By TREVOR HOGGAll images courtesy of Paramount Pictures.Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal) seeks vengeance against Roman General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal).Not often does a film crew get to reunite two decades later to make a sequel that makes swords and sandals cool again, but that is exactly the case with Gladiator II where Ridley Scott collaborates once again with Production Designer Arthur Max and Special Effects Supervisor Neil Corbould, VES. Russell Crowe as Maximus is not returning to the Colosseum to wreak havoc on the Roman Empire; instead, the task has been given to his equally determined son Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal).It was an amazing experience to see the Colosseum back up again, states Corbould. It was like stepping back in time 20-odd years because it was an exact replica of what we did before. I felt that the first one was damn good. To revisit this period again and take it a step further was quite an incredible and daunting task. The scope has been expanded. We were using the same old tools, like physical builds and handmade craftsmanship, that we always did, remarks Max. Only this time around, the digital technologies have come into that world as well, and that enlarged and increased the scope of what we could do in the time and on budget. It has been a gigantic shift from the first one to the sequel.Visual ties still exist between the original and the sequel. We wanted people to be able to recognize the [different] world from the first to the second, Max notes. It was also opportunistic of us to try to use some of the earlier footage to blend in. We did that in flashbacks and in the live-action, where we produced some of the Gladiators original crowd footage. We tried to match the sets in actual detail, particularly in the arenas, both provincial and in the capital like the Colosseum set as closely as possible to the first one. There were changes, but they were subtle. That was a nod to economical filmmaking. Why waste the time shooting crowds cheering when you have it in the can already? We did a few of those kinds of things.From left: Stunt Coordinator Nikki Berwick; VFX Supervisor Mark Bakowski; DP John Mathieson; Prosthetics Designer Conor OSullivan; Director Ridley Scott and Head Stunt Rigger Christopher Manger (ground) discuss the gladiator battle featuring the animatronic rhino created by Neil Corbould and his special effects team.Ridley said, I want to have a rhino there. I spoke to Mark Bakowski [Visual Effects Supervisor] about it. I said, We can create a remote-drive gimbal rig underneath, which is completely wireless, with a little six-axis motion base, and a muscle suit that we put a textured skin on with the head and body. Then Ridley said, I want it to do 40 miles per hour and turn on a dime. That was like, Oh, Christ. Another thing! But we did it. It was powered by flow-cell batteries and used electric car motors. This thing was lethal.Neil Corbould, Special Effects SupervisorAlso coming in handy was the Jerusalem set from Kingdom of Heaven, which was repurposed as a Numidian coastal fort attacked by the Roman fleet. The technology of water software thank you, James Cameron and Avatar and other productions had evolved to such a degree of sophistication that it made sense. Also, a credit to Neil Corbould, who found an incredible all-wheel-drive remote-control platform that was used for transporting enormous pieces of industrial technology great distances, like cooling chambers of nuclear power stations. We had a couple of those to put our ships on. This is where we were innovative, Max states.The advancements in technology allowed for more of the Rome set to be built physically for Gladiator II than for the original film.Pedro Pascal, Ridley Scott and Paul Mescal share a light moment in between takes.The entrance arch of the Colosseum had to be enlarged to allow the ships to pass through.The Colosseum had to be constructed higher than the original to accommodate the CG water needed for naval battles.Corbould was inadvertently responsible for a cut sequence appearing in the sequel. He recalls, I was going through some of my old archive stuff of the original Gladiator and found the storyboards of the rhino. After the meeting finished, I said, By the way, Ridley, I found these. I put them on the desk and he went, Wow! This is amazing. Weve got to do this. And thats how the rhino came about. It was like, Oh, Christ, I didnt think he would do that! Then Ridley said, I want to have a rhino there. I spoke to Mark Bakowski [Visual Effects Supervisor] about it. I said, We can create a remote-drive gimbal rig underneath, which is completely wireless, with a little six-axis motion base, and a muscle suit that we put a textured skin on with the head and body. Ridley said, I want it to do 40 miles per hour and turn on a dime. That was like, Oh, Christ. Another thing! But we did it. It was powered by flow-cell batteries and used electric car motors. This thing was lethal. It was good and could move around. We didnt do it like a conventional buggy. We did it like the two-drive wheels were on the side, and we had the front and back wheels in the middle, which were stabilizing wheels. We were driving it like a JCB excavator around the arena; that, in conjunction with the movement of the muscle suit and the six axes underneath, gave some good riding shots of the guy standing on top of it.The gladiator battle with the rhino was revived for the sequel when Neil Corbould showed Ridley Scott the original storyboards.Not everything went according to plan, in particular the naval battle in the Colosseum. Life got in the way because of the strikes, remarks Visual Effects Supervisor Mark Bakowski, who was a newcomer to the project. The Colosseum was originally to be more wet-for-wet and less dry-for-wet. But it works well in the end. There is a speed of working that suits Ridley Scott; he shoots quickly and likes to move quickly. That worked, shooting it dry-for-wet because Ridley could get his cameras where he wanted, reset quickly and get the shots; whereas, there are more restrictions being in the proper wet kind of thing. When it comes to integration, I was wary of having too much