy Nora TaylorCulture + Lifestyle11 Beautiful Island Hotels That Are the Height of LuxuryBy Kathryn RomeynThe monasterys interior takes inspiration from those in Moldova.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCWatching the film, todays vampire narratives come into question. Nosferatu etymologically derives from the insufferable one in archaic Romanianits a funny word to use for monstrous behavior, synonymous with uncomfortable or unpleasant, and certainly close to unbearable, which is a word used to describe Twilight in this movie subreddit I stumbled upon. Many gore-enjoyers resent how the glistening variety has diluted the vampires fear factor. They increasingly occupy the romance genre, only moonlighting as something to be scared of. The vampires flexibility is great but yeah, I wanted this to be a horror movie, Eggers says.The Roma inn, where Hutter stays before heading to Orloks castle.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCMost PopularArchitecture + DesignAD100 Interior DesignersBy The Editors of ADArchitecture + DesignInside a West Village Town House Awash in Rosy HuesBy Nora TaylorCulture + Lifestyle11 Beautiful Island Hotels That Are the Height of LuxuryBy Kathryn RomeynTo prepare, the director researched the Solomonarifolk magicians in Romanian lore. Nosferatu evokes this folklore through a magic of Eggerss own creation, drawn from ancient tales of animated corpses mobilized by demonic forces. Its seen in the seven-pointed stars wax-stamped onto Orloks contracts and coffins. He also depicts Orlok in traditional Romanian aristocratic garb, further orienting the film to 19th-century Transylvania.Given all this detail that the average viewer may not clock, I wondered if there are cons to over-research when making a horror movie. Isnt the genre about getting into peoples psyche through a back door, not climbing an ivory tower? Eggerss method may seem overkill to some, but in its defense, I believe full commitment to historical realism is what makes his movies so creepy. If the uncanny is about the familiar in the strange, Eggers lays out a historical familiar for us to find modern strangeness within. For example, Victorian medicine is not something Im familiar with at all, so when I watched a doctor press his fingers into Depps fallopian tubes to feel for consumption, I squirmed just as much as I did when I watched Hutters boss bite a pigeons head off in his holding cell. Seeing these belief systems on screen evokes a visceral disgust impossible to come by when reading about them in a textbook. Without world-building, information only becomes a can-you-believe-they-actually-did-that fun fact.A still life rife with trinkets from the house of the Harding family, who harbor Ellen as she is possessed by Count Orlok.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCMost PopularArchitecture + DesignAD100 Interior DesignersBy The Editors of ADArchitecture + DesignInside a West Village Town House Awash in Rosy HuesBy Nora TaylorCulture + Lifestyle11 Beautiful Island Hotels That Are the Height of LuxuryBy Kathryn RomeynThe Nosferatu press tour is keen on branding this film as a gothic romance, too. I think the narrative leans more into the formerconsidering the stalking, the hauntingbut the romance aspect shines through in the movies visuals, which will appeal to a particular melancholic sect of the blog generation: aesthetically feminine and already hypnotized by religious imagery, still lives of dripping candles, baroque dressing rooms, strings of seed pearlsbut also antique knives, cigarettes, and controlled spillage of blood. Movies like Black Swan have had their essence live on via film stills and memes associating various goods with an aesthetic. The final scene in the movie is a shot of Depp curled next to a decrepit male figure like Pompeiian victims, surrounded by flowers. I already see it reblogged for years to come.Speaking of digital romanticism, the visuals were what stuck with me while watching Herzogs Nosferatu a few weeks agofive black coffins in a funeral motorcade, or Isabel Adjani, apple of the internets eye, in all whitesince compared to Eggerss version, the 1979 Count Orlok seemed anachronistically campy. Is Eggerss the scariest because Im jaded and over-exposed to gory content of all sortsfictitious or otherwise?Orloks castle, sparse during daylight hours.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCThe cinematography pays homage to shadowy German Expressionism pioneered by Murnau.Photo: Aidan Monaghan / 2024 FOCUS FEATURES LLCEggerss Nosferatu does pay homage to versions past: Many initial glimpses of Orlok are of his shadow, a technique that expounds upon German Expressionism. The castles bleached, sparse interior also looks a lot like the one in Herzogs film, and this new Nosferatus recurring motifsswarming rats, Catholic totems, a beach pock-marked with wonky gravessimultaneously pays tribute and blows dust off the hundred-year-old story.But maybe the dust is subjective, because my friend Maia Wyman, who critiques movies for a living, says Murnaus 1922 film is her favorite version. We saw Herzogs version together, and post-screening we talked about Nosferatus pastMurnaus version visualizes the contagion, exoticism, and sexual fluidity emblematic of its interwar context, she told me. Some people on X are saying that Herzogs version predicted AIDs, was all I could contribute. Sounds like a lot of legacy to live up to. But Wyman noted that our current moment shares a lot of similarities with the Weimar era. Our briefly permissive culture is increasingly fearful and restrictive, she said, sagely. And there are folk devils being made all around us, so maybe another Nosferatu adaptation is more necessary than ever.

