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    Every Spider-Man and Spinoff Movie Ranked, From Worst to Best
    With great power comes great responsibility ... and sometimes great movies.(Other times, not so much.)As hard as it may be to believe, the Spider-Man film franchise is now more than 20 years old. Or maybe Spider-Man franchises is more accurate. What started as one trilogy of films by Sam Raimi has now been rebooted and re-rebooted, and then spun off into unexpected directions featuring characters tangentially related to Spider-Man as part of Sonys efforts to turn their deal with Marvelfor the Friendly Neighborhood Web-Slinger into a cinematic universe all their own.Most of those spinoff movies have not been great. (AhemMorbius, ahem ahemMadame Web, ahem Kraven the Hunterahem ahem why oh why does my throat get so dry when writing about Spider-Man adjacent movies,verystrange.) Otherwise, the Spider-Man franchise has given us some of the best superhero movies of the century. Live-action or animation, Peter Parker or Miles Morales, Sam Raimi or Jon Watts or Lord and Miller; Spideys cinematic track record speaks for itself.But which is the best of the best? Below, Ive ranked every single one of Sonys Spider-Man movies, from 2002s very first film all the way through the bizarre web of Spider-Man spinoffs of today. Which reigns supreme? Youll have to read on to find out but, uh, yeah it aintMorbius.Ill tell you that much right now.Every Spider-Man and Spinoff Movie RankedAll of Sonys Spider-Man movies (plus their spinoffs), ranked from the worst to the best.Gallery Credit: Matt SingerREAD MORE: The Story of the Best Spider-Man Movie That Was Never MadeGet our free mobile appSpider-Man Co-Creator Steve Ditkos Run on Indiana JonesDuring the 1980s, Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko contributed artwork to Marvels Indiana Jones comic book.Filed Under: Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web, Marvel, Morbius, Spider-Man, Venom
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    Squid Game Recap: What to Know Before Season 2
    Squid GameSeason 2 is finallyhere. Netflixs biggest show ever has a whole new season and a whole new set of games.If you heard the hype about the first season the most-watched TV series in the history of Netflix streaming and you want to check out Season 2, butyou dont have time to watch the whole first season, ScreenCrush is here to help. Or maybe you watchedSquid Game Season 1, but its been a while and youre little hazy about what happened, who survived, and who was behind it all. (Look, we get it. Theres a lot of TV shows these days. No one could remember all this stuff.)Either way, well run down all the events of Season 1 (all nine hours!) in 10 short minutes. Youll learn aboutGi-hun, the various deadly games, the Front Man, the hierarchy of the pink jumpsuit guards, the history of this underground competition. When were through, youll be totally ready for Season 2.Watch our fullSquid GameSeason 1 recap below:READ MORE: 10 Squid Game Details You Might Have MissedIf you liked that video aboutSquid GameSeason 1 ahead of Season 2,check out more of our videos below, including our review of NetflixsAvatar: The Last Airbender show, our breakdown of what the ending ofLost really meant, and some surprising facts you never knew aboutThe Sopranos.Plus, theres tons more over atScreenCrushs YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to catch all our future episodes.Squid Game Season 2 premieres on Netflix on December 26.Get our free mobile appThe 10 Biggest Unanswered 'Squid Game' Questions
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  • SCREENCRUSH.COM
    Jared Leto to Play Skeletor in Masters of the Universe Movie
    Jared Leto will play Skeletor in the upcoming Masters of the Universe.The House of Gucci actor was first linked to the role in September and now his casting as the sinister sorcerer, He-Man's arch-nemesis, has been confirmed.And that's not all as Deadline reports the Travis Knight-directed live action film for Amazon MGM and Mattel Films has also added three other actors to the cast, with House of the Dragons Sam C. Wilson, Game of Thrones star Hafthor Bjornsson and In the Grey actor Kojo Attah all on board to play other villains.Sam plays Trap Jaw, one of Skeletors key henchmen, who is known for his weaponry and cybernetic enhancements, while Hafthor is the goat-like Goat Man, and Kojo is on board as Tri-Klops, a skilled swordsman who is also a master of technology.NetflixNetflixloading...READ MORE: What Happened to All the Movies in Theaters For Kids?Nicholas Galtzine leads the cast as He-Man, while Alison Brie will play Evil-Lyn, Idris Elba is on board as Duncan, Man-At-Arms, and Camila Mendes will star asTeela.Bumblebee helmerKnight is directing from a script by Chris Butler, although exact plot details are yet to be revealed.Masters of the Universe was introduced to the world via action figures in 1982 and focused on the battle between the heroic He-Man and the evil Skeletor.The animated series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe premiered the following year and several other film and TV adaptations have followed since as the franchise is still going strong. The movie is slated for release in June 2026 after enduring a two-decade journey to the big screen.It was axed by Netflix last year due to budget concerns while directors John Stevenson, Jon M. Chu and McG have all been attached to the project since 2007.Julie Rapaport, head of film production and development at Amazon MGM Studios, said in a statement following Galitzine's casting: "We're thrilled to bring the beloved 'Masters of the Universe' to life and couldn't be more excited to announce the immensely talented Nicholas Galitzine as our He-Man.Joining forces with director Travis Knight, Mattel, and Escape Artists, this reintroduction of the character and his universe will be an epic film that will delight audiences from here to Eternia.Get our free mobile appThe Dad Movie Canon: 25 Films All Dads LoveNo dad can resist these 25 movie classics.
