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The AI-merican dream? AI startup founder allegedly faked profits to trick investors, buy fancy houses FBI claims GameOn founder forged six years of financial records in brazen scheme. Ashley Belanger Jan 24, 2025 3:12 pm | 6 Credit: Feodora Chiosea | iStock / Getty Images Plus Credit: Feodora Chiosea | iStock / Getty Images Plus Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThe founder of an AI startup in San Francisco was indicted this week for allegedly conspiring with his wife for six years to defraud investors out of $60 million.According to a press release from the US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of California, Alexander Beckmanfounder of GameOn Technology (now known as ON Platform)and Valerie Lau Beckmanan attorney hired by GameOn who later became his wifewere charged with 25 counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, securities fraud, identity theft, and other offenses. Lau also faces one charge of obstruction of justice after allegedly deleting evidence.If convicted, the maximum penalties for Beckman, 41, could exceed 60 years and for Lau, 38, potentially 80 years.GameOn was founded in 2014 and later became known for developing a popular customer service chatbot functionality that today is used by major sports leagues like the NFL and high-end luxury brands like Valentino and Armani Exchange.In the indictment, it's alleged that Beckman's business plan for GameOn was unsustainable. The AI startup initially offered its chatbot as a "free pilot without any contract" and seemingly only rarely benefited from revenue-sharing agreements. GameOn even sometimes would pay large annual fees to customers without receiving anything in return, including in one year paying "hundreds of thousands of dollars" to a sports league while receiving "no payments and no revenue sharing," an FBI investigation found.To keep the business afloat, Beckman depended entirely on investors, the indictment alleged. Seeking millions to cover both business and personal expenses, Beckman allegedly dreamed up a "brazen and wide-ranging" scheme to defraud investors starting in 2018, the indictment said.To further the alleged scheme, he "often described non-existent revenue, inflated cash balances," and "otherwise exaggerated customer relationships," the US Attorney's Office said, to convince investors to spend millions. As Beckman's accomplice, Lau allegedly manipulated documents, including documents allegedly stolen from the venture capital firm that employed her while supposedly hiding her work for GameOn.The scheme apparently also included forging audits and bank statements, as well as using "the names of at least seven real peopleincluding fake emails and signatureswithout their permission to distribute false and fraudulent GameOn financial and business information and documents with the intent to defraud GameOn and its investors," the US Attorney's Office said.At perhaps the furthest extreme, Lau allegedly falsified account statements, including once faking a balance of over $13 million when that account only had $25 in it. The FBI found that GameOn's revenues never exceeded $1 million in any year, while Beckman allegedly inflated sales to investors, including claiming that sales in one quarter in 2023 got as high as $72 million.Beckman and Lau allegedly went to great lengths to hide the scheme while diverting investor funds to their personal accounts. While GameOn employees allegedly sometimes went without paychecks, Beckman and Lau allegedly stole funds to buy expensive San Francisco real estate and pay for their wedding in 2023. If convicted, they may be forced to forfeit a $4.2 million house, a Tesla Model X, and other real estate and property purchased with their allegedly ill-gotten gains, the indictment said.It took about five years for the cracks to begin to show in Beckman's scheme. Beginning in 2023, Beckman increasingly started facing "questions about specific customers and specific revenue from those customers," the indictment said. By February 2024, Beckman at last "acknowledged to at least one GameOn consultant" that a flagged audit report "did not contain accurate financial information," but allegedly he "attempted to shift blame to others for the inaccuracies."His alleged deflections, however, perhaps got him caught after he supposedly started creating fake email addresses of real financial institution employees to continue to raise money while questions were still swirling. Around June 2024, an investor partner serving on GameOn's board of directors asked to visit a bank branch to see a statement. Allegedly, Lau planted a fake statement at the bank to continue to cover up the scheme, a visit that the FBI showed in the indictment was caught on security cameras.Soon after, Beckman resigned from GameOn in July 2024, the indictment suggested.Employees, customers allegedly also harmedON Platform did not respond to Ars' request to comment, even though GameOn employees and customers were also allegedly harmed by the scheme."Beckman and Lau knew that GameOn depended on new investor funds to operate, burned through its funds, received overdraft notices from banks, was delinquent in paying certain customers, and often was on the brink of not having enough money in the bank to operate and make payroll," the indictment said. And they "knew that GameOn was late to pay payroll on