of a 50/50 split where you have to constantly match one to the other. We had a certain style of shot that was wet-for-wet, as in someone falling into the water, or Neil did some amazing impacts of the boats where the camera is skimming along the surface. Those made sense to do wet-for-wet because there are lots of interactions close to the camera. The water went through a major design evolution. Bakowski adds, We started off looking at the canals of Venice as our reference for the Colosseum, and then we started to drift.Ridley was showing pictures of his swimming pool in Los Angeles and saying, Can you move it that way? It took us a while to find the look of the Colosseum water, but we got there in the end.We tried to match the sets in actual detail, particularly in the arenas, both provincial and inthe capital like the Colosseum set as closely as possible to the first [Gladiator]. There were changes, but they were subtle. That was a nod to economical filmmaking. Why waste the time shooting crowds cheering when you have it in the can already?Arthur Max, Production DesignerThere were times when DP John Mathieson had to coordinate as many as 11 cameras for action sequences.The Colosseum naval battle was a combination of dry-for-dry and wet-for-wet photography.We built the boats in the U.K., shipped them out and then assembled them there, which was the right thing to do because it was almost impossible to get that material in Morocco or the sheer quantity of of steel and timber we needed. We put them in 30 40-foot trucks going across the Atlas Mountains, and as they were arriving, we were assembling them. It was like clockwork. On the day when we were shooting, we were still painting bits. It was that close.Neil Corbould, Special Effects SupervisorThe attack on the Numidian coastal fort was shot using the landlocked Jerusalem set from Kingdom of Heaven, with boats moved around on self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT) and CG water added in post-production.Technological advances allowed for the expansion of Rome. We built much more than we did on the first one in terms of the amount of site we covered, Max explains. We went from one end to the other. CNC sculptures and casting techniques were expedited greatly on the sequel because we had the technology. The timeframe was compressed from getting a finished drawing or working drawing to the workshop floor and also being able to farm out digital files, not only to one workshop but to multiple workshops simultaneously, which increased the speed of production. To a large extent, we met the demands of Ridleys storyboards, but there was still a large amount of [digital] set extensions. The accomplishment was impressive. It was an amazing set to wander around, Bakowski states. We had like a kit of parts that we could dress in the background. Technically, a certain hill should be in a particular place. We established it in this shot, or a certain building should be at a specific angle. But if it didnt look good, of course, it moved because Ridley is a visual director; his work is like a moving painting every time, and we responded to that by trying to make everything beautiful, which was the main thing.Visual ties still exist between the original and the sequel, such as the Colosseum.The baboons fighting the gladiators was a complicated sequence that required multiple passes.Visual effects took over some tasks previously looked after by special effects. In Gladiator, we did a lot of launching arrows, but in this one, we didnt do any of that, Corbould reveals. It wasall Mark [Bakowski]. That allowed Ridley to shoot at the speed he did, which was good. I concentrated on the fires, dust and explosions in the city. But we only shot that once, with 11 cameras. A major contribution was the practical black smoke. Corbould describes, We were burning vegetable oil, and when you atomize it at high pressure, it vaporizes, ignites and gives you this amazing black smoke. Everyone smells like a chip shop! We had six of these massive burners that were dotted around the set, and then wehad to chase the wind. We would have some wind socks up or look at the flags. You had to try to anticipate it because of the speed at which Ridley works. We must have had 16 people just doing black smoke. We built a beach as well. Ridley said, Its supposed to be on the coast, and I want an 80-meter stretch of beach with waves washing the bodies onto the shore. We constructed an 80 x 80-meter set of beach. I made this wave wall, which was basically one section of the wall, but the whole 80 meters of it pushed in. Its a bit like a wave tank. We put a big liner in it and sprayed sand over the liner; that gave it a nice, majestic wash-up against the beach.ILM led the charge in creating the 1,154 visual effects shots, followed by Framestore, Ombrium VFX, Screen Scene, Exceptional Minds and Cheap Shot VFX. The baboons were a fun ride and tough, Bakowski remarks. The speed that Ridley likes to shoot is fantastic, but someone interacting and fighting with a troop of baboons does take some planning and thought to go into it. Its complicated business. Bakowski adds, He was generous in terms of letting us shoot the passes we wanted to shoot. In general, we kept to the logic that there were a couple of hero guys in the middle and a bunch of supporting baboons on the edge. We do one pass where we put all of the baboon stunt performers in there. Everyone would run around acting like baboons. After that, we pulled out the baboons that werent interacting with people because it was a nightmare with the amount of dust being kicked up. We did a pass with only the contact points and then a clean pass afterwards. It was a challenge to have it all come together.A character in its own right is the capital city of Rome.One of the major creative challenges was developing the look of the CG water.Nothing was achieved easily on Gladiator II. This is the most challenging project that Ive ever done given the scale and scope of it and the conditions under which we worked, Max states. We had the sandstorms in Morocco, and the idea of doing a naval battle in the desert had its problems. We had to keep the dust down, and the physical effects team was always out there with water