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  • WORLDARCHITECTURE.ORG
    ZHA unveils design for culture and art centre with large, wavy, and sloping roofs in Shaoxing, China
    html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled design for a new culture and art centre featuring large, wavy, and sloping roofs in Shaoxing, China.Called Zhejiang Shaoxing Shangyu District Caoe River Culture and Art Centre, the project serves as the foundation for the new cultural district in Shaoxing, China's Zhejiang province's Shangyu District.The Art and Culture Center, which has a 1,400-seat Grand Theatre, a 500-seat Black-Box Multifunctional Hall, a 2,900-square-meter Arts and Education Center, a 3,000-square-meter Conference Center, a 7,500-square-meter Heritage Museum, and a 10,000-square-meter Digital Art Gallery, will be built to accommodate regional and international opera, dance, and drama productions in addition to large-scale symphonies and musical theater.Bridge approach. Image courtesy of ZHAThe Culture and Art Center's covered courtyards, which are situated on the banks of the historic Caoe River, are an extension of the building's interior.Residents and visitors to Shaoxing can enjoy a range of natural parklands and gardens for leisure and recreation along the river thanks to these outdoor meeting areas that flow into terraced landscapes that encircle the center and connect directly to the city.Render ProloogWithin the region's vernacular architecture, the design honors the rich history and craftsmanship of glazed tiles upon pitched roofs by integrating various levels of public spaces and technical equipment to stage dance and theater acts within the center's courtyards and foyers.Informed by the region's ancient architecture, the Cultural and Art Centre creates a fresh yet recognized shape with its interconnected roof composition that flows above the eternal river sceneries.Render ProloogThe center's facades are a modern interpretation of the famous jade-green Celadon ceramics, which were made in the area about 1,200 years ago at the start of the Northern Song Dynasty.Thus, a 21st-century cultural structure with a clear link to the area's ancient past is defined by the cogent integration of traditional materials and avant-garde architecture.Courtyard view. Image AtchainThe core of ZHA's creative thinking, architectural expression, and design language is sustainability. The design's huge sloping roofs, which contain vast overhangs around the periphery of each venue in response to Shaoxing's subtropical monsoon environment, effectively shade the glass faades that open onto covered outdoor courtyards that stretch into the landscape.In order to generate self-shading zones that efficiently reduce solar heat gain within the structure and shade the outdoor courtyards during the summer, the roofs' geometries were specified by a solar study of the site during each season.Riverside. Render TegmarkPhotovoltaic panels integrated into the roof will allow the Cultural and Art Center to drastically cut down on its energy consumption from the municipal electricity grid, while the roofs' distinctive forms extend lower and farther on the center's southern faades to provide optimal protection from the stronger solar radiation.Heritage Museum. Render ZHATheatre. Render TegmarkRoofs. Render ProloogDropOff. Render ProloogRoad Approach. Render AtchainAerial masterplan. Render AtchainZaha Hadid Architects revealed design for its first project in Malaysia, the plans are developed in collaboration with JLand Group Sdn Bhd (JLG). In addition, the firm began construction on lemiste Passenger Terminal in Tallinn, Estonia. In addition, ZHA shared an update about the construction of West Kowloon Terminus in Hong Kong. Finally, ZHA won a competition to design Riga Ropax Terminal in Latvia.Project factsClient:Shaoxing Shangyu Urban and Rural Ecological Environmental Protection Development Co., LTDThe Consortium: Zaha Hadid Limited (trading as Zaha Hadid Architects) and Central-South Architectural Design Institute Co., LtdDesign Lead:Zaha Hadid Limited (trading as Zaha Hadid Architects)Principal Architect: Patrik SchumacherChief Architect: Paulo FloresCommercial Director: Charles WalkerProject Leaders: Yazhu Liang, Saman DadgostarCompetition Project leaders: Yazhu Liang, Jakub Klaska, Saman Dadgostar, Sven TorresFaade Lead: Edgar PayanZHA Design Team: Barbara Schickermueller, Berkin Islam, Charles Liang, Chen-Ru Sung, Fangxingchi Du, Gerhild Orthacker, Gizem Dogan, Hao Wen, Jinhee Koh, Karina Linnsen, Paul Joseph, Rishil Parikh, Stefan Manousof, Yuxuan ZhaoZHA Support Team: Tyson Hosmer, Ziming He, Baris Erdincer, Bahaa AlnassrallahLocal Design Institute, Structure, Engineering, MEP, Quantity Surveyor:Central-South Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd (CSADI)Theatre Planning and Acoustic Consultant:ARUPTop image in the article: Elevation River Proloog.> via ZHA News
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  • WORLDARCHITECTURE.ORG
    Untreated tree trunks pass through the central staircase of the Langeveld Building in Rotterdam