multiple occasions and used individual bank accounts and credit cards to pay their employees."Further, Beckman "misled GameOn investors by describing certain customer relationships as producing revenue for GameOn when in fact Beckman knew that GameOn owed those customers money and was regularly late in paying them."Ars reached out to several ON Platform customers listed on the company's site, including the NFL, the United Soccer League, Valentino, Armani Exchange, and Live Nation, to find out how some of the biggest brands are responding to the indictment. None of the brands contacted responded by the time of this writing.Ashley BelangerSenior Policy ReporterAshley BelangerSenior Policy Reporter Ashley is a senior policy reporter for Ars Technica, dedicated to tracking social impacts of emerging policies and new technologies. She is a Chicago-based journalist with 20 years of experience. 6 Comments

The AI community is abuzz over DeepSeek R1, a new open-source reasoning model. The model was developed by the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which claims that R1 matches or even surpasses OpenAIs ChatGPT o1 on multiple key benchmarks but operates at a fraction of the cost. This could be a truly equalizing breakthrough that is great for researchers and developers with limited resources, especially those from the Global South, says Hancheng Cao, an assistant professor in information systems at Emory University. DeepSeeks success is even more remarkable given the constraints facing Chinese AI companies in the form of increasing US export controls on cutting-edge chips. But early evidence shows that these measures are not working as intended. Rather than weakening Chinas AI capabilities, the sanctions appear to be driving startups like DeepSeek to innovate in ways that prioritize efficiency, resource-pooling, and collaboration. To create R1, DeepSeek had to rework its training process to reduce the strain on its GPUs, a variety released by Nvidia for the Chinese market that have their performance capped at half the speed of its top products, according to Zihan Wang, a former DeepSeek employee and current PhD student in computer science at Northwestern University. DeepSeek R1 has been praised by researchers for its ability to tackle complex reasoning tasks, particularly in mathematics and coding. The model employs a chain of thought approach similar to that used by ChatGPT o1, which lets it solve problems by processing queries step by step. Dimitris Papailiopoulos, principal researcher at Microsofts AI Frontiers research lab, says what surprised him the most about R1 is its engineering simplicity. DeepSeek aimed for accurate answers rather than detailing every logical step, significantly reducing computing time while maintaining a high level of effectiveness, he says. DeepSeek has also released six smaller versions of R1 that are small enough to run locally on laptops. It claims that one of them even outperforms OpenAIs o1-mini on certain benchmarks.DeepSeek has largely replicated o1-mini and has open sourced it, tweeted Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. DeepSeek did not reply to MIT Technology Reviews request for comments. Despite the buzz around R1, DeepSeek remains relatively unknown. Based in Hangzhou, China, it was founded in July 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, an alumnus of Zhejiang University with a background in information and electronic engineering. It was incubated by High-Flyer, a hedge fund that Liang founded in 2015. Like Sam Altman of OpenAI, Liang aims to build artificial general intelligence (AGI), a form of AI that can match or even beat humans on a range of tasks. Training large language models (LLMs) requires a team of highly trained researchers and substantial computing power. In a recent interview with the Chinese media outlet LatePost, Kai-Fu Lee, a veteran entrepreneur and former head of Google China, said that only front-row players typically engage in building foundation models such as ChatGPT, as its so resource-intensive. The situation is further complicated by the US export controls on advanced semiconductors. High-Flyers decision to venture into AI is directly related to these constraints, however. Long before the anticipated sanctions, Liang acquired a substantial stockpile of Nvidia A100 chips, a type now banned from export to China. The Chinese media outlet 36Kr estimates that the company has over 10,000 units in stock, but Dylan Patel, founder of the AI research consultancy SemiAnalysis, estimates that it has at least 50,000. Recognizing the potential of this stockpile for AI training is what led Liang to establish DeepSeek, which was able to use them in combination with the lower-power chips to develop its models. Tech giants like Alibaba and ByteDance, as well as a handful of startups with deep-pocketed investors, dominate the Chinese AI space, making it challenging for small or medium-sized enterprises to compete. A company like DeepSeek, which has no plans to raise funds, is rare. Zihan Wang, the former DeepSeek employee, told MIT Technology Review that he had access to abundant computing resources and was given freedom to experiment when working at DeepSeek, a luxury that few fresh graduates would get at any company. In an interview with the Chinese media outlet 36Kr in July 2024 Liang said that an additional challenge Chinese companies face on top of chip sanctions, is