hoses, and they were clever. They had water cannons to replicate physical waves coming over the bow of the ships. It was a lot of technology on an enormous scale. The boat scenes were the most complicated. Explains Corbould, I was probably one of the first people on the show with Arthur, and our prep period was quite short. We built the boats in the U.K., shipped them out and then assembled them out there, which was the right thing to do because it was almost impossible to get that material in Morocco or the sheer quantity of steel and timber we needed. We put them in 30 40-foot trucks going across the Atlas Mountains, and as they were arriving, we were assembling them. It was like clockwork. On the day when we were shooting, we were still painting bits. It was that close.The visual effects work was as vast as the imagination of Scott. Were doing extensions in Rome, crowds in theColosseum, creatures and water, Bakowski notes. For the final battle. We were adding vast CG armies in the backgrounds of virtually every shot. We did some little pickups as well, so its integrating these pickups that came back to the U.K. with the stuff that was shot in Malta. Its not groundbreaking stuff, but the volume of it is quite high because its one of those things that adjusts and adapts as the edit develops. The Colosseum naval battle encapsulated both what Im looking forward to people seeing and also a big challenge. The baboons were a fun challenge, and the rhino just worked, which was fantastic. By the end, we knew how we were doing in the Colosseum, and our crowds look beautiful. I cant wait for you to see all of it.

By TREVOR HOGGImages courtesy of Paul Lambert, except where noted.Paul Lambert, Visual Effects Supervisor. A proud accomplishment for Lambert was creating the IBK Keyer, which is still used today in Nuke to deal with bluescreen and greenscreen plates.Nowadays, Paul Lambert is at the forefront of Hollywood productions as a visual effects supervisor, with memorable visual accomplishments being the dystopian Los Angeles cityscapes and the lead hologram character from Blade Runner 2049, the transition to the Moons surface in IMAX in First Man and the realism of the worlds of the Dune franchise. Ironically, the ability to combine art and technology, which has been the key to his success, originally made him an anomaly in the British education system. Forced to choose between the two, he initially decided to earn a degree in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of London. Upon graduating, Lambert realized that engineering was not his calling, so he took a job as a courier in London and studied sculpture as a part-time art school student. Frequently, deliveries for Salon Productions led to visits to Shepperton and Pinewood Studios, and eventually saw him hired by the company that provided editing equipment to the film industry.At Salon, I learned how to put together and fix Steinbecks, KEMs and Moviolas, Lambert recalls. I even had to go over to Moscow to fix a Steinbeck being used by [Editor] Terry Rawlings for The Saint. It was during this time that Lambert became aware of the digital transition in the film industry. Avid and Lightworks non-linear editing systems were starting to disrupt the industry. It was this digital transition that made me more aware of something called visual effects. The discovery was worth exploring further. SGI had a big old building in Soho Square and were running week-long courses under the name of Silicon Studios, where you could play with Monet, Flint [the baby version of Flame] and Houdini. I left Salon and did this course, which was amazing. A six-month odyssey of looking for employment came to an end when a runner at Cinesite went on a two-week vacation. They kept me because I was so enthusiastic and hungry for knowledge. It was at a time when you could jump ontothe graphics workstations, whether it be the Flames or Infernos or Cineon machines, at night in your own time. I taught myself. I was so hungry and focused. I had finally found what I wanted to do. It was a good balance of creativity and technical know-how. When I started at Cinesite, they had two Flames, and by the time I left I was the head of that department and we had seven.A portion of a seawall was constructed for Blade Runner 2049, with the action shot in a water tank in Hungary. (Image courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures)Why would you put up with these crazy deadlines or having to move around the world if you didnt truly love it? If you truly love something, youre going to come up with creative ways of doing things and participate in some of these beautiful movies.Paul Lambert, Visual Effects SupervisorFascinated by a proprietary compositing software developed by Digital Domain, Lambert had a job interview with the visual effects company founded by James Cameron, Stan Winston and Scott Ross. I added substantial pieces of technology to Nuke because by that time I had figured out the ins and outs of compositing, Lambert reveals. It was an obsession of mine of how an image comes together. Digital Domain was on the verge of commercializing Nuke but didnt have a keyer. I spent six months playing around with this idea of keying, came back to them and showed them this algorithm. It was the IBK keyer, and thats still in Nuke. Simplicity drove the programming process. What I cant stand as a compositor is when there is a node and its got 50,000 sliders in there. Nobody knows what those sliders do! Its trial and error. What I tried to develop is something simple but a process where, if you can combine these things in a particular way, you can work with bluescreens and greenscreens, which are uneven, and it gets you to a good place quickly. The irony is, now I tend to try not to rely on bluescreens or greenscreens!Director/writer/producer Denis Villeneuve, left, and Lambert on the set of Dune: Part Two. (Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo: Niko Tavernise)Lambert celebrates winning an Oscar for Dune: Part One with his wife, Mags Sarnowska.Over 90 minutes of footage had to be created for the LED screens used for First Man. (Image courtesy of Universal Pictures)A major benefit of using the LED screens for the space and aerial scenes