As we wrap up a year defined by homeowners feeling stuck in place, professionals across the industry are forecasting 2025 real estate trends in order to better arm themselves for what lies ahead. Zooming out, both Fannie Mae and Zillow predict mortgage-rate volatility, with the former anticipating numbers above 6% throughout 2025. A result could be the lock-in effectthat is, homeowners staying put in homes theyd rather sell. As hard to predict as the world of real estate may be, there are still a handful of more granular trends that seem sure to define 2025. Below, AD PRO presents predictions gleaned from discussions with more than 10 real estate professionals, including agents, developers, designers, stagers, and more.The Residence, a shoppable showroom at 144 Vanderbilt in Brooklyn, was designed by General Assembly with products from their retail outfit, Assembly Line.William Jess LairdThe model-apartment-as-showroom model will continue its upswingCertain brands and designerslike Radnor and FrenchCaliforniahave been putting a showroom spin on model residences for years. But in 2024, what began as a slow trickle of new showrooms as model apartments has turned into a steady stream. And from what weve heard, theres likely to be a lot more where that came from in 2025. Some of the best recent examples weve seen are in New York City: the Artemest penthouse at The Greenwich by MAWD, FrenchCalifornia and design brand LObjets collab at 212 West 72nd Street, and General Assemblys two-floor unit (with items from their shop, Assembly Line) in 144 Vanderbilt. These spaces offer a more defined vision of life in the new developments than a typical model residence, and are shoppable, adding another level of turnkey convenience for new residents as they undergo the complicated process of decorating their new home.For us, it is about creating an immersive environment that extends the ethos of whichever project the unit is within, says project manager Josh Bransky of Tankhouse, the developer behind 144 Vanderbilt. Using the interior design of a model residence as a platform to sell furnishings and pieces allows us to align all of our incentives and reach a new yet relevant audience. It also enables us to work with a wider scale of designers and fabricators who might not normally be able to operate in this space.The sales gallery at 200 East 75th Street helps showcase the high-end finishes a potential buyer might want to spec in their own home.Hayley Ellen Day | DD-RepsSales galleries will be more important than everAs model apartments provide a view of life in a new building, the tactility of sales galleries is also becoming essential to closing deals with buyers. Danielle Naftali of Naftali Group, which has developed a number of residential buildings across Florida and New York, sees this shift as a move away from decorator-ready condominiums. Those types of units sometimes lacked molding, and lighting, and other details, falling short of buyers expectations. Now, clients want fully finished residences that are essentially turnkey and move-in ready upon closing, according to Naftali. With that, seeing the quality of the kitchens, bathrooms, and finishes at a sales gallery became essential to provide the overall expectation of quality, design, and service residents can expect when the property is completed. From a sales perspective, this has allowed us to assure our buyers of the quality they are purchasing well before the development is delivered.Ted Segal of EJS Group has witnessed the power of sales galleries at 200 East 75th Street, a building designed by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects with interiors by AD100 firm Yellow House Architects. People want to experience things firsthand, in person, live. If its a real estate project, they want to be first at the sales gallery and then ultimately at the project site. If its a live event, they want to go to the event rather than watch it on TV, says Segal. Buyers have choices, and theyre able to see what our development team is able to deliver when they visit the sales gallery. I think the market is speaking with a preference to what were doing at 200 East 75th.Branded residences will go even biggerYou barely had to pay attention to the world of real estate to notice a major uptick in branded properties in 2024. Elle magazine announced its first-ever branded residence, as did chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Italian sports car manufacturer Pagani, and many others. Because theres so much competition in markets like Miami and New York, industry insiders predict that this emphasis on branded projects will only increase in 2025 as developers leverage the power of brand recognition in their favor. The hyper-competitive real estate market in Miami and beyond demands more than just square footageit requires a comprehensive narrative of living, says Vertical Developments CEO Fernando De Nuez y Lugones. The executive is one of the brains behind Elle Residences Miami and Riva Residenze, a yacht-branded residence. For passionate brand enthusiasts, these properties represent a unique opportunity to elevate daily living, [and to surround] themselves with a curated experience theyve long admired and aspired to embrace.David Martin, the CEO of Terra, the developer of Jean-Georges Miami Tropic Residences, thinks well see more innovation in branded residences going forward. In 2025, I believe well see new iterations of the concept, Martin says. The developments that