that their AI engineering techniques tend to be less efficient. We [most Chinese companies] have to consume twice the computing power to achieve the same results. Combined with data efficiency gaps, this could mean needing up to four times more computing power. Our goal is to continuously close these gaps, he said. But DeepSeek found ways to reduce memory usage and speed up calculation without significantly sacrificing accuracy. The team loves turning a hardware challenge into an opportunity for innovation, says Wang. Liang himself remains deeply involved in DeepSeeks research process, running experiments alongside his team. The whole team shares a collaborative culture and dedication to hardcore research, Wang says. As well as prioritizing efficiency, Chinese companies are increasingly embracing open-source principles. Alibaba Cloud has released over 100 new open-source AI models, supporting 29 languages and catering to various applications, including coding and mathematics. Similarly, startups like Minimax and 01.AI have open-sourced their models. According to a white paper released last year by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a state-affiliated research institute, the number of AI large language models worldwide has reached 1,328, with 36% originating in China. This positions China as the second-largest contributor to AI, behind the United States. This generation of young Chinese researchers identify strongly with open-source culture because they benefit so much from it, says Thomas Qitong Cao, an assistant professor of technology policy at Tufts University. The US export control has essentially backed Chinese companies into a corner where they have to be far more efficient with their limited computing resources, says Matt Sheehan, an AI researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. We are probably going to see a lot of consolidation in the future related to the lack of compute. That might already have started to happen. Two weeks ago, Alibaba Cloud announced that it has partnered with the Beijing-based startup 01.AI, founded by Kai-Fu Lee, to merge research teams and establish an industrial large model laboratory. It is energy-efficient and natural for some kind of division of labor to emerge in the AI industry, says Cao, the Tufts professor. The rapid evolution of AI demands agility from Chinese firms to survive.

A special planetary alignment is occurring in January and February.Four planets are visible to the naked eye, with two more faintly showing.Here's how, where, and when to see the planets line up including a bonus appearance from Mercury.The planets are lining up, forming a rare and special parade across the night sky in January and February.Four planets Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars are bright enough to see with the naked eye this month. Uranus and Neptune are visible with a telescope.They'll be "strewn across" the sky and look like extra bright stars, the astrophotographer Dan Bartlett told Business Insider."Mars is brighter than any of the stars right now," he added. "Jupiter is bright. Venus is spectacular."In late February, as Saturn and Neptune descend into the glare of the sun, Mercury will rise above the nighttime horizon. So you can see every planet in our solar system over the next month.Here's what you need to know to spot each planet.What is the planetary alignment?Though they appear in an arc across the sky, the planets aren't actually arranged in a straight line in space.In fact, according to the stargazing website EarthSky, a perfect straight-line alignment of all the planets will probably never happen. The planets may never line up like this. Steve Allen/Getty Images Rather, since the planets all orbit along or near the plane of our solar system, called the ecliptic, they appear in a line across the sky. It's the same reason the sun always follows the same path across the sky. That's nothing special.However, it's uncommon for so many planets to be on the same side of the sun, visible in the night sky, at once.Where and when to see the planet paradeSince all the planets will be following the same general path across the sky, they're easier to spot than a random comet or supernova. You can see them all in the first few hours after sunset.Find a safe and comfortable spot with a clear, wide view of the sky, far from city lights. The top of a hill might be a good option. If you have binoculars or a telescope, bring them with you. You'll catch a lot more detail that way.Even from the city with a pair of binoculars, Jupiter is "fantastic," Bartlett said, adding that you can often see its four biggest moons appearing as "little stars around it."How to find the planets after sunsetStart by looking to the west. Venus is the brightest "star" in the sky, with Saturn just below it. Draw a line between the two planets, then follow that line upwards Sky chart showing the planets visible to the naked eye after dark in January. NASA/JPL-Caltech Keep following the line, and you'll see Mars glowing red to the east. It's extra bright in January because it's directly opposite the sun from our position. As a result, we're mostly seeing Mars' day side, with the sun reflecting brightly off its surface.For guidance to spot each planet, consult an app like SkySafari ($4.99 in the Apple App Store) or Stellarium (free).Bartlett recommends finding out when the International Space Station will