    html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"Zaha Hadid Architects has unveiled design for a new culture and art centre featuring large, wavy, and sloping roofs in Shaoxing, China.Called Zhejiang Shaoxing Shangyu District Caoe River Culture and Art Centre, the project serves as the foundation for the new cultural district in Shaoxing, China's Zhejiang province's Shangyu District.The Art and Culture Center, which has a 1,400-seat Grand Theatre, a 500-seat Black-Box Multifunctional Hall, a 2,900-square-meter Arts and Education Center, a 3,000-square-meter Conference Center, a 7,500-square-meter Heritage Museum, and a 10,000-square-meter Digital Art Gallery, will be built to accommodate regional and international opera, dance, and drama productions in addition to large-scale symphonies and musical theater.Bridge approach. Image courtesy of ZHAThe Culture and Art Center's covered courtyards, which are situated on the banks of the historic Caoe River, are an extension of the building's interior.Residents and visitors to Shaoxing can enjoy a range of natural parklands and gardens for leisure and recreation along the river thanks to these outdoor meeting areas that flow into terraced landscapes that encircle the center and connect directly to the city.Render ProloogWithin the region's vernacular architecture, the design honors the rich history and craftsmanship of glazed tiles upon pitched roofs by integrating various levels of public spaces and technical equipment to stage dance and theater acts within the center's courtyards and foyers.Informed by the region's ancient architecture, the Cultural and Art Centre creates a fresh yet recognized shape with its interconnected roof composition that flows above the eternal river sceneries.Render ProloogThe center's facades are a modern interpretation of the famous jade-green Celadon ceramics, which were made in the area about 1,200 years ago at the start of the Northern Song Dynasty.Thus, a 21st-century cultural structure with a clear link to the area's ancient past is defined by the cogent integration of traditional materials and avant-garde architecture.Courtyard view. Image AtchainThe core of ZHA's creative thinking, architectural expression, and design language is sustainability. The design's huge sloping roofs, which contain vast overhangs around the periphery of each venue in response to Shaoxing's subtropical monsoon environment, effectively shade the glass faades that open onto covered outdoor courtyards that stretch into the landscape.In order to generate self-shading zones that efficiently reduce solar heat gain within the structure and shade the outdoor courtyards during the summer, the roofs' geometries were specified by a solar study of the site during each season.Riverside. Render TegmarkPhotovoltaic panels integrated into the roof will allow the Cultural and Art Center to drastically cut down on its energy consumption from the municipal electricity grid, while the roofs' distinctive forms extend lower and farther on the center's southern faades to provide optimal protection from the stronger solar radiation.Heritage Museum. Render ZHATheatre. Render TegmarkRoofs. Render ProloogDropOff. Render ProloogRoad Approach. Render AtchainAerial masterplan. Render AtchainZaha Hadid Architects revealed design for its first project in Malaysia, the plans are developed in collaboration with JLand Group Sdn Bhd (JLG). In addition, the firm began construction on lemiste Passenger Terminal in Tallinn, Estonia. In addition, ZHA shared an update about the construction of West Kowloon Terminus in Hong Kong. Finally, ZHA won a competition to design Riga Ropax Terminal in Latvia.Project factsClient:Shaoxing Shangyu Urban and Rural Ecological Environmental Protection Development Co., LTDThe Consortium: Zaha Hadid Limited (trading as Zaha Hadid Architects) and Central-South Architectural Design Institute Co., LtdDesign Lead:Zaha Hadid Limited (trading as Zaha Hadid Architects)Principal Architect: Patrik SchumacherChief Architect: Paulo FloresCommercial Director: Charles WalkerProject Leaders: Yazhu Liang, Saman DadgostarCompetition Project leaders: Yazhu Liang, Jakub Klaska, Saman Dadgostar, Sven TorresFaade Lead: Edgar PayanZHA Design Team: Barbara Schickermueller, Berkin Islam, Charles Liang, Chen-Ru Sung, Fangxingchi Du, Gerhild Orthacker, Gizem Dogan, Hao Wen, Jinhee Koh, Karina Linnsen, Paul Joseph, Rishil Parikh, Stefan Manousof, Yuxuan ZhaoZHA Support Team: Tyson Hosmer, Ziming He, Baris Erdincer, Bahaa AlnassrallahLocal Design Institute, Structure, Engineering, MEP, Quantity Surveyor:Central-South Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd (CSADI)Theatre Planning and Acoustic Consultant:ARUPTop image in the article: Elevation River Proloog.> via ZHA News
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  • WWW.ARCHITECTSJOURNAL.CO.UK
    Quiz: Buildings of the Year 2024
    1. Source: Brendan Bell2. Source: Lorenzo Zandri3. Source: Paul Karalius4. Source: Jim Stephenson5. Source: Nigel Young6. Source: Stijn Bollaert7. Source: Rory Gaylor8. Source: Fran Williams9. Source: Greg Holmes10. Source: Jim Stephenson11. Source: Hufton + Crow12. Source: Hufton + CrowAnswers1 Canada Water boardwalk, London, by Asif Khan Studio 2 Wraxall Yard, Dorchester, by Clementine Blakemore Architects 3 Oldham Road, Manchester, by Tim Groom Architects 4 Homerton College Dining Hall, Cambridge, by Feilden Fowles 5 Faustino Winery, Oyn, Spain, by Foster + Partners 6 Performing Arts Centre at Brighton College, by krft with Nicholas Hare Architects 7 Westminster Coroners Court, London, by Lynch Architects 8 Serpentine Gallery summer pavilion, London, by Minsuk Cho/Mass Studies 9 Perth Museum, Scotland, by Mecanoo 10 Peckham House, London, by Surman Weston 11 Maggies Centre at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, London, by Studio Libeskind 12 The Elizabeth Line, London, by Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation, Atkins et al
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  • WWW.CNET.COM
    The 20 Best Disney Plus TV Shows to Enjoy During Your Holiday Break