in First Man was the ability to capture reflections on the visor and in the eyes of Ryan Gosling, which are extremely difficult to achieve in post-production. (Image courtesy of Universal Pictures)After 12 years at Digital Domain, Lambert joined DNEGs facility in Vancouver in 2015 where he began his transition as a production visual effects supervisor starting with The Huntsman: Winters War. The size of the visual effects budget is only part of the equation for success. By the time we had finished First Man it was a $7 million visual effects budget, which is relatively tiny, but we came up with some incredibly creative ways to do stuff, Lambert remarks. We used a number of great techniques for the visuals. Doing a bigature and miniature for space work is ideal because you can control the light so that shadows are really hard. We used real 1960s footage for the launch, but we repurposed that footage with CG to make it more cinematic. Also, we utilized one of the first LED screens, but we had it up for six weeks with operators for a fraction of the cost of what it costs now. Ninety minutes of LED screen content had to be created. This is where my gray hair has come from! We did not take the visor off one single shot. We even got reflections in the eyes!Two fundamental elements have to be respected for a visual effects shot to be believable. Im going to try not to change the actors performance or the light because I know that changing the light with our current tools always looks a bit artificial, Lambert explains. Your eye will pick up on something which takes you out, and in our current environment people will say, Its bad CGI. No, its the fact that youve taken the natural balance of the original image and gone too far by changing the background to acompletely different luminance or trying to add a different light on the character. You see it all the time. Im sure you will be able to do it with generative AI soon enough where youre relighting or regenerating the image based on some form of transformer and diffusion model, but using current tools I try to avoid it. I would rather the continuity of a background be off rather than have a composite feel wrong. If I shoot something knowing that a background is going to be a certain background in post, then I try to have that screen be of a tone of luminance that Im going to put the background in. Hence the sand-colored backing screens on Dune: Part One and Two.Never underestimate the significance of having a clear vision. With Denis Villeneuve there is such a clarity of vision as to what he wants, so its a pleasure to work with him, and you dont do crazy hours and overtime, Lambert states. There isnt a mad rush. Its a sensible approach to things. There are hiccups along the way, but its not like you have to ramp up to 1,000 people towards the end because youre 5,000 shots short. For Dune, the concepts were the basis of what we built and photographed and what I ultimately created in visual effects. Blade Runner 2049 was a special project with Lambert working on behalf of DNEG. It was special to come into this world and see pure professionalism at work with Denis and [Director of Photography] Roger Deakins, and witness them shooting with a single camera all the time. He is also proud of his collaboration with Cinematographer Greig Fraser on Dune: Part One and Two. Greig uses a multitude of lenses and some were old Russian lenses. Hes totally into degrading and giving character to the image. Then, of course, I have to try to match these things! We have a good understanding of the way we work. Greig is given untold freedom in how he wants to do things, but when I need something, he listens and will adapt, he says.Lambert in the Mojave Desert near Edwards Air Force Base for the landing of the X15 in First Man.Moviemaking is becoming more accessible to the masses. Youll see the cream rise to the top like you always do in whatever industry, Lambert notes. You will have directors who have a vision and bring that forward. I keep reading and seeing this whole idea of democratizing our industry, and it will happen. It depends on whether we put guardrails up or not to help with the transition. Youll have different ways to visualize things. Youll have the ability to put your VR goggles on and enjoy the movie that you just created. Great films are built upon solid collaborations. Ive been lucky with my path so far in that Ive never had a bad experience with another HOD [head of department]. In the end, Im only successful if the photography that we have shot works and people have put their heart into it. If I get the best foundation that I can, then I can add to that and bring it to the final where the director will hopefully love it.Blade Runner 2049 marked the first time that Lambert collaborated with Denis Villeneuve as a facility supervisor at DNEG, and it resulted in him receiving his first Oscar. (Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)From left: Rebecca Ferguson (Lady Jessica), Director/Writer/ Producer Denis Villeneuve, Lambert and Production Designer Patrice Vermette on the set of Dune: Part Two. (Image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. Photo: Niko Tavernise)First Man resulted in Lambert winning his second Oscar and his first as a production visual effects supervisor.Lambert joined Wylie Co. in 2021 as the Executive Creative Director and is currently working on Project Hail Mary with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller as well as Cinematographer Greig Fraser. Im thinking on my feet on Project Hail Mary more than Ive ever done before because of trying to keep the camerawork and everything fluid, Lambert remarks. That means youre not clinically breaking up the shot into layers because what tends to happen is you lose some of the organic feel of a shot if you do this and that element. Im a big believer in having a harder comp which will always give you a better visual. Even with a trio of Oscars, his enthusiasm remains undiminished. Why would you put up with these crazy deadlines or having to move around the world if you didnt truly love it? If you truly love something, youre going to come up with creative ways of doing things and participate in some of these beautiful movies.