differentiate themselves will be those that go beyond a flashy logo and leverage the brands expertise to offer experiences that are innovative and new for residential buildings.Inside a unit designed by Staged to Sells Jason Saft, who embraces a more character-driven approach to real estate staging.Shannon Dupre | DD-repsStaging will embrace the pastJason Saft, the CEO of professional staging company Staged to Sell, has been in the real estate industry for over 20 years but believes theres an aesthetic shift afoot. For years, the prevailing theory was that spaces should be staged neutrally and impersonally in order to appeal to as many buyers as possible. Thats all changing as stagers like Saft create distinct environments accessorized with historic and idiosyncratic pieces. I think the staging industry as a whole bought into modernism from the beginning. I think its just easier: Its less stuff, its less expensive, but its also very cold after a while, and its limiting, he says. Im putting it out there, and Im starting to see other people in other markets [lean into antiques].As far as the sales impact goes, staging with pieces from older time periods has led to sales well above list price for properties outfitted by Staged to Sell. (One recent Upper East Side residence set up by the company went for $1.75 million over asking.) It can move units more quickly, too: A Midtown East home that had sat on the market for 266 days sold within 22 days after Staged to Sell reimagined it. People are in fact paying a higher price for older homes done in a way that blends time periods and styles, Saft tells AD PRO. It has picked up momentum to strong results in cosmopolitan territories where buyers are looking for something that feels more specialized and are accustomed to paying a higher price for what they want, or something they feel personally connected to them.Douglas Elliman real estate agent Jennifer Leahy seconds the motion. Buyers want personalities in homes. The days of everything being white and fluffy are not behind us, but have transitioned to more personality, she says. I've seen my stagers now keep some of the antiques that are in the home, and supplement [them with] more transitional furniture. Just as in an actual, lived-in home, its all about the mix: Youre allowed to have your grandmothers antique in that room along with a very nice gray or neutral couch.The roof deck at Bisby, a development in Jersey City, features pickleball courts, a sundeck, outdoor kitchens, and a dog run.Courtesy of Newport RentalsCommunity will be at the forefrontIn both the multi-family development and single-family home markets, community is central to purchasing decisions. Ninety-two percent of recent homebuyers with children are willing to compromise elements of their dream home to be in a community perfect for their families, says Mike Miedler, CEO of Century 21 Real Estate, citing a study recently commissioned by the company. Were seeing that despite the recent challenges of the market, homebuyers are ready to focus on the joy and positive feelings associated with [purchasing].Avdoo & Partners Development has been tapping into this at Bergen, a Brooklyn condo that launched sales in spring of 2024. Spa and wellness amenities are table stakes at this point, but tapping into specific ways that neighbors can connect with each other is whats really resonating. Many of the in-contract buyers have stated that the amenities are the main reason they were drawn to Bergen, says CEO and partner Shlomi Avdoo. Programmed spaces that encourage connectivity are still limited in New York City development, but considering how buyers are responding to those amenities, its not long until they become essential.Its becoming a must-have that people find spaces that are in between their workspace and their home, their apartment, where they can socialize, do work, and exercise, says David Thom, the senior managing director of design and development of LeFrak. His firm has recently been at work on Bisby, a New Jersey property with a rooftop pickleball court, sundeck, and outdoor kitchens, as well as a dog run. For many buildings, its become increasingly competitive in the marketplace to provide these sorts of amenities in order to provide those kinds of spaces for prospective tenants.Versatility will be the name of the game for buyers in 2025, according to designer Nina Magon. The kitchen island is one great case study for the type of design fixture that plays wellits a multiuse space, she says. Families can be together.Par Bengtsson courtesy of Nina Magon StudioHomeowners will seek more adaptabilityWhile the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic seemed to reinforce the need for a home office, nearly five years later, AD PRO Directory designer Nina Magon thinks the rest of the floor plan has warped. Forget the home officehomeowners want to be able to comfortably work from whatever room theyre in. Usage of space has become more specific and more versatile, Magon says. Weve noticed that people dont necessarily want the 15,000-square-foot house anymore; they want the house where every room serves a purpose, or [is] dual purpose.Were also putting floor plugs in family rooms, so that work can happen while youre watching CNN, while youre in the mix with other people, Magon explains. Its like a coworking space inside of your house, where everybody is together, but also has the ability to do their work. The versatility of a kitchen island is one example of this