    It took five years forDisney Plusto become a formidable streaming platform. That's a commendable accomplishment. Is it really that shocking, though? Where else can you find copious entries from the catalogs of Marvel and Star Wars? Do I even need to mentionBluey?In true Disney fashion, the company's TV streaming service has something for every family member: riveting comic book adventures, magical tales for young adults, educational docuseries, and engaging unscripted shows. And though we're still two years away from the recently announced Bluey movie, there are plenty of episodes featuring the Heeler family for you and your loved ones to enjoy.Simply put, the Disney brand has power and it's on full display on Disney Plus.With endless hours of entertainment at your disposal, it's easy to get lost like Alice down the rabbit hole. That's where we come in. Below is our curated guide to the best Disney Plus original TV shows. Any of these titles are worth a binge. Just click Play. You'll be glad you did.Read more: Disney Plus Review: More Than Just Child's Play Matt Kennedy/Lucafilm Ltd. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew Star Wars: Skeleton Crew dials the tone back to the Amblin days of the 1980s. There's no trace of Luke Skywalker in this show. Instead, Skeleton Crew takes place in a reality where stories of the Jedi are viewed as fairy tales. That is, until a ragtag group of kids stumble upon an abandoned starship and accidentally shoot themselves into space. The result: a (literally) out-of-this-world adventure. Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Agatha All Along Agatha All Along isn't a direct sequel to WandaVision, but the stories are definitely related. Kathryn Hahn reprises her deliciously devilish role in the spooky new series, which follows Agatha and a group of ragtag witches on a journey down the Witches Road to help Ms. Harkness get her powers back. Spoiler: It ain't gonna be easy. Lucasfilm Ltd. Star Wars: Visions Star Wars: Visions is a fun and edgy animated anthology series that adds an exciting new element to Lucasfilm's long-established franchise. Seven Japanese animation studios were tapped to create nine unique noncanonical episodes for the program. Additional episodes from Spain, Ireland, Chile, the United Kingdom, South Korea, France, India, Japan and South Africa were released in the show's second installment. Disney Plus Doctor Who Doctor Who kicked off 60 years ago, and since then, the sci-fi series has been revamped multiple times. Actors like David Tennant and Matt Smith helped bring the iconic Time Lord into the present day with the program's run of modern era seasons. Ncuti Gatwa is the latest actor to take the reins as the Doctor, marking the first time in the program's history that a Black actor has stepped into the role. Doctor Who made the move to Disney Plus in 2023. New episodes (starting with season 14) will exclusively air on the streamer. Ludo Studio Bluey Bluey is a phenomenon, plain and simple. The kids' show, which follows a family of anthropomorphic dogs -- Bluey, her sister Bingo, dad Bandit and mom Chilli -- wasthe most streamed series in 2023, and for good reason. Nearly all the episodes run at around 8 minutes in length, making it an easy binge. And while the tone remains light and playful, the series digs into relevant and poignant topics in a way that never talks down to its audience. Who knew a show about an Australian dog family would be so addictive? Disney Plus knew. Disney Plus Andor Simply put, I thinkAndor is the best Star Wars series Disney Plus has made. The program ditches the flashy, and often clichd, production values of its predecessors and goes all-in on some intense ground-level storytelling. Expanding the story of the characters featured in the one-off film Rogue One, Andor comes through with the emotional stakes thanks to its smart writing and the excellent performances of its cast. Phenomenal stuff, right here. Disney Plus Percy Jackson and the Olympians This fresh take on Rick Riordan's cherished books aims to erase the live-action movies from our collective memories. And, for the most part, it accomplishes its task. The eight-episode first season follows the events of Lightning Thief, which is the first book in the series. Thanks to a younger cast and lighter stakes, this Percy Jackson series is positioned to be a YA hit for Disney Plus. Lucasfilm Ltd. The Mandalorian Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau took their love of Star Wars to new heights with The Mandalorian. It's the first live-action Star Wars series to hit Disney Plus and it set the standard for everything that came after. Stylistically inspired by things like the Lone Wolf and Cub manga, Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sergio Leone's iconic Dollars trilogy (which starred Clint Eastwood as the Man With No Name), the series follows a lone bounty hunter who gets a second chance at life when he's hired to protect a little green alien you may know simply as Baby Yoda. Apple Corps Ltd The Beatles: Get Back This three-part documentary series puts us smack-dab in the creative maelstrom of one of the world's biggest musical groups. Directed by Oscar-winner Peter Jackson, The Beatles: Get Back gives a cinma vrit-style look at a band at the top of their game and on the precipice of collapse. This previously unseen footage shows John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr in rehearsal for their infamous rooftop concert at their Apple Corps headquarters on London's Savile Row. It was their last live performance. It's breathtaking, inspiring and heartbreaking. And