Modern anime fans have it so good that its a surprise when an excellent show falls between the cracks.If you want to stream a new show, odds are high it will appear on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Hidive. If the shows popular, episodes may even hit streaming in the U.S. the same day they debut in Japan. Weve come a long way from the dark days of paying a fortune for a handful of poorly subtitled episodes on VHS and DVD. What got us here? Media companies finally recognize the voracious hunger for fresh anime, creating fierce competition amongst distributors over licensing new productions, no matter their quality.Girls Band Cry, however, is an anomaly: an excellent anime that took months to find an appropriate home.Birthed from a mixed-media music project, the anime follows a group of young women forming a band in the greater Tokyo area. The songs are killer nine charted in Billboard Japans Top 100 and one broke the Top 10. Jukki Hanada, best known for adaptations of beloved shows Sound Euphonium and A Place Further Than the Universe, wrote the charming original story. And Toei Animations art serves the shows fast-paced and colorful vibe.But Girls Band Cry, despite its pedigree and native success, took months to hit the States. The show premiered in early April 2024 on Tokyo MX. It became available in the U.S. six months later on Microsoft Movies & TV, Fandango at Home, Hoopla, and Prime Video. And even then, curious viewers had to purchase episodes via VOD.Remember when I said modern anime fans have it good? That can be a challenge for modern anime shows like Girls Band Cry. Who spends money on an anime theyve only barely heard of thats available on streaming services that (excluding Prime) they likely have never used, especially when their subscription services offer dozens of other shows? Only the most obsessive of anime completists.Girls Band Cry finally made its way to a traditional streaming platform, appearing in full on Crunchyroll in November. Dropping in the middle of the Fall season, it competed for attention against a variety of popular shows like Dan Da Dan, Dragon Ball Daima, and more.Now is the perfect time to give Girls Band Cry a chance. With the new year here which is typically a slow period for games and movies anime fans can catch up on one of 2025s best shows. Yes, it took a while for the stars to align, but compared to the olden days, were still living in an age of anime miracles.

An iconic piece of gaming history joins Xbox Game Pass this month in Diablo, the original action RPG that kicked off the hellish franchise we know and love, all the way back in 1997.While it may not be as attention-grabbing as new games from previous months like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and STALKER 2, the first Diablo is still very much worth your time in 2025. And as long as you dont go into the game expecting the ridiculous amount of on-screen enemies and flashy abilities seen in its modern siblings, youre sure to have a good time with the old-school (and surprisingly spooky) dungeon-crawler. Try not to chicken out the first time the Butcher refers to you as fresh meat.Heres the full Game Pass lineup for the first half of January:Road 96 (cloud, console, and PC) January 7Lightyear Frontier (Xbox Series X/S) January 8 (added to Game Pass Standard)My Time at Sandrock (console) January 8 (added to Game Pass Standard)Robin Hood Sherwood Builders (Xbox Series X|S) January 8 (added to Game Pass Standard)Rolling Hills (console) January 8 (added to Game Pass Standard)EA Sports UFC 5 (cloud and Xbox Series X/S) January 14 (via EA Play)Diablo (PC) January 14And heres whats leaving on January 15:CommonHood (cloud, console, and PC)Escape Academy (cloud, console, and PC)Exoprimal (cloud, console, and PC)Figment (cloud, console, and PC)Insurgency Sandstorm (cloud, console, and PC)Those Who Remain (cloud, console, and PC)More details, as always, can be found on Xbox Wire.