idea at play, she adds. Dad or Mom can do their work on a computer, sitting in the same room with the charger while the TV is on. Its a multiuse space, so that families can be together.In practice, this has led Magon to get a lot more specific with clients in her introductory questionnaire. Whereas she might have inquired about desired room types in the past, she now asks very detailed questions about exactly how they plan to use each room; how many people they envision being in any given space at any time; and, when it comes to kitchen and dining room design, how exactly theyll serve food and what they like to eat.Fido gets a luxe kitchen, too, in this kitchen island by Kingdom & Co.Stephen Morgan courtesy of Kingdom & Co.Built-in pet features will be worth the investmentOn a more micro level, a couple of the industry experts we spoke to predict that the world of built-in pet features is only going to grow more expansive in the coming year. We first noticed the rise of ultraluxe pet home accoutrements a couple of years ago, but along with those $2,500 dog beds, built-in features are set to become more prominent in the coming year. Lincoln Rogers, the co-owner of AD PRO Directory design-build firm Kingdom & Co., notes that built-in pet-centric features have been requested more and more lately. Animals are very important to people, so thats happening a lot more, even with cats, Rogers says. The company has crafted built-in pet bowl stations with pot-fillers positioned over the water bowl and built-in cubbies for dog beds in mud rooms. Rogers and his team try to talk people out of certain trendy features so they dont waste their money, but he believes the widespread love for pets makes these features a worthwhile investment.Leahy has sold numerous homes with built-in dog-washing stations and thinks theyre always a positive, even for prospective buyers who dont have pets of their own. I havent had any negative feedback on dog-washing stations, Leahy says. I had someone who didnt have a dog, who was buying a house with a dog-washing station, but they were like, Maybe well get a dog! I think its always a positive.APPLY NOWGrow your business with the AD PRO DirectoryArrow

60 Minutes OvertimeIsrael's spy agency, Mossad, spent years orchestrating Hezbollah walkie-talkie, pager plotsHow Israel's pagers fooled Hezbollah After nearly a year of war between Israel and the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, Lebanon was sent reeling in September when thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies belonging to Hezbollah members exploded.Two recently retired senior Mossad agents, who were among those spearheading the years-long operation, detailed the inside story of how they built the devices and got them into Hezbollah hands, shifting the course of Israel's escalating war with the Iran-backed group. The walkie-talkie and pager plots had a profound ripple effect: weakening Iran by leaving its proxy empire in ruins, with Hezbollah crushed in Lebanon and the Assad regime toppled in Syria."We want them to feel vulnerable, which they are," said Michael, who agreed to speak with 60 Minutes while masked and using a false name. "We can't use the pagers again because we already did that. We've already moved on to the next thing. And they'll have to keep on trying to guess what the next thing is."Weaponizing walkie-talkiesMossad's walkie-talkie operation was about waging war through deception and trickery, in line with the spy agency's motto. Work began on weaponizing the walkie-talkies more than a decade before Israel set them off in September."The walkie-talkie was a weapon, just like a bullet or a missile or a mortar," Michael said.60 Minutes spoke with disguised former Mossad agents 60 Minutes The walkie-talkie battery, made in Israel at a Mossad facility, included an explosive device, Michael disclosed. The walkie-talkies were designed to go into the chest pocket of a tactical vest for soldiers.According to Michael, Hezbollah bought more than 16,000 of the exploding devices, some of which were eventually used against them on Sept. 18."They got a good price," Michael said.The price couldn't be too low because Israel didn't want Hezbollah to be suspicious. Mossad also needed to hide its identity as the seller and ensure the walkie-talkies couldn't be traced back to Israel. So they set up shell companies to infiltrate the supply chain."We create a pretend world. We are a global production company: We write the screenplay, we're the directors, we're the producers, we're the main actors," Michael said. "And the world is our stage."From walkie-talkies to pagersThe walkie-talkies were designed to go into armored tactical vests used in battle, but Mossad wanted to plant devices that Hezbollah members would have on them at all times. So, in 2022, the agency began development on boobytrapped pagers, according to former Mossad agent Gabriel, who agreed to speak with 60 Minutes while masked and using a false name. Gabriel said Mossad had learned that Hezbollah was buying pagers from Gold Apollo, a company in Taiwan.The Gold Apollo pagers were sleek, shiny and could fit into pockets. Mossad needed a larger pager to fit explosives inside, Gabriel said. 60 Minutes Using dummies, Mossad conducted tests with the pager inside a padded glove, held next to the dummy's face, to calibrate the grams of powdered explosive needed to be just enough to hurt the fighter, but not the person next to him, Gabriel said. The plan was to only hurt