definitely worth a watch. Marvel Studios What If...? If you've ever wondered what may have happened if things turned out differently for your favorite Marvel heroes and villains, Marvel's What If...? is the show for you. The animated anthology series is based on the comic book of the same name and asks, "What if key events in the MCU never happened?"Peggy Carter can totally become Captain Americaand theAvengers may turn into brain-hungry zombies. And that's just the tip of the iceberg of what Marvel's What If...? is bringing to the table.Read our fullWhat If... ? review here. Marvel Animation X-Men '97 X-Men: The Animated Series ended its five season run in 1997. Almost three decades later, X-Men '97 continues the story of everyone's favorite mutant superhero crew. The pacing is quick, the writing is tight and the 2D animation style acts as a nice bow tying together this lovely nostalgic gift for '90s kids everywhere. Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios Echo Echo (Alaqua Cox) was first introduced in a three-episode arc in Hawkeye. Marvel's Echois centered on the hearing-impaired antihero. She's also a member of the Choctaw Nation, which leads the series to wonderfully explore these aspects of her identity. Her association with Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) further connects the MCU shows on Disney Plus with those previously on Netflix -- and sets up the arrival of Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) and crew quite nicely. Lucasfilm Ltd. Star Wars: The Bad Batch The Bad Batch is an intense, action-packed spin-off of the celebrated Star Wars animated seriesThe Clone Wars. Audiences have seen the fallout of Order 66 take shape in various forms throughout the Star Wars franchise, but never like this. The Bad Batch follows a squad of elite clone troopers with genetic defects. They may have special abilities, but that doesn't make them invisible to the top-secret execution order. In turn, the animated series fills in some blanks in Star Wars lore. It does so in an incredibly entertaining way. Disney Plus Ms. Marvel Ms. Marvel is a breath of fresh air for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Disney Plus series flips the script on what we have grown to expect from Marvel shows on the streamer. Iman Vellani is a revelation as the titular hero. It's a challenge for a show to balance the heavy responsibilities of being a superhero with the trials and tribulations of high school. The story pulls it off, and does so with a welcome helping of Muslim representation. Disney Plus WandaVision WandaVision started it all on Disney Plus. It's the first original series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to hit the streamer. It's a genre-bending adventure that finds Wanda and Vision living out different realities inspired by TV sitcoms, from I Love Lucy and The Dick Van Dyke Show to The Brady Bunch and Family Ties. How does the emotional fallout of Avengers: Endgame (and Vision's death, specifically) affect Wanda? Well, let's just say her grief takes her down one heck of a weird rabbit hole.Read our fullWandaVision review. Gareth Gatrell/Marvel/Disney Plus Loki Tom Hiddleston has appeared as Loki, the God of Mischief, throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the past decade. Thanks to Disney Plus, he finally leads his own odd adventure. The quirky sci-fi series puts Loki in the unlikely position of hero. Here, he works with a barrage of interesting characters, including Owen Wilson's Mobius M. Mobius, to correct the timeline. It's an offbeat, fun and thoroughly weird series that appeals to die-hard fans and newbs alike. Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios The Falcon and the Winter Soldier What happens when Captain America hangs up his shield? That's the question going into Marvel'sThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Here, Sam Wilson (better known as Falcon) and Bucky Barnes (aka the Winter Soldier) buddy up in a surprisingly funny and heartfelt series that deals with trauma, grief and classism as the world picks up the pieces from the earth-shattering events of Avengers: Endgame. Photo by David Astorga/Disney Goosebumps This new take on RL Stine's beloved Goosebumps books brings some spooky chills to Disney Plus. Justin Long headlines the supernatural series that follows a group of teens who find themselves investigating the death of a kid named Harold Biddle. As they learn about the boy, insidious secrets come to light connecting their parents to his passing three decades ago. Disney Moon Knight Moon Knight stars Oscar Isaac as Steven Grant, a troubled man with dissociative identity disorder. These aren't simple anxiety issues -- no, Grant actually shares his body with a mercenary named Marc Spector. The discovery of this alter-ego leads Grant on an adventure that pits him against a sinister cult leader named Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke) and a gang of formidable Egyptian gods. It's a trippy ride that may even scratch that Indiana Jones itch.Read our fullMoon Knight review. Disney Plus Muppets Mayhem Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem Band get top billing in Muppets Mayhem, Disney Plus's latest series inspired by Jim Henson's Muppets. Here, the Electric Mayhem Band struggles to record one more album. But record company politics and other past mistakes make things complicated for the crew -- and boy do those complications lead to some hilarious on-screen antics! Of all the Muppets programs to hit TV in recent years, Muppets Mayhem comes closest to the wacky, fun vibe of the original.
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  • WWW.CNET.COM
    Meta's Ray-Bans New Live AI and Translation, Hands-On: Signs of AR Glasses to Come
    I activated Meta Ray-Bans' new live AI feature and took a morning walk across Manhattan. It was a strange experience. A white LED in the corner of my eyes stayed on as my glasses kept a feed of my life. I awkwardly asked questions: about the pigeons, about the construction workers, about whether it knew what car was nearby or who owned those trucks across the street. I got mixed answers, sometimes no answer at all. And then my connection ended because of bad Bluetooth in the city.My first steps with an always-aware AI companion have been weird and even more science-fictiony than what I'd experienced over the last year. Much like a recent demo with Google's always-on Gemini-powered glasses, Meta's Ray-Bans-- which are already very much available -- are taking next steps to being something like an always-aware assistant. Oragent, as the AI landscape is calling it now. Live AI and live translation; once on, stay on. It's assumed that AI can see what you see. And maybe it'll help you do something you don't know how to do.But these features also look like previews of what could be a whole new set of Meta glasses coming next year, ones that could have their own display and maybe even a gesture-controlling wristband too, based on hints Mark Zuckerberg gave on Threads last week after a story written by The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern.At the moment, Live AI feels like an odd glimpse of a more always-on and more intrusive AI future, that's more of a companion than a helper from my very early attempts. And yet, translation, when it works, feels surprisingly helpful... even if it operates at a bit of a delay. Live AI mode is part of an Early Access set of features. It's separately toggled on and off. Scott Stein/CNETLive AI: A constantly listening and watching state of mindTurning on Live AI means starting live video recording. Although the video isn't saved for you to watch later, it's processed by Meta's AI via your phone and relayed to the glasses. The LED light stays on to notify people it's on, but in my experience people don't notice the LED light all that much or don't seem to care. Anything you say can be interpreted by Meta AI, so forget about conversations with others. In the office, I just seemed like a weird guy talking to myself or maybe, seemingly talking to others (only to have people try to talk to me and realize I wasn't talking to them). But Live AI can be paused by tapping the side of the glasses.Ending Live AI can be done by saying, "Stop Live AI," but sometimes Meta AI thought I was asking if it was a live AI -- a "Who's on first?" moment. I had to yell out several times before it stopped. With Meta Ray-Bans on, it's hard to for anyone to know you're wearing smart tech... or having a conversation with AI. Scott Stein/CNETThe challenge with live AI is figuring out what to do with it. I walked around the office asking about the furniture placement and was told everything seemed fine: "the room appears to be well-designed and functional, with no obvious changes needed." I asked about a story I was writing on my laptop, and it said: "The text appears to be a cohesive and well-structured piece, with no parts that feel unnecessary." I kept trying to get constructive feedback, and it was hard to get anything that wasn't generic, although it did point out some notable lines and summarized my points.As I walked outside, it told me what street I was on, but it was wrong -- I corrected it, and then it simply acknowledged it and moved on. It knew the Chase bank I was looking at and told me the bank hours, and it knew Joe's Pub when I stood at the entrance to the Public Theater, but it couldn't tell me what was playing that night. It could recognize common pigeons, misrecognized a car on the curb as a Mercedes (it was a Lincoln) and recommended, for some reason, a bar down the street that was now, according to Meta AI, "defunct."Live AI is very much an early access beta right now, but I also need to understand what I'll do with it, too. The early-beta feel and unclear purpose can combine to make it feel ridiculous. Or unexpectedly profound. Either way, keeping it running takes a hit on battery life: 30 minutes of use, instead of the hours that Ray-Bans normally work. Live Translation needs to download individual language packs in order to work. Scott Stein/CNETTranslation: Useful, for a few languagesLive translation works the same way, starting on request. But language packs need to be downloaded for the specific languages you want to translate: Spanish to English, for instance. Only Spanish, French, Italian and English are supported right now, which is a