Squid Game season 2 has reignited peoples thirst for a high-risk, high-reward death game, and Fortnite Creative acts as a perfect medium for thrill-seekers everywhere.Compete against other players in iconic games from the hit show and explore its whimsical sets in a myriad of Fortnite Squid Game maps. With the release of the show, a bunch of Squid Game 2-themed maps have been released in the discover page, but some of the best maps can be a little difficult to find as they avoid using the Squid Game title.Here are some of the best Fortnite Squid Game map codes for you to try.Best Fortnite Squid Game mapsHere are some recommendations for Squid Games maps in Fortnite:OCTO GAME 2 Map code: 9532-9714-6738If you wanted to play a Squid Game map that follows the true spirit of the show, this is the one to play. Youll need to survive through some of the iconic games from the show like Red Light, Green Light, the six-legged Pentathlon, and Mingle all while experiencing some of the players tribulations. Players will refuse to jump across the glass bridge, attempt to enter your already full room, and eliminate you in the night to try to come out on top.SQUID GUYS OCTO GAME in FALL GUYS Map code: 1204-0288-2026With the addition of Fall Guys in Fortnite, you can now play a Squid Game full of beans! All of the Squid Game characters have been replaced with Fall Guys beans including the Red Light, Green Light robot and the workers. Play through Red Light, Green Light, the glass bridge, and a few unique mini-games with Fall Guys mechanics to enjoy a slightly more silly and lighthearted version of the games.OCTO GAME Map code: 1202-0130-7283The predecessor to Octo Game 2 follows the games from the first season of Squid Game, but the games are still thrilling and fun. Play through Red Light, Green Light, Tug of War, the glass bridge, and more as you revisit scenes from the first set of games.Squid Game 2 Escape Map code: 7794-2666-4527Progress through a series of challenges such as finding hidden objects and buttons, while in the world of Squid Game. Although this game mode doesnt follow your typical Squid Game formula, it does provide a few difficult puzzles for you to solve. The objective of each room can be a little difficult to figure out as every room doesnt have the clearest instructions, but it scratches an itch for Squid Game puzzlers.SQUID GAME PROP HUNT OCTO GAME 2 Map code: 0440-6268-8072Disguise yourself as a prop and hide around one of the familiar Squid Game sets. This creative map is a nice break from all of the Squid Game mini-games, but it still allows you to feel immersed in the Squid Game world. The environmental design will remind you of some of the symbolic Squid Game locations and provide you with some interesting hiding spots.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.I'm a sucker for outdoor lights. I've tried many over the years, from solar spotlights, to step lights, to smart string lights. One brand that usually comes out on top for most categories is Govee. I've had their Govee Smart Outdoor String Lights 2 for some months and can recommend it to anyone looking for quality waterproof smart outdoor string lights. At the moment, you can get the 144-foot length for $100.29 (originally $169.99) after using the 41% on-page discount, the lowest price it has been according to price tracking tools. If that's too many string lights for you, the 96 and 48-foot options are also discounted. Light Source Type: LED, Power Source:Corded Electric, Light Color: Multicolor, Theme: Patio Govee Outdoor String Lights 2, 144ft (41% on-page coupon) $169.99 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $169.99 at Amazon Light Source Type: LED, Power Source:Corded Electric, Light Color: Multicolor, Theme: Patio Govee Smart Outdoor String Lights 2, 96ft ($40 on-page coupon) $129.99 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $129.99 at Amazon Light Source Type: LED, Power Source:Corded Electric, Light Color: Multicolor, Theme: Patio Govee Smart Outdoor String Lights 2, 48ft ($20 on-page coupon) $79.99 at Amazon Get Deal Get Deal $79.99 at Amazon SEE 0 MORE Before I started using smart string lights, I would have to manually plug and unplug my lights anytime I wanted to use them. I would also need to change them out for the holidays, which was a pain. Smart lights can turn on with a set routine (like programming it to turn on and off at sunset and sunrise), can be controlled remotely with voice assistants through your smart speaker, and some can change colors to fit different moods or holidays. I've been able to do all of this (and more) with the Govee Outdoor String Lights 2.Govee's app is well-made and what sets it apart from competitors. It provides all kinds of color options to choose for ambient light, as well as themes. You can set up red and green Christmas light patterns or spooky blinking Halloween lights. One feature that I've used plenty of times is the music mode, which is essentially a party mode that syncs with your music through the Govee app to pulsate to the beat. The string lights are waterproof and are estimated to provide 25,000 hours of light (which is almost three years).If this sounds like fun to you, make sure to measure the distance you need properly; getting extra lights is expensive, and you'll need to figure out where to put the extra bulbs.

Throughout the entirety of CES 2025, Ill be carrying around a MacBook Pro in my backpack, and even just one day into the event, Im already tired of it. Maybe thats why Asus is coming for Apples throne with a new laptop thats not just lighter than the Pro, but lighter than even the smallest MacBook Air.Named the Zenbook A14 (you can guess what the A stands for), this laptop comes in at a starting weight of 2.18 pounds and a max weight of 2.4 pounds. Yes, there are featherweight laptops that technically beat that, but whats impressive here is the weight-to-performance ratio.While other laptops bearing similar chips usually weigh in at about 2.6 pounds to start, this laptop manages to pack the totally respectable Snapdragon X and Snapdragon X Plus mid-range chipsets into the smallest form factor Ive held yet, and to be honest, I think my (significantly weaker, but admittedly a little old) iPad might be heavier.What makes this possible is the laptops ceraluminum chassis, which is basically just a fancy way of saying its ceramic and aluminum, with a little bit of Asus secret sauce thrown in. Marketing terms aside, whatever theyre doing is working, because aside from feeling like Id need to lift 10 at once to get a half-decent bicep curl in, the Zenbook A14 looks pretty cool, too. Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt Rather than being painted, ceraluminum is colored via a dip in electrolytic water and minerals during manufacturing. That also leaves it with a mild porousness that adds some light texture and visual detail without getting overwhelming, giving the whole thing a premium effect. Ceraluminum isn't new, but the A14 is the first Asus laptop to have the whole body made out of it, rather than just the lid.Only two colors are available right nowgray and beigeand each comes with a distinct cost and configuration. The beige is the cheaper of the two, and paradoxically, has the more advanced chip with the Snapdragon X Plus. Coming in at $899, what holds it back compared to its sibling is its 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. While not meager, the $1,099 gray Zenbook A14 has 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, plus its the lighter model, coming in at 2.18 pounds rather than 2.4.If you're curious, while its dimensions are not as standout as the weight, the A14 is also quite thin, measuring in at 12.23 x 8.42 x 0.53-0.63-inches (with the exact thickness depending on the configuration).Still, regardless of model, Asus is claiming this is the lightest Copilot+ PC yet. While Im still not sold on the AI features that come with Copilot+, the Snapdragon PC chips are a good get for this price point, although if $899 is still too much for a thin and light, theres also a refreshed series of plastic Vivobooks that offer the Snapdragon X starting for $200 less.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.When you get serious about your fitness goals, one first step is usually to get your nutrition in order. You want to get enough protein to support your muscles, fruits and vegetables for health, carbs for fuel, and a total amount of calories that supports your activity and your goals without undereating or overeating.Preparing your meals ahead of time ("meal prepping") really helps with that. Instead of deciding what to have for lunch, you just grab a container from the fridge and heat up what's in it. You can't beat that convenience, and prepping makes sure you're staying on track with your plan. A bodybuilder who eats the stereotypical chicken and broccoli for lunch every day may get bored with his meals but he also knows how much protein hes getting without even thinking about it. (You, of course, will make something tastier.)But meal-prepping has its pitfalls. Maybe you will get bored with your meals. Or maybe you wont even get that far, and youll burn out just from the mental and physical effort of cooking a whole weeks meals at once. With that in mind, here are some beginner tips to ease into the process with your sanity intact.Have a go-to breakfastBefore we start prepping anything, lets start planning. Most of us are fine with eating the same breakfast every day, and theres a good chance you already have a few favorite breakfasts that you can throw together quickly before youve fully woken up. So, your first step is to come up with a breakfast that fits your macros and that is easy to prepare. Were taking baby steps here, so dont worry too much about prepping this ahead of time. Just make sure that it will be ready when breakfast time arrives. For example, maybe your breakfast is yogurt and fruit. Thats easy enough: Buy some yogurt and buy some fruit. In the morning, you can put the two together. Or you can make something the night before to grab on your way out the door. A smoothie in a jar is perfectjust shake it in the morning and it's ready to drink. (Don't use ice, since ice melts, but frozen fruit is fine.) Or for another option, I like to make Bircher muesli two servings at a time, since each calls for half an apple. So on Sunday night, Ill prep jars for Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday night Ill make another pair.Save your takeout containersWhen you start packing up dinners and lunches, youll need something to put them in. While cute little bento-esque Tupperwares may look nice, you may decide you dont actually want all those divided containers. Or the boxes you buy may turn out to be the wrong size once you start filling them. Save money and time by selecting one or two types of takeout container that you get plenty of, and save those whenever you get them. I like the flat rectangular ones and the round one-pint soup containers. Once you've figured out what you like, I'll admit there is a convenience to buying yourself some containers. Here's a fresh 50-pack of those rectangle containers, to save you from having to eat 50 takeout meals first. And if, unlike me, you enjoy packing lunches bento-style, you can get divided containers. (I like eating bento lunches, but it's work to come up with something to fill each compartment. Much easier to make a one-pot dish that fills the container by itself.) Moretoes 30-Pack Meal Prep Containers $12.99 at Amazon Shop Now Shop Now $12.99 at Amazon For something more durable, these are made of thicker plastic. I'm too clumsy to be trusted with glass containers, but perhaps you are not. These are more expensive than the options abovearound $5 each, while the semi-disposables were more like 50 centsbut they'll last forever if you take care of them. While you're gathering your supplies, make sure to grab a Sharpie and some masking tape (or, if you prefer, fancy labels). Label each meal, even if it's a simple reminder like "PASTA" or "CHICKEN," so that you can tell your lunches apart. If you're prepping for more than one person, you can add names as well.Make one meal at a timeAfter you get into the habit of eating your planned breakfast every day, the next step is to choose a second meal. For most of us, it will be lunch. This way, you have your first two meals taken care of, and youre still free to make any dinner plans you like. (It is fine if you never advance past this stage.) I also recommend, at least at first, not planning for seven days at a time. Since I work a Monday-through-Friday job, I like to prep my weekday meals and then wing it on the weekends. (A weekend menu for me usually involves my regular breakfast, some kind of meal scrounged from leftovers, and often a takeout meal or two.) For your first foray into cooking for the week, I recommend finding a recipe that makes three servings. Two such recipes will get you through the work week with one to spare. You can even alternate the two meals. An important food safety tip: Meals prepped on Sunday arent going to be in the greatest shape come Saturday. I recommend choosing one of the following strategies: On Sunday, make one dish and divide it up for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday meals; then on Wednesday night, make another three-serving dish for the second half of the week. On Sunday, make both your dishes so you can alternate. Pop three of the meals into the freezer. Then, on Tuesday or Wednesday, take them out of the freezer to begin to thaw. If a meal is still slightly frosty at mealtime, just microwave it a little longer.Try a recipe before you commitReady to start making that first meal? Hold up: Did you choose a recipe you actually like? Im not asking whether it looks good in photos. The ideal meal prep recipe is something that you have not only eaten in the past, but also one where you have an idea of how well it reheats. That means that you can stay off the recipe websites for now. Choose an old favorite; you can get experimental later. And if you ever become tempted to make, say, a months worth of food on your meal prep day, definitely try that exact recipe out in a one-week batch first. Be lazyThis is honestly my most important tip. When I started meal prepping, Id spend an entire Sunday afternoon shopping and cooking. My feet would ache and my other household chores would be unfinished. No time or effort was saved; it was just moved. Ive gotten better since then. One of my favorite meal preps is to buy two bags of Trader Joes chimichurri rice and a pound of ground beef, heat each of them up appropriately, and combine them. The job is done in barely 15 minutes, and I now have four lunches for the week that each fit perfectly into one of those round soup containers. Do I care that Mr. Joe gets half the credit for my culinary artistry? I do not.Even when cooking from scratch, it's not cheating to find ways to be more efficient. Buy frozen veggies, since theyre already chopped. Get a rice cooker if you find yourself using rice for a lot of your meals. If theres a special homemade sauce or condiment you want to use, allow yourself that one labor-intensive item, and make sure your other tasks are simple ones. For example, most items in the animal and vegetable kingdoms can be thrown onto a sheet pan and roasted. Ill buy some frozen fish and fresh or frozen veggies (both very healthy options, sometimes more so than fresh) and then roast a tray of each with appropriate seasonings. (Olive oil and garlic salt are perfect for broccoli or, to be honest, any vegetable.) Chicken tenderloins marinated in mayo are another protein option that go with anything and can be prepared en masse. Thanks to the extra moisture, they reheat superbly well.You get the idea: Make a lazy meal, make no more of it than you will actually eat, and pack it into the containers that you already have around. Dont expect to get everything perfect at first; youll refine your workflow over time.

Sony's CES 2025 press conference was huge on the entertainment front if you're a PlayStation fan. In a series of rapid-fire announcements, the company announced it was making an anime based on Ghost of Tsushima Legends, the cooperative multiplayer mode from the acclaimed game. It then followed that up with news that Columbia Pictures was in the early stages of developing a movie based on the post-apocalyptic PlayStation game Horizon Zero Dawn. Finally, Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog popped out to announce that season two of The Last of Us would hit HBO in April.We already know a fair bit about The Last of Us season two its based on 2020's The Last of Us Part 2, but it won't take us through all of the events of the second game. It'll take at least two seasons to retell the story of that terrific but complex misery simulator. This season, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Catherine O'Hara and Jeffery Wright join season one veterans Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.The other projects remain a mystery for now. A bit over two years ago, we heard that Horizon Zero Dawn was being adapted as a series for Netflix, but the project eventually fell apart. I'm definitely curious to see how they'll streamline the game's sprawling storyline into a tight narrative for a two-hour movie (or even a three-hour one), but hopefully a strong creative team is behind this one.As for Ghost of Tsushima, it's another of the most well-regarded and popular PlayStation Studios titles, with a sequel on the way, so this is just another example of Sony using some of its best gaming titles to expand into the broader entertainment space making these stories more accessible to people who are less likely to play a 20-to-40-hour game. After the event, Sony said that the series will premiere exclusively on Crunchyroll in 2027.On a personal note, The Last of Us and Horizon Zero Dawn are two of my favorite games of all time, so this 10-minute blast of good news was most welcome in the middle of a very long day at CES!Update, January 7, 2:40PM ET: This story was updated to add a release window at platform for the Ghost of Tsushima anime.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-last-of-us-season-2-arrives-in-april-and-a-horizon-zero-dawn-film-is-in-the-works-020950940.html?src=rss

The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the remote parking features in some Tesla vehicles. The tools in question are Smart Summon and the unfortunately acronymed Actual Smart Summon, which uses cameras in the car to automatically control the parking process.The agency's Office of Defects Investigation has received 12 complaints of alleged crashes from the Smart Summon feature and one complaint about Actual Smart Summon use allegedly resulting in a crash. It has also reviewed three media reports of seemingly similar collisions involving Actual Smart Summon where the driver did not have the time to react to avoid a crash. The remote parking feature is available in an estimated 2.6 million vehicles, including the 2016-2025 Model S, 2016 Model X, 2018-2025 Model Xs, 2019-2025 Model 3s, and 2019-2025 Model Ys.Tesla reported its first ever drop in deliveries at the start of the month. The company reported about 1.78 million vehicle deliveries over 2024, compared with 1.81 million in 2023.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/nhtsa-opens-investigation-into-tesla-remote-parking-features-194559802.html?src=rss