Hezbollah members with pagers, not people nearby."We test everything, triple, double, multiple times in order to make sure there is minimum damage," Gabriel said.The devices had no intelligence capabilities and could not be used for tracking, according to Mossad. They could only be be used as miniature bombs."This is a very stupid device by nature. This is the reason they're using it. There's almost no way how to tap it," Gabriel said.Mossad also tested the pager ring tones. They wanted a sound that was urgent enough to compel someone to take it out of their pocket, Gabriel explained. The spy agency also tested how long it takes a person to answer a pager: on average, 7 seconds.Convincing Hezbollah to buy the pagersGabriel remembers the day he showed the pager off to Dadi Barnea, the director at Mossad."And he was furious," Gabriel said. "He was telling us, 'There is no chance that anyone will buy such a big device. It's not comfortable in their pocket. It's heavy.'"How Hezbollah's losses have weakened Iran's power and influenceThe director sent Gabriel back to the drawing board, but Gabriel spent the next two weeks successfully convincing his boss of the pager's merits.Those merits were later touted in fake ads on YouTube, where the pagers were touted as being robust, dustproof and waterproof, with a long battery life. They posted fake online testimonials, too."It became the best product in the beeper area in the world," Gabriel said.Lesley Stahl speaks with a former Mossad agent "Gabriel" 60 Minutes Mossad did such a good job promoting the pager that people outside of Hezbollah wanted to buy it, Gabriel said."Obviously we didn't send to anyone," he said. "We just quote them with expensive price."Mossad set up shell companies, including one in Hungary, to dupe Gold Apollo into working with it, Gabriel said. The spy agency fully manufactured the pagers and had a licensing partnership with Gold Apollo. It had to all look legitimate to Hezbollah."When they are buying from us, they have zero clue that they are buying from the Mossad. We make like the 'Truman Show,' everything is controlled by us behind the scene," Gabriel said. "In their experience, everything is normal. Everything was 100% kosher."To further the plot, Mossad hired the Gold Apollo saleswoman Hezbollah was used to working with, who was unaware she was working with Mossad. According to Gabriel, she offered Hezbollah the first batch of pagers as an upgrade, free of charge. By September 2024, Hezbollah had about 5,000 pagers in their pockets.Setting off the pagers and walkie talkiesThe question for Israel was when the sleeping bombs should be activated. There were hints Hezbollah might be getting suspicious of the devices, so Mossad head Dadi Barnea gave the go ahead, triggering the Sept. 17 pager plot. At 3:30 p.m. pagers started beeping all over Lebanon.Mayhem ensued as explosions went off. Hospitals filled up with the wounded. Limbs and fingers were torn off. People were left blooded, blinded and even with holes in their stomachs. For the most part, the explosions worked as planned, injuring only the people with the pagers, the former Mossad agents said. Several videos reviewed by 60 Minutes show explosions wounding individual people, while leaving those next to them unscathed."A day after the pagers exploded, people were afraid to turn on the air conditioners in Lebanon because they were afraid that they would explode," Michael said. "So there was real fear."One day after the pager attack, Mossad finally activated the walkie-talkies that had been dormant for 10 years. Some went off at the funerals of those killed by the pagers.In all, about 30 people were killed, including two children, in the two attacks. Around 3,000 were injured.Did Mossad's plan succeed?The aim of the walkie-talkie and pager plot wasn't to kill people, Gabriel said."If he's just dead, so he's dead," Gabriel said. "But if he [is] wounded, you have to take him to the hospital, take care of him. You need to invest money and effort. And those people without hands and eyes are living proof, walking in Lebanon, of 'don't mess with us.'"Two days after the pager attack, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, known for his fiery oratory, gave a subdued speech. He looked defeated, Gabriel said."He already lose the war. And his soldier look at him during that speech. And they saw a broken leader," Gabriel said. "This was the tipping point of the war."In the ensuing days, the Israeli Air Force hit targets across Lebanon, killing over 1,000 people, many of them civilians. On Sept. 27, Israel dropped massive bombs on Nasrallah's bunker, assassinating him. The Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire took effect at the end of November."But I think after this tipping point of the beeper operation and then the walkie-talkie and then IDF attack, [it] put Hezbollah in a situation, a very, very difficult situation: no chain of command, no spirit in their soldiers, asking, begging, for a ceasefire," Gabriel said.Michael agreed that wind was taken out of Hezbollah's sails after the pager operation. He's hoping it will have an effect on Hamas and the hostage situation in Gaza."Because they're looking at their sides and they're seeing no one next to them," Michael said. "They are completely isolated now."More from CBS NewsIn: IsraelHezbollahLebanonLesley StahlOne of America's most recognized and experienced broadcast journalists, Lesley Stahl has been a "60 Minutes" correspondent since 1991.

Don't Touch MeThe Thing: Remastered is the definitive way to play 2002's most underrated horror comedyThe game is enhanced by the unintentional humor that remains at its core.Image credit: Nightdive Studios, VG247 Article by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on Dec. 23, 2024 The Thing (2002) never was a very scary video game. Sure, low-detail graphics were far spookier more than 20 years ago, and there are some effective jump scares in it, but by and large, Computer Artworks' adaptation-sequel was goofy above all. Nightdive Studios' The Thing: Remastered hasn't altered that.This isn't a knock on the work the original studio did on the game. Quite the opposite. I actually believe that John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) is so awesome partly due to its ability to be equal parts terrifying, gross, and just funny as s**t. Even if the team really tried, The Thing (as a concept) couldn't really be very scary after that first movie; as the whole thing sorta relied on an element of surprise that was gone by the end of it. The 2011 prequel was proof that retracing the same steps was a mostly dumb approach doomed to fail.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Computer Artworks' game, now delightfully recreated and upgraded by Nightdive (the recent remastering efforts of which have all been killer), went the opposite direction: Make it all bigger and louder. This is what I like to call the 'Aliens approach' to sequels. The surprise element is gone and you can't really replicate the original sense of fear, so have fun with it and bend the genre a little.At the center of The Thing (video game), there's a rather archaic squad system that becomes the highlight and most unique feature of the experience the more you play. A bunch of soldiers visit the Antarctic outposts besieged by the horror from another world shortly after the events of the original movie. Most of them are expendable, as in they can die halfway through missions due to enemy damage or your own f**k-ups. The worst/best thing about it? You can essentially 'softlock' yourself if you lose an engineer at certain points of a level, since they're the only guys who can really fix some broken devices/doors. Image credit: Nightdive Studios, VG247As a direct result, The Thing can be quite tense even if it isn't scary. Ally AI wasn't the greatest and hasn't seen much improvement, but these digital pals are quite effective at completely destroying reanimated limbs and other monstrosities. Basically, just make sure to keep them stocked with ammo and be conscious of their placement, especially in narrow corridors and messy rooms.Cutscenes aside, there isn't much writing done for these expendable characters, which is why you'll be hearing lots of barks that repeat over and over again. When that's combined with their rather predictable reactions to cold (there's a whole mechanic built around it), alien horrors, and you messing up with wobbly aim, comedy ensues. Moreover, they like to puke when feeling a bit stressed out, so they might go "I'm fine", and immediately proceed to vomit their entire guts out because "I'm fine" didn't 100% mean they were fine and dandy. Try not to laugh, I dare you. Image credit: Nightdive StudiosSimilarly, get into a big fight with 'things' of all types and sizes and your allies are bound to be hurt by the packs of nightmarish foes a bit too much. Maybe they haven't gone down in battle, but chances are they're infected and ready to turn after you've healed them and heard a positive remark from them. Mind you, the old scripted transformations that directly collided with the blood test system aren't a thing in the remaster, but you can still lose these guys right after thinking they're perfectly fine because it was just the game spewing out random barks. It's the right sort of hilarious stuff. Keep your flamethrower well-fed and handy.Last but not least, I'd like to point out that looking through windows (both at the inside of buildings and snowy outside) can give you comedy gold like the moment in the clip below. Some 'things' are just wandering around the area until you trigger their aggro. Meanwhile, lost NPCs are waiting inside a warehouse for you to drop by, but you can see them sitting there while you frantically look for an open door. This is what the PS2/Xbox era games were all about. That's the stuff. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.While younger gamers might have a harder time adapting to the inherent jank of rusty AA games from ancient times, veterans like me find all this charming. The fact that Nightdive has so immaculately added to the lighting and texture work across all of the game, while polishing off some rough edges (such as the aforementioned blood test phenomenon) doesn't negate the fact The Thing is f**king funny first and foremost. It's the sort of stuff that could've been completely erased by a full-blown remake. Instead, we've received a great way to replay the same game you remember struggling with and laughing at.The Thing: Remastered is available now for PS4/5, Xbox One/Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam and GOG.

Gone Defendin'Haven't I seen you somewhere before? 2024's best games were pure nostalgic comfort food, and sometimes that's what you needEat your hamburgers, Apollo, or you'll be late for the entire circus at Clown University.Image credit: Capcom Article by Rebecca Jones Guides Writer Published on Dec. 23, 2024 I recently realised with some alarm that I've spent nearly 2% of 2024 playing Ace Attorney. That's not just 2% of my free time or even the time I spent awake, to be clear, but a whole percentage of the time I was alive in 2024, in-game in Ace Attorney. But honestly, what can you expect in a year when five previously almost-lost games from one of my favourite series were remastered and rereleased for modern systems, literally doubling the amount of Ace Attorney accessible to contemporary audiences within the span of only eight months?I have no regrets about mainlining both the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy (released on January 25th, total completion time: 105 hours) and the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection (released on September 6th, total completion time: 60 hours) as soon as I had the opportunity to do so. As someone who was initially drawn into Ace Attorney when the last two remastered collections brought the series to home consoles, knowing that I'm now caught up on all 10 core games in this franchise gives me an immense feeling of satisfaction, and I'm sure other fans in my position feel the same way.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. But the trade-off of spending an entire calendar year with a 1-in-50 chance I'd be playing Ace Attorney at any given moment was that perhaps unsurprisingly nothing else has left quite such a big impression on me in 2024.At first I ascribed this to 2024 being somewhat akin to the morning after the night before, with "the night before" in question being all of 2023. By halfway through last year, I'd already declared around 20 games as possible GOTY contenders, and I hadn't even met Baldur's Gate 3 yet. It was simply an amazing year for new games, and 2024 was always going to see a bit of a come-down by comparison. But as this year draws to a close, I do appreciate the fact that, if I was a bit metaphorically hungover at the start, then my miracle cure breakfast of choice was essentially a Full Monty Ace Attorney fry-up and that probably did dictate how much appetite I had left over for other things. Truly an all-you-can-eat buffet of wacky-yet-lovable anime archetypes... to say nothing of the 26 mysteries we solved together this year.Image credit: VG247 / CapcomThat's not to say that no other releases impressed me this year, of course far from it. I especially liked the funny one about the little guy who does his best to help everyone as a fish out of water in an unfamiliar town: a description I'm obsessed with because it can apply equally well to the surreal indie comedy gem Thank Goodness You're Here! and Sega's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, a massive RPG sequel that was nevertheless beginner-friendly enough to get me over my history of being too intimidated by the overwhelming back-catalogue of the Yakuza franchise to jump in. (You could say I'm LAD shy no more!)An honourable mention is also merited by Little Kitty, Big City, the Goose Game-alike about a puckish black cat lost in the really-exceedingly-kind streets of an unnamed, pastel-tinged city. This game has been on my most-anticipated list for three years running, and I was immensely pleased when I finally got to play it in 2024 and found it was everything I'd hoped it would be.And, on quite a different note, there was Mouthwashing, a retro-style indie in the body horror sub-genre that I usually switch off from as soon as possible, but which ended up as hands-down the best example of original game writing I experienced all year. The grateful residents of Dondoko Island hoist their hero Ichiban aloft in celebration. | Image credit: Coal Supper / PanicBut honestly, there's no rhyme or reason to what stood out to me this year, no real narrative conclusions I can draw from any trends I got invested in with the notable exception of just how many great remasters were released throughout the year. A ridiculous amount, the highlights of which you can see enumerated as part of our VG247 Alternate Game Awards.So yes, declaring this year's duo of Ace Attorney remastered collections as my personal joint-GOTY is a totally self-indulgent heart pick, but it's Christmas, a time when we should be extra honest and celebrate what makes us happy. And spending a solid week of this year solving crimes and objecting to the opposing counsel's nonsense in the inimitable company of Apollo Justice and Miles Edgeworth made me extremely happy.