letdown.I chatted with CNET colleague Danni Santana out in noisy Astor Place, near our New York office. He spoke in Dominican Spanish, and I spoke in English. The translated responses appeared in my ears a few seconds later, and over our chat, I felt like I was picking up enough to understand. It wasn't perfect: the translation AI didn't seem to get some phrases or idioms. The time delay made it hard to know when translation would end or if more was still coming in. I had trouble judging the timing of my replies to Danni as he was patiently waiting for me to talk across the table.Meta also shows a live transcript feed of the conversation in the Meta View phone app, which you could refer to while using the glasses to show the person you're talking with or clarify what was said.The translation feature on Ray-Bans seems a lot more instantly helpful than Live AI, but that's also because Live AI doesn't make it clear yet what I should be using it for. Maybe I could turn it on while cooking or constructing IKEA furniture or playing a board game? I don't know. Help me figure this out, Meta. Also, not having any heads-up display makes Live AI feel like I'm guessing as to what the glasses are looking at.You could, of course, just use Google Translate on your phone instead. Meta's using its glasses for translation in a similar way to how you'd use a pair of earbuds. But Meta's glasses can also see and translate written items too, but that's not part of the conversational live translation mode. Meta's AR glasses moonshot, Orion, has its own neural input wristband and heads-up 3D displays. When will these slowly arrive on Ray-Bans? Celso Bulgatti/CNETWhat next: Display or gestures? Or both?Meta's year-old Ray-Bans have now gotten multiple major AI features, each one changing the equation in surprising ways. The newest live AI additions feel like they're pushing the limits of the hardware, though, shaving down battery life. I wish I had better ways of knowing what the AI could see or could point with my hand to indicate what I wanted to ask about.Future glasses could move in this direction: both with heads-up displays and with gesture recognition. Meta's CTO, Andrew Bosworth, in a conversation I had with him at the end of the year, acknowledges these are the next steps -- but the timeframe is unclear. Meta's Orion glasses-- a future-ambitious pair of glasses with 3D displays and a wrist-worn gesture tracker I demoed earlier this year that can recognize finger taps and pinches -- are still years off from being real. But Meta's wrist-worn neural band could emerge sooner or maybe a way for camera-equipped glasses to recognize hand gestures. And as for displays in smart glasses, Meta could explore a smaller heads-up display for showing information before it moves into larger, more immersive AR displays. Bosworth points to next-gen AR glasses in a recent blog post, but will some of this be possible in the next generation of Ray-Ban-like glasses next year?"Gesture based controls require downward facing cameras and probably some illumination," Bosworth says of future Meta glasses. "You could do it in the current Ray-Ban Metas -- in the Live AI, we played with it -- but you just have to do it [from] the field of view of the camera." However, he acknowledges possibilities of adding an EMG band to glasses sooner than later. "Now you're adding a device that has to be charged, it's extra cost, it's extra weight, but it's so convenient." But Bosworth sees the EMG band as being useful only when there's a display on the glasses -- something Ray-Bans don't haveyet. It's likely that, when Ray-Bans do get some sort of heads-up display, an input band might debut alongside.I've seen some attempts at ideas like this in other products.And then there's the battery life question: how will these more always-on glasses work for more than a few hours at a time? Or how would this all ramp up the cost of a next-gen pair of glasses?In the meantime, Meta's AI might also carry into areas like fitness, as something that also bridges over to VR, where Meta has another version of Meta AI. "It would be very unusual if, a year from now, the AI you're using to track your steps in the world and give you advice isn't also aware that you're also doing these workouts [in VR]," Bosworth says.As Live AI keeps evolving, having better ways to add gestures might be absolutely necessary. Bosworth sees pointing at things as being a key way to train the AI to get better in the future. "As the AIs get better, the need for these much simpler, intuitive gestures actually goes up significantly."Meta's Ray-Bans don't let me point to things right now, and it makes Live AI seem a bit confusing to use sometimes. But maybe that'll need newer hardware, and added gestures and displays, to take that next leap.