pass overhead at your location. If it coincides with planet-viewing hours, you can go at that time and grab a view of the planets while you're out. The ISS is "as bright as Venus, sometimes many times brighter," he said.Check spotthestation.nasa.gov to find sighting opportunities near you. A telescope will show much moreWith a telescope and some practice, you can spot two more planets: Neptune glowing blue just above and south of Venus, then Uranus just to the west of Jupiter.A telescope also reveals more detail on the other planets. Bartlett said he can often see canals on Mars, clouds circling Jupiter, and the faint sheen of Saturn's rings.Mercury's appearanceMercury can be tough to spot because it's closest to the sun. On February 28, though, it will start to peek above the horizon just after sunset, then rise to meet Venus in early March.By then, Saturn will have sunk out of view into the sunset, with Neptune following a few days later.Watch the planetary parade onlineFor an at-home peek at the planetary parade, the Virtual Telescope Project plans to broadcast a live feed from its telescopes in Tuscany.The livestream, below, is set for Saturday beginning at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time.Even so, if you're out after sunset in the next month, take a moment to look up. The four naked-eye planets should be clear to anybody even in the city if you have binoculars. "You'll see these bright stars, and most of them are planets," Bartlett said.

Some federal websites and webpages went dark after President Donald Trump took office.Among them were La Casa Blanca, the Spanish-language White House site, and some federal DEI sites.The government website for reproductive rights also returned error messages.Several federal government webpages and entire websites went down this week after President Donald Trump took office.Some of the sites were related to political flashpoints, including reproductive rights and diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI.The White House has addressed some of the changes and said that several pages were temporarily down as part of the transition to the new administration's website, but would be restored.Here are the sites that went dark this week and what the White House has said about them. Press representatives from the White House did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.La Casa BlancaThe Spanish-language White House website, La Casa Blanca, was returning a 404 page after Trump took office. The 404 page initially included a button that said "Go Home," but it was updated to read "Go To Home Page."A White House spokesperson told The Associated Press the administration was "committed to bringing back online the Spanish translation section of the website."NBC reported that the Spanish-language version of the White House website took months to relaunch at the start of President Barack Obama's term and Trump's first term.Reproductiverights.govReproductiverights.gov was returning an error message as of Friday. The public awareness website was launched in 2022 by the Department of Health and Human Services during the Biden administration.A version of the website still visible on internet archives showed it included information on birth control, abortion, and preventative health services, like breast and cervical cancer screenings.The White House did not respond to a request for comment on why the site was down.Federal agencies' DEI webpagesThe DEI pages on several federal agencies' websites disappeared this week. Trump on Tuesday ordered all federal DEI employees to be placed on leave as the agencies work on dismantling their DEI efforts.Trump's memo also instructed agencies to remove any public-facing webpages on DEI to be removed by Wednesday evening. Some agencies removed their DEI pages even before the memo was issued.During a speech delivered Thursday to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said, "My administration has taken action to abolish all discriminatory diversity, equity and inclusion nonsense. And these are policies that were absolute nonsense throughout the government and the private sector."White House pages on the Constitution and Presidential biographiesSeveral former pages on the White House website were returning 404 messages, including pages on the Constitution and on presidential biographies. In a statement to USA Today, a White House spokesperson said the removals were not intentional and were temporary."It's day two. We are in the process of developing, editing and tweaking the White House website. As part of this ongoing work, some of the archived content on the website went dormant. We are committed to reloading that content in a short timeline," Harrison Fields, principal White House deputy press secretary, told the outlet.Page for White House Office of Gun Violence PreventionThe page for the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention was also returning a 404 message this week, the gun-violence prevention organization Brady said, raising questions about whether the office was being shut entirely.Some members of Congress expressed concern over the webpage being shuttered, including New York Rep. Tim Kennedy and Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost.NRA posted on X in favor of the move and called the office "misleading" in an X post.The White House did not respond to a request for comment from BI about the site.