Bring out your GOTYs!It's that time of year for reflection, to sit down and take stock of all the wonderful games that released in 2024. A time to stare into the middle distance with a despairing expression wondering how you managed to not play so many great new games this year because the Vampire Survivors DLC continued to suck your free time up like..., well, like a vampire. Yes, it's GOTY time.As the industry continues to navigate tumultuous waters, with layoffs continuing across the board in game development, publishing, and media, players themselves have once again had an excellent year in terms of great new games to play. Whether large or small, there have been more fantastic things to play than hours in the day for all but the most myopic of gamers.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

In BriefPosted:8:07 AM PST December 23, 2024Image Credits:Ty Wright/Bloomberg / Getty ImagesHonda and Nissan plan major merger focused on intelligence and electrificationJapanese car giants Honda and Nissan are working out the details of a major merger that could create the worlds third-largest automaker, as the companies look to survive in an industry faced with uncertainty.The Tesla-led shift towards electric vehicles, and Chinas increased importance in the automotive market, have companies like Honda and Nissan feeling the pressure to compete. If they go through with the merger, it could be completed by 2026. Nissans partner company Mitsubishi is supposed to decide by the end of January 2025 whether it would join this new alliance.Nissan and Mitsubishi are already in a partnership with French automaker Renault, though that relationship has grown increasingly fraught especially after former chairman of the alliance, Carlos Ghosn, was arrested in Japan on allegations of financial misconduct and subsequently fled the country. As the main shareholder of Nissan, Renault Group will consider all options based on the best interest of the Group and its stakeholders, a spokesperson for Renault said in a statement.Topics

Witness the dark heart of a young America. In 1857, the frontier knows no mercy, and peace is but a distant memory. Where will you stand in a world ruled by fear and survival? Watch the American Primeval trailer and enter the chaos!The VFX are made by:Scanline VFXFuseFXFOLKSWindmill LaneVisionary FXThe Production VFX Supervisor is Andrew J. Ceperley.The Production VFX Producer is Melanie Callaghan.Director: Peter BergRelease Date: January 9, 2025 (Netflix) Vincent Frei The Art of VFX 2024

Hi !I was experimenting with Niagara and death events when I noticed an unexpected behavior.Im using Unreal 5.3.2 but I also tried on Unreal 5.4.4.I have two emitters, one with the death event and another one with the event handler. The first emitter spawns a finite amount of particles and the second emitter spawn one particle when one particle of the first emitter dies. Nothing fancy.I noticed that when the last particle of the first emitter dies, the second emitter spawns 2 particles instead of one. And It only happens with the last particle of the first emitter.Steps to reproduce :Create a Single Looping Particle emitter with a spawn rate of 3.1.1 Properties Enable Requires Persistent IDs.1.2 Emitter State Life Cyle Mode: self, loop behavior: once, Loop duration: 2.1.3 Particle Spawn Add Velocity Set Velocity 50,0,0.1.4 Particle Update Generate Death Event.Duplicate the emitter.2.1 Emitter State Loop Behavior: Infinite2.2 Delete Spawn Rate, Add Velocity and Generate Death Event.2.3 Add an Event Handler Set Source to first emitter Death Event.2.3.1 Execution Mode Set Execution Mode to Spawned Particles.2.3.2 Spawn number Set to 1.2.4 Add Receive Location Event.2.5 Particle Update Add Gravity Force.Minus the colors, it should look like thisFor some reason, when the last particle from the first emitter dies, the death event always spawns the double amount of particles sets in the Event Handler Properties-> Spawn Number.Am I doing something wrong or is it an issue coming from Niagara ?

A trailblazing African American architect in St. Louis. A world-renowned philosopher of postmodernism. Famous artists who worked with famous architects. Le Corbusiers last living employee. A legendary downtown New York fashion designer.These are just a few brief descriptors of the visionary architects, educators, designers, artists, and writers who died in 2024 for whom ANpublishedobituaries or tributes. See the names of the individuals listed below, and click to read more about their life and impact on the built environment. Victor Lundy, 101Designer, artist, and Sarasota School of Architecture pioneerJoseph Rykwert, 98Architectural historianIris Apfel, 102Interior designer, furniture maker Richard Serra, 85ArtistFredric Jameson, 90Philosopher; professor; author of Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late CapitalismBarbara Stauffacher Solomon at Sea Ranch circa 1965 (Lawrence Halprin Collection, Architectural Archives, School of Design, University of Pennsylvania)Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, 95California cool graphic design visionary, landscape architectRalph Knowles, 95Passive design pioneerMilton Barragn Dumet, 90Ecuadorian architect, educator, artistRene Gonzalez Ilustre, 84California architect who worked for Frank Gehry Charles Fleming, 86St. Louis modern architectFumihiko Maki, 95Pritzker Prizewinning Metabolist architectMarsha Ann Maytum, 69Founding principal of Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, design justice advocateFrank Stella, 87ArtistPaul Austers writing was deeply connected to 1980s Brooklyn and urban life in the city. (Kansallisteatteri/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)Paul Auster, 77Author, playwrightGaetano Pesce, 84Designer, architectDebora K. Reiser, 96Long Island modern architect, educator, mentorJeffrey Beers, 67Architect Jos Oubrerie, 91Architect, professor, former employee of Le CorbusierCharles Thornton, 83Engineer, cofounder of Thornton TomasettiCurtis Moody (Courtesy Moody Nolan)Curtis Moody, 73Founder of Moody Nolan, the countrys largest African Americanowned architecture firmKurt Forster, 89Scholar, professor, historianAntoine Predock, 87Architect, educator, artistCarl Andre, 88Minimalist artist, involved in the death of Ana Mendieta in 1985Juha Ilmari Leivisk, 87Finnish architectEugene Aubry, 88Texas architect