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    Americans Are Moody, and Pollsters Should Pay Attention
    OpinionDecember 23, 20245 min readAmericans Are Moody, and Pollsters Should Pay AttentionThe full potential of public opinion polling lies in its ability to illuminate deeper societal trends beyond electoral forecastsBy Jennifer Benz Rob Dobi/Getty ImagesIn April 2021 the first media poll to measure a possible 2024 electoral match-up between President Joe Biden and former president Trump was commissioned by Reuters just 100 days after Bidens inauguration. Another 1,279 Biden/Trump and 521 Harris/Trump national election horse race polls followed. With the votes in, and Donald Trump elected to a second term, its worth asking whether this was the best use of polling.Maybe so. Such pre-election horse race polling often captures public attention because of its apparent simplicity: a snapshot of who is winning or losing. When well reported, it helps voters understand the dynamics of the political campaign.But the news and polling industrys outsized focus on the horse race comes at the expense of surveys that measure the publics mood. Often that mood can tell us more than the ups and downs of the horse race, as weve just seen in the presidential election, seemingly driven by feelings of economic anger among late-breaking, undecided voters.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The public mood is a broad term for the shared feeling that emerges from peoples interactions within a political community. At the national level, it includes peoples confidence in democratic processes and political institutions, their engagement with their communities and trust in other Americans, and their outlook on the countrys future. These data points are rarely featured in pre-election coverage because they are nuanced and harder to explain. But when public mood surveys are conducted rigorously and interpreted thoughtfully, they relay important signals that we cannot get from horse race polling alone.Over the last three decades, political scientists have demonstrated the impact of the public mood on policy and political outcomes. Northwestern Universitys Benjamin Page and Columbias Robert Shapiro demonstrated that public attitudes are responsive to significant political and social events, and provide a reliable guide for policy makers who want to align laws with peoples priorities; examples include slow-moving changes in racial attitudes in response to the Civil Rights Movement, or shifts in economic attitudes with changes in unemployment or inflation. University of North Carolina political scientist James Stimsons groundbreaking concept of the publics policy mood showed how aggregated public attitudes shift over time, oscillating between liberal and conservative preferences, reflecting the nations evolving priorities. Christopher Wlezien, now at the University of Texas at Austin, described this as thermostatic public opinion. When government policy overshoots public preferences in one direction, citizens react by expressing preferences and voting to move it back in the other direction. These thermostatic adjustments predict and explain long-term policy trends, such as support for defense spending and investments in environmental protection.The value of understanding the publics mood extends beyond policy preferences. Recent research from the American Enterprise Institutes Karlyn Bowman examined peoples inclination toward nostalgia, or the idea that the country was better off in prior times, in contrast to the publics general optimism for the future of the country. Through an extensive look at data going back to the 1930s, she finds that the public fluctuates between these viewpoints in logical ways that correspond to the political and economic context of the times. She provides examples of how politicians can garner support when they understand and tap into a nostalgic or optimistic mood.You might have already guessed where that pendulum is now swinging. Leading into the 2024 presidential election, I and my colleagues at NORC at the University of Chicago and the Louisiana State University Manship School of Mass Communication studied the publics mood by measuring attitudes about long-standing and systemic issues rather than their temporal reactions to current events. We found that Americans were feeling pervasive distrust and pessimism, with deep-seated cynicism about institutions and democracy, and quite pessimistic views on the countrys future. For example, only a quarter believed the countrys best days were ahead. And when asked a battery of questions about how much trust people have in those who lead the government, the responses were alarming. Only about two in 10 said you can trust people in government to do the right thing. The same number felt politicians were more interested in blocking things than solving problems. Just one in 10 felt the government represented them well.Many Americans had lost faith in the fundamental principles underlying our democracy, including about 70 percent who were at least somewhat worried we would not have a peaceful transition of power following the presidential election. A full quarter of Americans thought the country required complete and total upheaval to get back on track.We showed that on many of these measures, Americans have become more negative and pessimistic. For example, 20 years ago, less than half of the public thought politicians were only out for themselves. Now that number is 70 percent.We also found that this cynicism is shared by people across the political spectrum: by those who are highly engaged and those who are not, by people who have positive views of Americas history of diversity, and by those who do not. As the report acknowledges, In a sense, it is in the deep chords of distrust where Americans seem most united.While the 2024 horse race polling could only tell us the race was tight, this study of the public mood revealed the strong headwinds the Harris campaign faced. The campaign tried to project an outlook of political and economic opportunity grounded in Americas core systems and institutions when the electorate had next to zero faith in the system or the future. Understanding the public mood helps explain why Harriss attempt to differentiate how she would reshape the country was not enough to defeat Trumps ability to tap into the publics pessimism and anger that so deeply resonated with Americans across the political spectrum.Collectively, this body of research emphasizes the importance of public mood in understanding long-term social, political, and economic health. While public opinion toward individual issues and candidates may be volatile, the overall public mood tends to exhibit long-term stability and rationality. This consistency enables public opinion to serve as a reliable guide for understanding the electorate.To harness its potential, public opinion polling must broaden its focus during election cycles. Horse race polling serves its purpose, but it is only a fragment of what polls can reveal about our democracy. By investing more resources into measuring public moodtracking shifts in optimism, trust and policy preferenceswe can deepen our understanding of the electorate and the forces shaping their decisions. We can help people understand where their fellow voters are coming from and, perhaps, reduce the number of electoral surprises. As media pollsters, we have a responsibility to preserve public opinion research as a tool not just for forecasting elections but for enriching public discourse and informing a more responsive democracy.This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American. The authors opinions are solely her own and dont represent any organization she is affiliated with.
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