Timothe Chalamet scored the second Oscar nomination of his young career this week, and hes a favorite to take home the trophy. In many ways, his work as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown is classic Oscars fare: an Academy darling who donned prosthetics and learned how to play the guitar for his turn as a musical icon. Yet all the same, as Chalamet campaigns assiduously for the trophy, the publicity offense hes mounting doesnt look quite like traditional Oscars campaigns do.Chalamet has always had a flair for the quirky, and now hes playing it up. He rode a bike onto the red carpet for the London premiere of A Complete Unknown and got fined $79.53 for not parking it correctly. In December, he guested on the popular pregame football show College GameDay to deliver analysis that I, a woman who writes about celebrities for a living, shall not pretend to understand but that I am reliably informed showcased shocking levels of football nerdery. This weekend, he will take a turn as both the host and musical guest on Saturday Night Live, and the promos wink at the viral Timothe Chalamet lookalike contest held in Washington Square Park last fall, where he shocked attendees by showing up in person.Timothe, undeniably the top actor of his generation, and the youngest contender in the Best Actor field this season, isnt subscribing to the usual Oscar playbook and navigating the circuit with the seriousness and maturity of someone a decade older than he is just so some old ass voter in Palm Springs will take him seriously, wrote celebrity commenter Lainey Gossip approvingly after the Golden Globes. Because his work is already serious. His talent is already serious. Thats all that should matter and the rest of it is just who he is.Chalamet has risen to the top of the A-list of his generation in part by being able to reconcile opposites with seeming ease.The whimsy of Chalamets press tour doesnt only work because of the seriousness of his talent and the leeway its bought him. Its also a showcase for one of his greatest strengths as a celebrity: his ability to embody dualities.We tend to like movie stars who can embody both sides of a paradox at once, the way Marilyn Monroe embodied both sex and innocence at once or the way that Marlon Brando represented both authenticity and artistry. Thats the complexity that makes a great star image unforgettable. Chalamet has risen to the top of the A-list of his generation in part by being able to reconcile opposites with seeming ease: masculine and feminine, very young and also ageless and, perhaps most fundamental of all in recent months, artist and bro.Timothe Chalamet as Laurie in Greta Gerwigs Little Women (2019). Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett CollectionChalamet looks fundamentally strange for a Hollywood A-lister. Hes tall, but hes pale and skinny; from the moment he made his first gangling teenage steps across the screen in Call Me by Your Name, people started joking about how he looked like a starving Victorian urchin. Hes also undeniably attractive to girls, in the same way Titanic-era Leonardo DiCaprio was: Theres a sort of androgynous waifish beauty to him that speaks tenderly to the hearts of teenagers. He looks very young and very vulnerable, which is part of why its so fun to watch him play against type.Chalamets collaborators have often talked about his performances in terms of those dualities. Denis Villeneuve, who cast Chalamet in Dune as a callow teen who develops into a messiah, told GQ in 2020 that he was drawn to Chalamets combination of age and youth. You feel that he has already lived through several lives, Villeneuve said. And at the same time, he looks so young on camera. Sometimes hed look almost 14 years old. He has this kind of general youth in his features and the contrast with the old-soul quality in his eyes its a kid that knows more about life than his age. Theres a sort of androgynous waifish beauty to him that speaks tenderly to the hearts of teenagers.In Greta Gerwigs Little Women, Chalamet plays Laurie, the music-loving boy with a girls name who is the inverse and best friend of Saoirse Ronans tomboyish Jo. One of the things that we spoke about a lot when we were doing Little Women, in terms of our characters, but also in terms of myself and him as people, is that we both have this masculinity and femininity equally, Ronan told GQ in 2020. And I think that thats one of his strengths, is that he can be incredibly sort of feminine and sensitive and sensual, and also hes a guy that, you know, girls fancy. Chalamet tends to play up this quality on the red carpet, where he favors an extravagant rock and roll androgyny: backless jumpsuits and 70s velvets very much the wardrobe of a man who came of age after the no homo generation.Timothe Chalamet attends the Bones and All red carpet at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2022, in Venice, Italy. Elisabetta A. Villa/Getty ImagesMeanwhile, Eric Vetro, his vocal coach for both Wonka and A Complete Unknown, told GQ in 2023 that Chalamets great strength was his ability to balance exuberance with reverence for the work. He does everything with such a playful air, but theres always that core of real seriousness where he is gonna nail it. Its the same duality that Lainey Gossip is highlighting when she says that Chalamets work has earned him the right to play around on his Oscars campaign: serious and mischievous at once.But the duality that Chalamet is experimenting with right now is one that he hasnt shown off much previously. Its the artist versus the bro. In the past, this duality came to light most clearly through his relationship with Kylie Jenner, which shocked fans when it was first made public in 2023. What, they demanded, was Timothe Chalamet, with his poets face and real actor cred, doing with the Kardashian-Jenner sister most famous for selling lip liner? On the one hand, Timothe was a remarkably talented man. On the other hand, he was a 28-year-old man. A 28-year-old man dating a Kardashian, even! How to reconcile the two?Club Chalamet, a 57-year-old social media poster and the internets most prominent Chalamet fan, hosted a Twitter Spaces at the time where the rest of the fandom could process the trauma of the moment. Kylie, Club Chalamet said, attracts a certain crowd that has very low IQs. Fans worried in tweets that she doesnt have anything to offer Timothee on an intellectual level, that she was too artificial. In the end, however, Club Chalamet concluded, Timothe Chalamet is a 28 year-old man making 28 year-old man decisions about his life and we have to accept that. Regardless, Club Chalamet is here to stay because Timothe is a remarkably talented man who works on projects that are compelling and incredibly exciting.There was the fundamental problem: On the one hand, Timothe was a remarkably talented man. On the other hand, he was a 28-year-old man. A 28-year-old man dating a Kardashian, even! How to reconcile the two?Promoting A Complete Unknown, Chalamet has been toying around with this problem only this time, hes doing so in a way that delights his fans rather than discomfiting them the way his relationship with Jenner did. Thats part of why his appearance on College GameDay was so fun: It played hard against his artistic type, but it showed off his bro side with aplomb.Chalamet has talked about sports in his interviews before in a GQ profile in 2018, he re-created famous Knicks press conferences at the Madison Square Garden pressroom. Yet the idea of Chalamet as a sports fan never particularly took root in his star image, perhaps because the idea of Chalamet as artist, highbrow and feminine-coded, was so strong, and perhaps because he simply didnt look like the kind of guy who was into sports. As GQ put it in 2018, he has the sort of frame thats forged in high schools without football teams.Now, thats changed. In his College GameDay appearance, Chalamet outperformed some of the professional sports commentators on the panel with him. timothee chalamet might be the best we ever seen, commented one Sports Illustrated writer as Chalamets predictions bore out one after the other. Perhaps more revealingly, Chalamet also began to suggest in interviews that hes never been as artsy and Byronic as his pale, skinny appearance and fancy French name would suggest. In a 2024 profile with Rolling Stone, Chalamet revealed that his dream was always to star in action franchises, that he auditioned fruitlessly for roles in The Maze Runner and Divergent, that he was always turned down because he didnt have the muscle tone to look the part.Chalamet also began to suggest in interviews that hes never been as artsy and Byronic as his pale, skinny appearance and fancy French name would suggest.I was trying to put on weight. I couldnt! I basically couldnt. My metabolism or whatever the fuck couldnt do it, Chalamet said. He said he ended up in the indie movies that made him a star more or less by default, because he couldnt land the kind of roles he wanted. I was knocking on one door that wouldnt open, he said to Rolling Stone. So I went to what I thought was a more humble door, but actually ended up being explosive for me.Everyone knows that Chalamet is a great actor, which is why its always been easy to think of him as intellectual and artistically driven his breakout character from Call Me by Your Name, grown perhaps a little older but no less innocent. Which means that the more Chalamet insists that in real life, hes actually a football-loving Kardashian-dating bro, the more impressive his screen work looks by comparison. It takes a generational talent, after all, for a bro to transform into an artist in front of your very eyes. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Here we go talking about Twilight again. If for no other reason than it wont just die, well accept it as a blight on the vampire genre. Former Twilight star Robert Pattinsonthe Batman who keeps us waiting, and also the lead(s) in Bong Joon Hos upcoming Mickey 17recently reminisced with GQ Spain about the frenzy that surrounded the franchise, and how its shaped him in his post-Edward Cullenera. I think its a fascinating phenomenon. I cant believe it. I think its resurgence is due to [interest] like in Korea [similarly] to K-pop, he said, comparing the Twilight fandom to K-drama and K-pop fandom, but then seduced Western teens. I like to believe [Twilights] cultural relevance is because theyre very old [movies]. He laughed as he realized the first one was released in 2008, fuck! And his response to those of us who roll our eyes? I love that people keep telling me, Man, Twilight ruined the vampire genre, are you still stuck on that shit? How can you be sad about something that happened almost 20 years ago? Its crazy. Okay, fine. Over the years hes had a contentious relationship with the films. Twilight is about this guy who finds the one girl he wants to be with, and also wants to eat her. Well not eat her, drink her blood, whatever, he said in a 2019 Variety interview. I thought there were definitely bits that were very romantic. But to me, I thought it was a pretty weird story. and even when I was promoting it, I was pretty open about how strange I thought it was when I was doing it.Thats a nice way to be vague about parallels to abusive and gaslighting relationships which abound in Twilight series author Stephenie Meyers work. Main character Bella leans trad wife much like the authors Mormon background encourages and it doesnt help the writer instructed filmmakers to not cast diversely for the Cullens. So theres that sense of normalization and of course the handling of Native Americans that many overlook the widespread harm it does to women and the marginalized, because its cool to give Twilight a pass now. So we agree with Pattinson on the overall weirdness of the franchises story. Thankfully, hes broken away from a mere heartthrob lead, playing more little freaks in art house films and bringing some of that into the bigger films hes been in since like The Batman and, if the trailers are any indication, Mickey 17. He also told GQ Spain how he felt about returning to more mainstream films after working on projects like Robert Eggers The Lighthouse:With Batman it was a different sensation. There was so much anticipation, the stress was palpable.In the case of Mickey 17, its a collaboration he feels more at ease with. Bong Joon Ho is probably one of five directors in the world who can right now, direct a film of such an enormous caliber and turn it into something idiosyncratic, unique and interesting, he said. He continued, describing how Mickey 17 stood out to him as a dystopian film to tackle now; over the years, hes apparently been offered roles in multiple concepts that explored civilization on the brink. Honestly, I dont think the world has changed too much. Its good that humanity leans toward collective thought, he said. Its rare to work in an industry thats founded on storytelling, because you can see how people think of themselves and about culture. Out of nowhere the post-apocalyptic was the conversation. I think weve passed that era but not because we now live in a dystopia and need to talk about other things to distract ourselves. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

A man in Indiana has been arrested after police say he posted several TikToks that called for the assassination of President Donald Trump. The FBI arrested Douglas Thrams on January 23, 2025 after he allegedly posted several videos where he advocated for the violent overthrow of the United States. Every US government building needs to be bombed immediately, he said in one video, according to court records. As first reported by Court Watch, Thrams is a 23-year-old resident of South Bend, Indiana, who has not taken the return of Trump to the White House well. The FBI said that Thrams began posting a series of videos calling for Trumps assassination after his inauguration on January 20. The FBI said that, in one video, Thrams held a rifle in his hands and tapped it. A friendly little reminder (taps rifle) that we do have a Second Amendment right. We also have in our Declaration of Independence the right to take control of the government and even possibly institute a new one. So I ask the question againwhen, where, what time, give me coordinates, he said, according to a transcript of the video in the court records. As long as other people are going to show up, I will show up. I will bring my Second Amendment right. In fact, I will bring as many as my Second Amendment rights as I can. But I just need to know when were going to do this, where were going to do this, how were going to do this, um, because it needs to be done. It needs to be done. There is literally no way forward without violence this time. Im sorry. In the video where he talked about bombing government buildings, Thrams also discussed Trumps assassination. In reference to President Donald Trump, Thrams stated he needs to be assassinated and this time, dont fucking miss, according to the criminal complaint.In the video transcripts shared by the FBI, Thrams called out for a leader; he didnt style himself as the head of a movement. You tell me where to point that goddam weapon and we can go Nazi hunting, he said, according to court records. Thrams stated in the same video, It is in our Declaration of Independence that if we see fit, we the people see fit, that we are being controlled by a tyrannical government, or just an evil one, that we are legally allowed to use our rights, laws, amendments, and constitutes to take control of said government, possibly even enforce a new one if need be. So yes, Im down for the cause. Like I said, Im down to paint the town red, but Im not leading shit. Just tell me where to go.The FBI charged Thrams with Interstate Communications with a threat to injure, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of five years.

Capim Cidr House / Angela Castilho Arquitetura e InterioresSave this picture! Edgard CesarHousesAlto Paraso de Gois, BrazilArchitects: Angela Castilho Arquitetura e InterioresAreaArea of this architecture projectArea:3358 ftYearCompletion year of this architecture project Year: 2023 PhotographsPhotographs:Edgard Cesar Lead Architect: Angela Castilho More SpecsLess SpecsSave this picture!Text description provided by the architects. Capim Cidr House was designed as a retreat to slow down and reconnect with the essence of simple living. Located in Alto Paraso de Gois, the residence reflects the Wabi-Sabi style, emphasizing simplicity and authenticity through natural elements and a neutral color palette. This essential approach is enriched by contemporary touches, such as automation technologies and finishes that balance rusticity and sophistication.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The architectural design consists of two main volumes, offset and juxtaposed, connected by intervals defined by metallic pergolas and bamboo-covered structures. This configuration creates a fluid and light composition, seamlessly integrating the project with its natural surroundings. The spatial layout prioritizes social interaction and a strong connection with the landscape. On the ground floor, large openings allow for seamless integration between the living room, kitchens, and veranda, forming a spacious and inviting social area. The spa, strategically placed, serves as a perfect relaxation space for warm days, while the lounges provide comfortable settings for gatherings and moments of rest.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!The site layout was carefully planned to harmonize with the local context. The orientation of the spaces considers sunlight exposure and wind direction while enhancing the views of the horizon and the surrounding mountains. Expansive glass openings and bamboo roofing allow natural light to flood the interiors in varying intensities throughout the day, reflecting a core principle of Wabi-Sabi: the appreciation of impermanence and the passage of time.Save this picture!The upper floor features a large veranda, conceived as a space for contemplation, offering a direct connection to nature and immersive views of the mountainous landscape in Alto Paraso. Capim Cidr House balances modernity and tranquility, achieving an aesthetic that values both the essential and the contemporary.Save this picture!Project gallerySee allShow lessAbout this officeMaterialWoodMaterials and TagsPublished on January 24, 2025Cite: "Capim Cidr House / Angela Castilho Arquitetura e Interiores" [Casa Capim Cidr / Angela Castilho Arquitetura e Interiores] 24 Jan 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1025970/capim-cidro-house-angela-castilho-arquitetura-e-interiores&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save!ArchDaily?You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream