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Enough. Clearly someone must say it. So for good measure I’ll say it twice: Enough. 

Not every successful horror conceit merits a sequel and prequel. Not every monster is unendingly scary. Not every doomed world is rich with stories. To prove this look no further than A Quiet Place: Day One, a prequel so far from its origins that even its title is a stretch. 

Aside from Djimon Hounsou, who is was credited as "man on island" in A Quiet Place Part II, none of the previous cast returns. Neither does director John Krasinski or screenwriting team Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, who departed to make If and Heretic respectively. Instead, writer/director Michael Sarnoski takes the reins. Now, his last film, Pig, was a harrowing character drama studded with sharp humor and gnarly twists, which suggests he’d be a solid fit for this horror helm.

SEE ALSO: This scene in 'A Quiet Place' looks like it's straight from 'The Office'

Alas, Sarnoski gets lost amid the demands of disaster carnage and franchise lore. So the tender odd couple narrative he constructs with stars Lupita Nyong'o and Stranger Things' Joseph Quinn feels uneven at best and gnawingly hollow at worst.

How does A Quiet Place: Day One connect to the earlier films? Credit: Paramount Pictures

It barely does. Far, far from the Abbott family farm of the first two films is a bustling Manhattan, where an isolated hospice patient named Sam (Nyong'o) realizes she’s not ready to die as the movie's monsters crash into skyscrapers, churches, and city streets with thundering force and outpouring rampaging. 

Determined to live long enough to get one last New York slice from her favorite Harlem haunt (seriously), she soldiers through ruins, flooded subways, and the trembling feelings of a lost law student named Eric (Quinn) all while ducking the sound-chasing beasts. In this dogged journey uptown pursued by extraterrestrial predators, A Quiet Place: Day One has more in common with 2008's Cloverfield than it does the franchise for which it's named. 

A Quiet Place: Day One swerves from monster horror to cutesy NYC love story Credit: Paramount Pictures

This collision is clunky at best. Sarnoski introduces a hardened heroine, mired in rage and self pity, who finds a new lease on life in protecting a wide-eyed baby lawyer from the big bad city overrun by literal man-eaters. Their dynamic is reminiscent of gender-swapped film-noir, with Nyong'o as the world-weary anti-hero roped into rescuing a dude-in-distress, who is so fragile he is constantly on the verge of hysterics. Yet at times, this sequel veers into the plucky sweetness of a Pixar short. 

Because of the "stay quiet, stay alive" conceit, Sam and Eric rarely speak. And so playful pantomime evolves between them that is at times charming. Their relationship feels at best slapped together. As characters they are haphazardly constructed through scraps of personal details like far-flung parents and bits of actual poetry. But that's because this is not a movie sold on its sentimental human drama, but on the promised scare cycle of quietly creeping, accidentally making a noise, and running for your lives as monsters barrel down after you.

Featured Video For You Pam Grier and the cast of 'Them: The Scare' on breaking down the stigma of mental health in "Black Horror"

In the first two films, the Abbotts weren't all keenly developed characters, but they found definition through their interplay as a family and their fine-tuned team defence protocols. We were invested in them collectively, rather than individually. Here, incredibly Sarnoski chooses to set a film in New York City, a place made up of a myriad of communities, neighborhoods, and found families, and manages to center his story on two loners with no ties of note. Any interest in establishing characters who feel true to the city is non-existent, and the film's disinterest in New York as anything other than a different backdrop for the franchise is obvious.

The heroes' journey uptown plays fast and loose with geography, which was also true of Cloverfield, where subway tunnels seemed to act like warp whistles. And most unnerving of all is the garish use of imagery that recalls 9/11. Downtown Manhattan thick with white dust from collapsed buildings; smoke and debris turning the familiar streets into a nightmarish haze flecked with fleeing people. Sure. Such imagery makes Day One scary, but not because of Sarnoski's skill at setting a scene. It's because he used a crass cheat code to real-life horror. 

Lupita Nyong'o is more than this movie deserves and yet she can’t save it Credit: Paramount Pictures

Almost immediately after the monsters overrun Manhattan, everyone in the city just knows you can’t talk. So most of the film is a bunch of characters who don’t happen to know sign language, struggling to communicate through gestures, pleading eyes, and occasionally writing something down.

It’s a shame to see the communication on these films get so sloppy as soon his Krasinski and his co-writers have left it behind. Admittedly, the miming is at times suitably menacing. Hounsou excels at communicating through his hard gaze and harder grip around a desperate-to-scream mouth. But it's Nyong'o who carries this film on her strong shoulders. While Quinn's eyes quiver with tears, his lips agape in horror, Sarnoski leans hard on Nyong'o's sublime profile and dark, soulful eyes to communicate fear and hope, giving depth where his screenplay does not. Still, it's not enough to keep the emotional life of this film afloat. Perhaps that explains the cat. 

Through their whole horror-studded journey, Sam and Eric carry her cat, a black-and-white wanderer named Frodo (yes, Sam and Frodo). The cat meanders through this world of monsters with an unearned confidence. At times, he seems at risk — though the monsters seem to ignore New York's resident rats and squirrels — but mostly Frodo is cut to for reaction shots. I'm not a cat person. But the audience I saw this prequel with did audibly coo over this fearless feline's every close-up.

All this to say, parts of A Quiet Place: Day One are enchanting. Hounsou and Alex Wolff, who plays a gentle, man-bunned hospice nurse, are gripping in painfully brief appearances. Nyong'o and Quinn are performers with a captivating screen presence that pulls us in steadily — when they're given something to play beyond run and hide. The action sequences here lack the impact of the first film. Perhaps because at this point there's nothing new to learn about these creatures really. Or maybe it's that Sarnoski didn't learn the lesson of Jaws and gives us too many chances to look up close until these creatures are too familiar to be feel alarmingly alien. 

In the end, A Quiet Place: Day One doesn't equal the sum of its parts. The love story at its core can't shine amid the required carnage and urban devastation demanded by the prequel's promise. The performances — while earnest — can't find footing in the crude plotting. The scares, which once were grounded in character and uncertainty, lose their luster without either. With all this movie tries to wedge in, it's just not enough. 

A Quiet Place: Day One opens in theaters only June 27.

TL;DR: Watch Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky in the WNBA for free with a 30-day trial of Prime Video. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Last season's champs meet Chicago Sky in the next WNBA fixture on the schedule. The Las Vegas Aces have not blown away the competition this year, but they are still stacked with stars including A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum. On the other side of the court, Angel Reese will be doing everything she can to upset the odds.

If you want to watch Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky in the WNBA for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky?

Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky in the WNBA starts at 7 p.m. ET on June 27. This fixture takes place at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

How to watch Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky for free

Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky is available to live stream on Prime Video in the U.S., but you don't need to be subscribed to tune in. Anyone can watch the WNBA for free with a 30-day trial of Prime Video in the U.S.

Fans from outside the U.S. will need to use a VPN to watch the WNBA for free on Prime Video. The process is straightforward:

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2. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

3. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

4. Open up the app and connect to a server in the U.S.

5. Watch Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky for free from anywhere in the world on Prime Video

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The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch the WNBA on Prime Video without committing with your cash. This isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for Prime Video?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on Prime Video, for a number of reasons:

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Stream Las Vegas Aces vs. Chicago Sky in the WNBA for free with ExpressVPN.

Google Translate has gotten much faster when it comes to learning new languages, and it's thanks to generative AI.

On Thursday, Google announced its Translate tool now knows 110 new languages, thanks to the company's PaLM 2 large language model.

SEE ALSO: Here's how Google thinks AI should be regulated

For the full list of new languages that are supported, check out Google's help page Highlights include Cantonese, which Google says was one of the most requested languages for Translate, as well as Balinese, Fijian, Portuguese (Portugal), Tahitian, and Tibetan.

Google also pointed out that this is the largest expansion of Translate into African languages to date, as it includes Fon, Kikongo, Luo, Ga, Swati, Venda and Wolof.

All in all, Google plans to ultimately support 1,000 most spoken languages around the world, which now seems attainable thanks to AI. Google says that PaLM 2 was "a key piece to the puzzle, helping Translate more efficiently learn languages that are closely related to each other."

For an idea of just how much faster Google Translate is at learning new languages, the company last posted an update like this in May 2022, when Translate learned 24 new languages, also with the help of AI. All in all, it took the company roughly 16 years to get to 133 languages.

YouTube is reportedly holding licensing talks with major record labels for permission to use more songs to create AI-generated clones, according to the Financial Times.

The publisher, which cited "three people familiar with the matter", said YouTube "offered lump sums of cash" to Universal, Sony, and Warner, in order to persuade more artists to hand over their music for AI training. According to the FT, these would be one-off, case-by-case licensing payments, not blanket use deals.

Mashable has reached out to YouTube for comment.

The report notably comes just days after Universal, Warner, and Sony filed separate lawsuits with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) against AI music generators Udio and Suno for alleged copyright infringement.

SEE ALSO: Is AI-generated music the future of K-pop? HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk thinks so

Last year, YouTube tested a tool called "Dream Tracks" for Shorts, which let a selection of creators generate unique songs in the style of several artists including Charli XCX, Troye Sivan, John Legend, Demi Lovato, Charlie Puth, Papoose, Sia, T-Pain, and Alec Benjamin, all with the agreement of the artists themselves. According to the FT, YouTube reportedly wants to expand its collection of artists and songs, but not for Dream Track.

YouTube's focus on AI-generated music comes under Google's broader strategy to compete with rivals in the space, from OpenAI's music generator Jukebox and video generator Sora, to Meta's dabbling in AudioCraft, an open-source AI music generator. In August 2023, Google announced its Music AI Incubator, a partnership with Universal — the label, which pulled its music from TikTok over "appropriate compensation for our artists and songwriters, protecting human artists from the harmful effects of AI," has called for streaming services to crack down on AI-generated music due to copyright concerns. Google also published YouTube's AI music principles, in which the company promises to "embrace it responsibly together with our music partners."

YouTube requires creators to label whether a video was made with generative AI, or risk receiving fines, having their content removed, or being suspended from the YouTube Partner Program — and artists can request the removal of AI-generated music uploaded without their consent.

Musicians have been vocal about the threats AI poses to human creativity and compensation, with 200 artists including Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, Nicki Minaj, Pearl Jam, Katy Perry, the estates of Bob Marley and Frank Sinatra, and more signing an open letter in April denouncing AI in music. The letter specifically called out companies that were "employing AI to sabotage creativity and undermine artists, songwriters, musicians and rightsholders," and especially those training AI models with music without the consent of the artist.

The report also comes at a time when licensing deals with AI companies is big business, including with online news and media sites — here's all the media companies that have licensing deals with OpenAI (so far).

TL;DR: Through July 21, get an InCharge X Max 100W 6-in-1 ultra-fast charging cable on sale for just $21.99 (reg. $39.99).

In our digital world, staying connected has become essential. Whether it’s for work, entertainment, or keeping in touch with loved ones, our portable devices are indispensable. However, our devices all eventually run out of battery power, which is why having a reliable, versatile, and ultra-fast charging solution is more important than ever.

The InCharge X Max 6-in-1 charging cable could be a game-changer in the world of device charging. And for a limited time, you can grab this all-in-one powerhouse for just $21.99, a significant drop from its usual price of $39.99. 

The 6-in-1 design allows you to meet nearly all your charging needs with a single cable. Whether you’re charging your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or any other device, this cable has you covered. It combines multiple connectors in one sleek, five-foot-long cable, making it quite possibly the only charging accessory you’ll need.

It features USB to Lightning, USB to USB-C, and USB to micro-USB, as well as USB-C to USB-C, USB-C to Lightning, and USB-C to micro-USB. It can charge and sync (480Mbps of transfer speed), with USB-C to USB-C ultra-fast charging and iPhone fast charging up to 18W.

The sleek design is made possible by multiple connector ends, which allow you to switch from different device types and brands with just one cable. This means you can keep it in your bag when traveling to have powerful charging capabilities for almost all of your devices.

Because it has a rugged five-foot-long design, including aramid fiber, braided copper wires, cable guards, and nylon reinforcement, it should have no trouble keeping up with even the busiest on-the-go lifestyles.

Get an InCharge X Max 100W 6-in-1 ultra-fast charging cable on sale for just $21.99 (reg. $39.99) until July 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Rolling Square InCharge® X Max 100W 6-in-1 Charging Cable $21.99 at The Mashable Shop
$39.00 Save $17.01 Get Deal

"Only Murders in the Building" stars Selena Gomez and Martin Short played with makeup on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!". Watch.

Ahead of the 2024 Olympics in Paris, NBC has announced that an AI version of sportscaster Al Michaels will deliver personalized recaps to Peacock users.

These 10-minute daily updates, conducted in Michaels' voice, require just a few details for customization: on Peacock, users need to submit their names and select up to three types of sports they want to hear more about.

SEE ALSO: Google is working on generative AI soundtracks and dialogue for videos

The voice was trained based on Michaels' extensive repertoire of work while at NBC, and the AI experience was built in-house by Peacock's "team of engineers, product managers and data scientists." NBCUniversal’s John Jelley said the team developed a process to "integrate, optimize and validate state-of-the-art large language model and voice synthesis technology."

The product will be available on Peacock's website, iOS, and iPad apps. Peacock has vowed that a team of editors "will review all content, including audio and clips, for quality assurance and accuracy before recaps are made available to users." Nearly 7 million clips can be created over the course of the Olympics, says NBC.

Media outlets caught an early demo of the product. According to Vulture, "The performance of Michaels’s synthezoid voice left much to be desired." Defector, meanwhile, says, "The resulting technology seems ... pretty fucking AI, honestly. It sounds strikingly like Al Michaels without really quite seeming like Al Michaels; it is accurate, but not right."

Michaels said he was initially "very skeptical" of the proposal, but was ultimately blown away by the technology: "Frankly, it was astonishing. It was amazing," he told Vanity Fair. "And it was a little bit frightening. It was not only close, it was almost 2 percent off perfect. I’m thinking, Whoa."

It's hard to pick a favorite view of space, but many astronomers hold dear the Pillars of Creation, a stunning cloud of interstellar gas and dust that resembles a human hand. 

Now NASA scientists have created a narrated 3D tour of this cosmic marvel, a small portion of the enormous Eagle Nebula about 6,500 light-years away in the Milky Way.

Rather than an artistic rendering, the movie (shown below) is based on actual scientific data acquired from a host of observatories, including the Hubble Space Telescope, which took its first pictures of the famous pillars in 1995, and the James Webb Space Telescope, which views the universe in infrared light. The movie also incorporates data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the retired Spitzer Space Telescope. 

The video is intended to help people understand how different telescopes provide different kinds of information, while also giving the audience a general appreciation for how star formation occurs, said principal visualization scientist Frank Summers of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. Summers will present it at the International Planetarium Society Conference in Berlin next month.

"Stars help create the dust pillars that actually are creating stars," Summers said in a statement. "Stars are forming inside the Eagle Nebula, which is a giant dust cloud."

SEE ALSO: Webb telescope's Pillars of Creation shows us things Hubble couldn't

The Pillars of Creation are mostly made of small dust grains of carbon and hydrogen, weathered by the ultraviolet radiation of nearby hot, young stars. The fingerlike pillars are gigantic, with the tallest among them stretching farther than the width of our own solar system — more than three light-years.

New stars, only a few hundred thousand years old, poke out around the edges of the cloud as rubies, courtesy of Webb's infrared view. The reddish fingertips, the result of energetic hydrogen, are coming from young stars that sometimes shoot out wavy jets. 

NASA has previously described the pillars as "practically pulsing with their activity." This new perspective gives scientists a better feel for how baby stars shed their dust cocoons over millions of years.

Researchers used the same NASA data presented in the 3D video to make this 3D-printed model of the Pillars of Creation. Credit: NASA / STScI / R. Crawford / L. Hustak

The video begins with a zoom from the Milky Way down to the Pillars of Creation, which is more than a 10,000-fold magnification. Like a gnat, the virtual camera flies in, around, and among the fingers, revealing four separate dust clouds with gas streaming away from each.

Without the 3D view, one of the pillars could go unseen. 

While the Webb telescope offers researchers a diaphanous view, piercing through dense dust, Hubble sees the cosmos in visible light, glowing at thousands of degrees. Astronomers say both views combined provide a more complete picture. 

The Mini is a bite-sized version of The New York Times' revered daily crossword. While the crossword is a lengthier experience that requires both knowledge and patience to complete, The Mini is an entirely different vibe.

With only a handful of clues to answer, the daily puzzle doubles as a speed-running test for many who play it.

So, when a tricky clue disrupts a player's flow, it can be frustrating! If you find yourself stumped playing The Mini — much like with Wordle and Connections — we have you covered.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for June 27 SEE ALSO: 'Wordle' today: Here's the answer hints for June 27

Here are the clues and answers to NYT's The Mini for Wednesday, June 27, 2024:

AcrossNot at work today

• The answer is off.

Sushi order

• The answer is roll.

With 8-Across, what might have your family hanging by a thread?

• The answer is group.

See 6-Across

• The answer is text.

Maritime setting

• The answer is sea.

DownThe "O" of NATO: Abbr.

• The answer is Org.

___ Worth, Tex.

• The answer is Fort.

Drifting sheets of ice

• The answer is floes.

Expensive and high-quality

• The answer is luxe.

School grp. for moms and dads

• The answer is pta.

Featured Video For You The Wordle Strategy used by the New York Times' Head of Games

This weekend, Netflix is teaming up Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman for A Family Affair, a cute new rom-com directed by Richard LaGravenese (Living Out Loud). The film is about a young woman named Zara (Joey King) whose boss, a former teen heartthrob actor (Zac Efron), starts sleeping with her mother (Nicole Kidman), much to Zara's horror. And yes, that is a story that could very much be the basis for an erotic thriller, but here it's instead being played for broad slapstick laughs. 

The thing is, Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman already did the erotic thriller thing 12 years ago. And while the internet likes to pretend that everything old never existed, we can never forget. 

How could we, when that movie was writer-director and camp maestro Lee Daniels' The Paperboy, and it involved the Oscar-winning actress of The Hours excitedly urinating all over the beautiful young star of the High School Musical movies while loudly and proudly proclaiming, "If anyone's gonna piss on him, it's going to be me!" 

That's not the sort of thing one easily forgets. 

This is Daniels' specialty — searing outrageousness into our brains with one wildly over-the-top moment after another. Like so many queer filmmakers who came before him, Daniels speaks camp fluently. For his second film, Precious, in 2009, Monique won an Oscar for — among other things — throwing a TV at Gabourey Sidibe. And after The Paperboy came the six seasons of his hip-hop extravaganza Empire, which… well, the moments of outrageousness there are far, far, far too many to count. (Bless you, Taraji P. Henson.)

Still, nothing Daniels has made brought out the knives of the critics quite like The Paperboy did. Loathed by the press and audiences alike in 2012, this movie was a great big bomb on basically every front. But the world was wrong! And we're here to reclaim this explosion of bonkers queer camp as iconic entertainment worthy of nothing but our most profound love and affection.

Who is The Paperboy?

Taking on his first "adult" role post Disney musicals, Zac Efron plays Jack, a college dropout who's returned home with his hot tail between his legs, quite lost as to what he'll do next. But despite a dreaminess that Efron makes indistinguishable from slack-jawed dullness, Jack seems content just lounging around his parents' house in his tighty-whities (a sight Daniels spends no shortage of film stock lingering upon) while occasionally delivering the local newspaper for some cash.

Credit: Millennium / Everett / Shutterstock

That is, until his older brother Ward (Matthew McConaughey) also sweeps back into their swampy Florida hometown, but for business, not pleasure. Ward is a muckraking newsman sniffing around the case of a corrupt local sheriff who got murdered. A gator-wrestling redneck named Hillary Van Wetter (John Cusack, giving what can only be described as a truly grotesque performance) is sitting on death row for the crime. But Ward thinks Hillary might be innocent. Or at least railroaded via insufficient evidence. And he got these ideas via pleading correspondences sent to him by Hillary's long-distance beloved, an Alabamian hot house who goes by the name of Charlotte Bless (Kidman). 

There's big, and then there's "Nicole Kidman in The Paperboy" big.

In a career full of bold moves, Charlotte Bless just might be Kidman's boldest. As if imported straight from the nearest John Waters joint, Charlotte is a capital-F floozy. Hair bleached to a blonde crisp ("Straight hair gives me class," she opines) and spilling out of her skin-tight dresses, Kidman plays the role to the parking lot beyond the back row of the bleachers. Her Charlotte is a vulgar, broken, black hole of braying narcissism and want. She's a toxic spill of sex and dissolution. And yet she's also kind of sweet at the same time? 

Naturally, the second Jack sees her, he is fully and completely lost under her spell. And so are we. And so is every single character on-screen. Well, Ward might not take much notice since he's a closested homosexual with his own reams of damage. But every other man who gets sucked into Charlotte's off-axis orbit seems to be immediately struck dopey-eyed inarticulate by her. 

Heck, Hillary didn't even have to meet her in the flesh — theirs has, up to this moment, been a romance conducted entirely via letter. Until the film's big central showcase of salacious spectacle, that is, where Kidman and Cusack bark sex sounds back and forth at one another from across the prison's meeting room, as everyone else (including us in the audience) watches on in disbelief and horror. 

If there's been a more bizarre and perverse sex scene committed to film in the 12 years since this one, I'm not sure I could name it. And is that not something worth exclaiming from the mountaintops? Now that's entertainment!

The Paperboy was a bomb as big as Zac Efron's glutes.

But most people who saw The Paperboy in 2012 didn't see the glory in all this. When the film premiered at Cannes, it was excoriated by critics (IndieWire dubbed it "a disastrous flop" right out of the gate). When the film got released in theaters that fall, it couldn't even crack $4 million (on a $12 million budget) worldwide.

The one exception to the air of ire was Kidman, who got sound praise for her "bravery." In nearly every interview she gave at the time, she was asked why the hell she took this role. She kept coming back to the same word — "raw." She liked the role's rawness. And Charlotte is certainly that. If eyeballs can feel chafed from watching a movie, The Paperboy accomplishes it. And for her raw, brave work, Kidman ultimately got nominated for both a SAG award and a Golden Globe. The world seemed to clock that Kidman understood the task at hand, even if nobody else, in their eyes, did. 

Credit: Moviestore / Shutterstock

Long before the AMC ads, Kidman had an eye on queer sensibilities and camp. The list of queer filmmakers Kidman has worked with over the years is very long. 

By the time The Paperboy had mainstream audiences' jaws dropped, we'd already seen Kidman go ultra with the sultry showgirl in Moulin Rouge!, the ball-busting suburbanite in The Stepford Wives, and the dream-analyzing damsel-in-distress in Batman Forever. But the role that convinced most of us she was a genuine talent to be reckoned with in the first place was that of wannabe femme fatale newswoman Suzanne Stone in Gus Van Sant's To Die For. (It must be said that if you can find any echo of Charlotte among Kidman's other roles, it's very much there in stupid, manipulative Suzanne.) 

The Paperboy embraces outlandishness, top to bottom. 

Still, to chalk this film up to just Kidman knowing what was going on and making the best of it seems, to put it mildly, a discredit to the Black gay man at the center of its making. Lee Daniels' outré work has been steeped in audacious ingenuity every step of the way. Camp is the language, the essence, of his filmmaking. It's the engine driving (one might even say pummeling away at) everything. 

Like a Tennessee Williams play mixed up with vermouth and methamphetamines, The Straights are not OK in Lee Daniels' world. The sloppily rouged divas and gator-wrestling dudes of The Paperboy are spinning and bucking wildly out of control, and dammit, it's funny. It's scathing. It's a glorious mess, sticky to the touch. If you walked out of this movie not desiring a shower, then Daniels wouldn't have done his job. 

Nowadays, once-controversial queer filmmakers like John Waters and Todd Haynes get their films — which work at this exact same over-the-top register — put into the Criterion Collection. They are feted with major exhibits at the Academy Museum. Why Daniels' work — and specifically, the aria of sleaze-ploitation that he summons with The Paperboy — hasn't been afforded that same celebratory lens, one can only conjecture. 

Credit: Gorassini Giancarlo / ABACA / Shutterstock

Because how can you watch the ex-Mrs. Tom Cruise squat over Mr. High School Musical and not consider it every bit as hilariously punk about smashing up the heteronormative mainstream as it was for Mink Stole to stick a rosary up Divine's ass in Multiple Maniacs back in the day? It seems fairly clear to me that this was Daniels' intention. That scene, and the many examples surrounding it, didn't just slip in there by mistake. Lee Daniels did that!

With all its swampy outlandishness, The Paperboy represented a huge swing by Daniels to wield melodrama and camp with purpose, spinning it in invigorating and wild new directions. And with a cast of great big top-shelf movie stars no less. We've managed to come around on other misunderstood satires, like John McNaughton's sleazy threesome thriller Wild Things and Paul Verhoeven's alien-squashing epic Starship Troopers — even Verhoeven's Showgirls, the topless pinnacle of modern camp. The movies proudly speak in the vernacular of excess. 

So now, with its two central stars reunited for this week's cute little Netflix rom-com, it ought to be The Paperboy's turn to shine. It has more than earned its spot in the pantheon of legendary camp. Make like Kidman and Efron did once upon that time, and tune your frequency straight into this spectacle of overheated lust and betrayal and the hottest of pink hot pants. The Paperboy will piss on your leg and tell you it's raining, and you should love every mad minute of it.

How to watch: The Paperboy is now streaming on Prime Video.

Nikki Carreon started Creators for Palestine with a single image of Snoopy on her Close Friends story on Instagram. The 25-year-old YouTuber wanted to raise money for humanitarian relief in Gaza. Three weeks later, Carreon sat in the Try Guys video studio, watching as Keith Habersberger from the Try Guys tried various Palestinian foods as viewers sent in cash. The money raised for organizations on the ground — Medical Aide for Palestine, HEAL Palestine, and UNRWA — steadily grew to $1.6 million.

SEE ALSO: Why fandom wars aren't helping pro-Palestine organizing

Habersberger, an early YouTube star, is one of many online creators who increasingly see themselves as necessary amplifiers and fundraisers for social movements. In this case, the feeling was supercharged by the lack of response from the United States government to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and so Creators for Palestine was born. Creators for Palestine’s livestream was an undeniable fundraising success and a potential roadmap for future creator collectives. 

But, regardless of their altruistic intent, efforts like these come with all the potential treachery of being famous online, as creators must navigate unyielding community guidelines and the whims of their audiences.

A response to the suppression of Palestinian content

Following the events of Oct. 7, major social media platforms have failed to support the surge of online activism: Meta has faced accusations of shadowbanning pro-Palestinian content; Instagram apologized for translating Palestine in Arabic to "Palestinian terrorist" in English; Human Rights Watch later found Meta's censorship of Palestine content "systemic;" and in October, a popular account dedicated to sharing on-the-ground footage of Gaza, @Eye.on.Palestine, was locked on Instagram and removed by X — it's since been restored on both platforms. 

For most onlookers, the suppression of Palestine content is undeniable. For creators whose livelihoods depend on their reach and engagement, pivoting their content to the humanitarian crisis has been a risky venture. In the creator economy, issues like war are impossible to monetize. 

That's not to mention the harassment from viewers and trolls toward those publicly supporting Palestine. But creators like Carreon believe that speaking up is worth the risks.

Creators for Palestine shows how unwavering support for Palestine inspired creators to adapt to platform limitations and provide a support system for harassment. Those involved see the livestream fundraiser as only the beginning. "It's not something we plan to go away now that we have the network of creators," said Hassan Khadair, a 25-year-old content creator in Birmingham, Alabama, who is part of the "admin chat" of Creators for Palestine. 

Tweet may have been deleted

What spurred Carreon (who uses all pronouns) to action was a graphic image from Rafah that spread across X / Twitter. “It was so horrible that I immediately scrolled away. It was so shocking to me. That made me feel like I want to do more,” she told Mashable. She set out with a $2,000 fundraising goal, generated interest from three friends, and imagined raising money via an informative graphic the small group would repost across their social media platforms. 

An Instagram group chat-turned-collective

The first sign that Carreon’s Instagram group chat would become something bigger was when well-known creators joined, expanding their reach and goals.

Fellow YouTuber Saji Sharma added the first large creator, Kurtis Conner, a YouTube comedian with 5 million subscribers, to the Instagram chat. Conner then connected Creators for Palestine with Hasan Piker, a popular Twitch streamer with over 2.6 million followers with experience fundraising on Twitch. Creators for Palestine ultimately morphed into a Discord with over 120 creators.

As more creators joined the group, their fundraising goals also expanded, first to $20,000 and then to $100,000. But Piker had previously raised a lofty $1 million in just two weeks and encouraged the group to raise the goal to the same. Carreon told Mashable she felt relieved that people who knew how internet-based fundraisers worked were helping her cause.

After Conner joined, Carreon knew the group would start being taken seriously. Creators for Palestine's first infographic announcing their $1 million goal (with a note that at the $750,000 mark they'd host a livestream to close the gap) featured 32 creators, including Conner, Piker, and other popular YouTubers like Jarvis Johnson, a reactor with 2.09 million followers, and Mina Le, a video essayist with 1.35 million followers. 

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By the following graphic, they were up to 59. Their final post before the livestream featured so many creators that they made a video instead. 

With the more prominent creators came connections and a tone of legitimacy. 

“At first, I was very anti-doing a livestream just because I didn't know how to. But once the streamers joined, I let them take the wheel,” said Carreon. 

A livestream choosing to celebrate Palestinian culture

Among the streamers integral to planning the livestream programming were Twitch streamers Frogan and CapriSunnPapi (Capri), both going by their streaming names for privacy reasons. 

"I [was] the only Palestinian planning the live[stream], so I was trying to figure out how [to] make this both fun, so we're able to raise money and have a good time, and, at the same time, informative," Capri told Mashable. 

That meant a variety of personalities, activities, and consciousness-raising. The livestream opened with another Try Guys member, Zach Kornfeld, setting the tone, including a statement that, as a Jewish man, he wanted to reassure viewers that it is not antisemitic to criticize the Israeli government and support Palestine. In addition to Habersberger trying Palestinian food, creators painted watermelon, and Capri and Piker interviewed Steve Sosebee, the founder of Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), who now runs HEAL Palestine. 

"We wanted to make sure to highlight the culture of the Palestinian people to continue to humanize them since, on social media, that has been lost. And to highlight the positives of Palestinian people versus the death and destruction and sadness that has been on the timeline," Frogan told Mashable. 

"I was able to take my mom's and my grandma's stuff from Palestine and decorate the Try Guys studio with it,” said Capri. 

Tweet may have been deleted A need for creative approaches to platform roadblocks

With only three weeks until the headlining livestream, individual creators faced obstacles in getting the word out, often from the platforms themselves. 

Creators for Palestine's members decided to take a "blackout social media approach," where each creator uploaded the same graphics and videos to flood feeds to reach as many people as possible, Khadair told Mashable. However, TikTokkers' videos immediately started to be taken down due to the platform's policy against "non-original content."

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"Only three of our videos would stay up, and some of us got demonetized for uploading our initial Creators for Palestine video when our strategy was to be a unified front," said Khadair. 

In the Discord, creators compared the metrics of their Creators for Palestine posts on TikTok and their regular content, noticing that the ratio of likes to views was notably different, raising questions about censorship. 

Amanda Golka, a 26-year-old YouTuber and Twitch streamer, tried to combat the lack of reach of her videos related to Palestine. "I found the best way to get engagement on the posts would be to sandwich it in a different unrelated video, tricking the algorithm," Golka told Mashable. She opened the TikTok video where she announced joining Creators for Palestine by teasing creator gossip, saying, "You're never going to believe what this creator did." Then, she made her decision to join the collective. 

The strategy is growing in popularity among creators and is one of several ways TikTokkers and users drive engagement towards information about and fundraisers for Palestine. For example, in May, Estefania "Teffi" Pessoa, a TikTok personality with over 1.8 million followers, staged a feud with Kendra DePinto, a TikTokker focused on providing accessible recipes. Through a series of videos, the pair urged their viewers to check "the receipts" of the drama in their bios, where there's a GoFundMe to help evacuate a family in Gaza.

Similarly, in what's known as Operation Watermelon, users strategically comment on popular TikToks to train the algorithm-generated suggested search that appears at the top of the comments section to veiled references to Palestine, intending to spur viewers down a rabbit hole of information.

SEE ALSO: How 'blue comments' turned the TikTok algorithm into a protest tool

These tactics build upon other ways TikTok creators have tried to circumvent platform guidelines, like "algospeak," a workaround for content moderation in which users change the pronunciation and spelling of targeted words, such as referring to sex as "seggs."

Meanwhile, despite the platform's censorship, Instagram's design allowed for a more fluid dissemination of information as it enabled collaborative posting. The same video that was repeatedly removed from TikTok was collaboratively posted on Instagram by Conner, Khadair, Golka, Carreon, Chad Chad, Stanzi, and the Creators for Palestine page, resulting in 3.4 million views. 

Beyond these strategies, creators trying to advocate for Palestine aren't only fighting against the algorithm. They are also beholden to their audiences. 

"There's always this talk about creators having a more tenuous hold on their audiences and their jobs because it’s built on people liking you in some capacity," explained Golka. "A lot of creators wanted to speak out but were worried about saying the wrong thing and saying something alone. Creators for Palestine helped give people the confidence to say what they really felt."

Being a lone dissenter can be scary and intimidating in a lonely industry that relies on a creator's likeability. Still, Creators for Palestine allowed creators another option with the security of big names standing behind them. 

Creators for Palestine helped give people the confidence to say what they really felt.

But despite safety in numbers, some creators still paid a cost for their staunch position. For his commitment to Creators for Palestine, Khadair lost 15,000 followers on Instagram alone. "It's a dramatic number, but the comments on the third [Creators for Palestine] graphic I posted are a lot nicer than the first," said Khadair. But, despite losing Instagram followers, his other metrics stayed consistent. "If you truly believe in it, you should fight for it. The ramifications of follower counts are very unimportant in the grand scheme of things." Neither Golka nor Carreon had a notable change in followers. 

The Creators for Palestine Discord provided a place for those involved to feel less alone dealing with the harassment in response to their stance and an opportunity to share positive responses. "A lot of creators are very worried about standing alone on topics. I wish they weren't, but this is such an isolating job," said Golka. 

A potential future of collaboration between creators and social movements

The financial impact of Creators for Palestine makes the case for creators to bolster social movements, and those interviewed all envision more involvement in the future. "You'll have dissenting voices like Brittany Broski say that creators shouldn't be talking about politics. That's insane. Politics aren't just what a bunch of congressmen are yelling about. They are about human lives — especially [Palestine] is a humanitarian issue," said one of the creators involved.

Frogan echoed the sentiment: "If there are injustices happening, and you're aware of it and you're educated about it, you should be posting about it."

Still, others see the role of creators as even more integral, with coverage of the Palestinian struggle falling short across many U.S. publications. At CNN, the publication's staff called its pro-Israel bias "journalistic malpractice," and The New York Times came under fire for censoring the use of words like "genocide," "occupied territory," "ethnic cleansing," "massacre," and "slaughter." On an international level, Israeli control of the borders of the Gaza Strip has prevented foreign journalists from entering the region for on-the-ground reporting. At the same time, the conflict is the most dangerous for Palestinian journalists on the ground, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

Some creators see themselves as alternative sources of information about the conflict, reposting on-the-ground footage or educating their followers on Palestinian history. As a Palestinian creator, Capri tries to fill in the gaps, yet he sees the fact that his viewers are learning about Palestine from him as a larger systemic failure. 

"There is no major publication that was pro-Palestinian... They were basically repeating the lines of the State Department, and then just softly being like, 'But Israel may have some issues.' They were never really critical of Israel. Creators had to fill that role," said Capri. 

For them, their role as creators is to recognize their potential power. Carreon is still in awe of what she created. "This whole thing opened my eyes. We're YouTubers and Twitch streamers, and we're almost at $2 million [raised]. Imagine if we were actual important celebrities?"

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Can British TV slow down for a second? This year has already been a monster of a year for must-see series out of the UK, and we're only halfway done.

From the spectacular return of Doctor Who to the most talked-about show of the year, not one but two brilliant comedies about 18th-century outlaws, a series that makes us cry still thinking about it, the steamy return to the Ton, and the triumphant second chapter of our favourite all-women Muslim punk band, 2024's TV offerings have been top tier.

SEE ALSO: The 13 best TV shows of 2024 (so far)

Here's the 15 best British TV shows of 2024 (so far) and where you can watch them, both within the UK and outside it.

15. Trying, Season 4 Esther Smith and Rafe Spall return for another delightful season of "Trying." Credit: Apple TV+

Andy Wolton's uplifting series Trying returned for a fourth season, digging into some deeper themes around death and identity all while keeping us afloat with comedy. A heartfelt journey through the trials and tribulations of starting a family, Trying has long been one of Apple TV+'s underrated gems. This season, eternal optimist Nikki and deadpan delight Jason (Esther Smith and Rafe Spall) help their kids navigate major questions about family, including question marks about Princess' birth mother. Episode 2, entailing an old-fashioned date with Jim Broadbent as George, is a season highlight. — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor

How to watch: Trying Season 4 is now streaming on Apple TV+.

14. The Outlaws, Season 3 They're baaaack. Credit: BBC / Big Talk

Stephen Merchant and Elgin James' sharply scripted and hilariously performed comedy series The Outlaws returned for a third round this year, and it's as fresh as the day it began its mandated community service. The series follows a group of random miscreants in Bristol charged with payback duty who've ended up an unlikely and steadfast modern-day heist crew. Though they've done some things they're not so proud of, the crew have bonded over the last few seasons with some harebrained schemes, major operations, and moving moments of friendship. In Season 3? There's a dead body, new careers, higher stakes, and the wondrous addition of Richard E. Grant. Wait, did we say dead body? — S.C.

How to watch: The Outlaws Season 3 is streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Prime Video in the U.S.

13. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin Hugh Bonneville and Noel Fielding in "The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin." Credit: Apple TV+

One of two tales of highway robbery in 18th-century England this year, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is as silly and fun as its lengthy name suggests. Based on the exploits of Essex brigand Dick Turpin (Noel Fielding in full Vince Noir mode), the series seizes on the fact that Turpin's life was wildly romanticised after his death at 33 (by hanging, for horse theft) — then amps it up to 11. Rolling about the woods with his Essex Gang of misfits, Turpin takes on a peril of the week in Monty Python meets Our Flag Means Death meets The Mighty Boosh fashion. Throw in some cameos from Britain's biggest comedians, with standout appearances by Tamsin Greig, Greg Davies, and Sex Education's Connor Swindells, and you've got a surreal, satisfying, history-adjacent adventure on your hands. — S.C.

How to watch: The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is now streaming on Apple TV+.

12. Renegade Nell Louisa Harland in "Renegade Nell." Credit: Robert Viglasky / Disney

Proving that you can never have too many highwaymen on screen, the delightful Renegade Nell continues the trend set by The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.

Created by Happy Valley's Sally Wainwright and starring Derry Girls' Louisa Harland, Renegade Nell delivers a new heroine to root for in Nell Jackson (Harland). Framed for murder by nobles, Nell and her sisters find themselves caught up in a life of crime, with all of 18th-century England fearing Nell as a notorious highway robber. Expect stunts to die for, historical adventure, and magic, courtesy of Nell's guardian spirit Billy Bly (Ted Lasso's Nick Mohammed). Plus, Harland cements her star status with a performance that is as charming as it is badass. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

How to watch: Renegade Nell is now streaming on Disney+.

11. Big Mood Lydia West and Nicola Coughlan knock it out of the park in "Big Mood." Credit: Channel 4

It's officially the year of Nicola Coughlan, with both Bridgerton and Big Mood making this best-of list. The latter sees Coughlan in a brilliant pairing with It's a Sin star Lydia West as two best friends in Londo who are navigating their thirties and all the social pressure that comes with it. Written by playwright Camilla Whitehill and directed by Rebecca Asher (Dead to Me, Grace and Frankie) Big Mood is a funny, moving, and superbly acted exploration of mental health and friendship, specifically through bipolar disorder and unprocessed grief. If you liked This Way Up, you might like Big Mood. — S.C.

How to watch: Big Mood is now streaming on All4 in the UK and Tubi in the U.S.

10. Queenie Dionne Brown as Queenie Jenkins in "Queenie." Credit: Lionsgate / Latoya Okuneye

Candice Carty-Williams' incredibly popular and critically lauded novel Queenie came to TV this year, produced by Channel 4 and launched on Hulu in the U.S. with Disney's Onyx Collective. Dionne Brown is sublime as the titular protagonist Queenie Jenkins, a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman who's putting one foot in front of the other after a major breakup. Set in London, the series sees Queenie attempting to move on with her life through casual hookups while processing unresolved trauma and finding her way to self-love.

As Liv Facey wrote for Mashable, "Queenie is a realistic representation of a young woman just trying to figure things out. She makes viewers question how different from her we really are. Yes, she is a mess and can be annoying, but she’s also smart, funny, and all the things in between, and isn't that something we can all be? 

"Queenie stresses the importance of portraying Black women in their complete complexity, including their messy sides. The series reminds us that we need more characters like her, whom we are forced to look at with nuance and connect on a deeper level — even if that comes with discomfort." — S.C.

How to watch: Queenie is now streaming on All4 in the UK and Hulu in the U.S.

9. The Responder, Season 2 Martin Freeman and Adelayo Adedayo are exceptional in "The Responder." Credit: BBC / Dancing Ledge

One of the best shows of 2022, Tony Schumacher's tense, gritty police drama The Responder finally returned for a second season, bringing with it two of the best performances on TV this year. Martin Freeman continues his exceptional run as corner-cutting Liverpool cop Chris Carson, alongside superb Supacell star Adelayo Adedayo as his response team partner Rachel Hargreaves. As in the first season, Season 2 is a marathon of gray-area choices, with right and wrong thrown in the bin as the characters merely try to keep their heads above water. If you want to watch actors at the top of their game within a compelling drama that rattles the police procedural, this is it. — S.C.

How to watch: The Responder is streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK. Season 1 is streaming on Prime Video in the U.S., with Season 2 coming soon.

8. Bridgerton, Season 3 Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan in "Bridgerton." Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

First there was Daphne and the Duke. Then came Kate and Anthony and Queen Charlotte and George III. Now, with Season 3, Shondaland's beloved adaptation of Julia Quinn's romance novels brings us Penelope and Colin's love story, the slowest-burn romance yet — she's been burning for him since Season 1! It took traveling around the world for Colin Bridgerton to get a glow-up and realize what a great girl he had back home. Thankfully by the end of part one, he showed her his deep, probing affection in a carriage scene that left fans hot and bothered. 

Part two throws these lovers into each other's arms and fresh drama. And we're here for every moment, because Nicola Coughlan is our queen. Sure, there's other plotlines this season, some spicy, some bewildering, and one involving a vegetarian who deserves better! But it's Coughlan and her grace, her comedic timing, and her swoon-inducing charms that has made Bridgerton Season 3 among Netflix's very best in 2024.* — Kristy Puchko, Film Editor

How to watch: Bridgerton Season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.

7. Mary and George Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine in "Mary & George." Credit: Starz

Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine scheme and seduce their way to the top in Mary and George, a period drama all about the heady pursuit of power. 

Moore plays Mary Villiers, a countess in Jacobean England who pushes her son George (Galitzine) to be King James VI and I's (Tony Curran) new lover. Rival suitors and political opponents have it out for the Villiers family, and while George claims his feelings for James are real, there's no doubt he and his mother are using the fragile king for their own gain. As Mary and George's influence continues to grow, the series weaves an intoxicating web of sex, politics, and scandal — one that threatens to collapse around the Villiers as they sacrifice anything and anyone to get ahead.* — B.E.

How to watch: Mary and George is now streaming on Sky and NOW TV in the UK and on Starz in the U.S.

6. Supacell Rapman's Netflix series is finally here. Credit: Netflix

Showrunner, creator, and director Rapman's Netflix series is finally here, and it's a dynamite new approach to the superhero genre. Supacell sees five Black strangers in South London — Michael (Tosin Cole), Sabrina (Nadine Mills), Andre (Eric Kofi Abrefa), Rodney (Calvin Demba), and Tazer (Josh Tedeku) — who develop different superpowers, all while navigating the realism of everyday life. Some use their power to protect those they love (including an excellent Adelayo Adedayo as Michael's girlfriend Dionne) or simply to put food on the table, while others crave power and respect. When Michael's ability to travel through time gives him a glimpse at a terrible future, he needs to find and unite the five as sinister forces begin to circle. With deeply compelling performances, a tightly woven story, and some impressive visual effects deployed across London, Supacell shakes up the superpowers format. — S.C.

How to watch: Supacell begins streaming on Netflix June 27.

5. 3 Body Problem Gang's all here. For now. Credit: Ed Miller / Netflix

Sometimes you want a light comedy; other times, you want to lean into potentially world-ending existential terror. The latter is firmly on offer in 3 Body Problem, a sci-fi epic based on Cixin Liu's trilogy and brought to the screen by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and The Terror's Alexander Woo. The series tells the story of an alien race called the San-Ti, who have been forced to leave their home planet and are several hundred years away from landing on their new home: Earth. 3 Body Problem is impressive because it asks some pretty big questions of the universe while also creating a very human story about how people might react when faced with possible future extinction. Oh, and there are some sequences that will never leave your head — hello, episode 5. * — Sam Haysom, Deputy UK Editor

How to watch: 3 Body Problem is now streaming on Netflix.

4. We Are Lady Parts, Season 2 Faith Omole, Sarah Kameela Impey, Juliette Motamed, Anjana Vasan, and Malala Yousafzai in "We Are Lady Parts." Credit: Saima Khalid / Peacock / NBC International / C4

After three long years on hiatus, We Are Lady Parts is back with a second season that was well worth the wait. 

SEE ALSO: Malala Yousafzai in 'We Are Lady Parts' is the cameo of the year

Created by Nida Manzoor, this sensational comedy series centers on Lady Parts, a punk band made up of Muslim women who are figuring out life, love, friendship, and faith in contemporary London. Between the setting and some familiar themes, Season 2 has echoes of Bridgerton, but with an irreverent sense of humor that is not only totally modern but also absolutely hilarious. Whether following wallflower guitarist Amina (Anjana Vasan), hard-headed frontwoman Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey), warm-hearted bassist Bisma (Faith Omole), mercurial drummer Ayesha (Juliette Motamed), or their ever-strategic manager Momtaz (Lucie Shorthouse), We Are Lady Parts rocks, peppered with playful punchlines, rapturous fantasy sequences, rousing musical numbers, and a cameo from the one-and-only Malala Yousafzai. Whether you're new to this series or not, Season 2 is too good to be missed.* — K.P.

How to watch: We Are Lady Parts is now streaming on Channel 4 in the UK and Peacock in the U.S.

3. One Day Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod in "One Day." Credit: Matt Towers / Netflix

In February, we did a whole lot of TV-induced crying, as Netflix's One Day broke our damn hearts. An ambitious, romantic, and fresh adaptation of David Nicholls' novel, this impeccable, slow burn series gave the story more room to breathe than Lone Scherfig's 2011 film. Following students Emma and Dex (magnetic, lived-in performances by Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall) across decades of their complex friendship, One Day makes a cinematic epic of long-game love while unpacking the politics of privilege in relationships. Even hearing the name of the series will induce starry-eyed looks into the horizon and a palm to the heart.* — S.C.

How to watch: One Day is now streaming on Netflix.

2. Doctor Who, Season 14 The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). Credit: James Pardon / Bad Wolf / BBC Studios

Showrunner Russell T Davies returned to Doctor Who this season, bringing with him plenty of panache. Not only did he gift audiences the splendor of Ncuti Gatwa as the ever-charming Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson as the irrepressible Ruby Sunday, he also offered thrilling guest stars, like Broadway's Jonathan Groff as the dashing Rogue, Susan Twist as the season's biggest mystery, and RuPaul's Drag Race two-time champion Jinkx Monsoon as the melodic and maleficent baddie called Maestro.

Week after week, Davies and his company introduced compelling new creatures to the Whoniverse, like Bridgerton-obsessed bodysnatchers, while tapping into classic lore for fresh reveals. And with each new adventure, Davies presented a different flavor for fans established and brand new. So, "Space Babies" gave us a creepy yet silly monster-of-the-week fairy tale, while "Devil's Chord" got boldly theatrical. Want a war story? A folk horror story? A Black Mirror episode? A period romance? No matter what kind of Who you hunger for, Davies kept the children fed in "the queerest season" the series has ever seen. And it's been marvelous. —K.P.

How to watch: Doctor Who is now streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on Disney+ where available.

1. Baby Reindeer Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning in "Baby Reindeer." Credit: Ed Miller / Netflix

For better or worse, Baby Reindeer is a show that sticks with you: It's amusing in parts, tense in others, and emotionally shattering overall. Based on creator Richard Gadd's own experience of being stalked, the series follows the budding comedian (who plays a version of himself) as he balances career disappointment with his job in a London pub — until a woman named Martha (a brilliant and terrifying Jessica Gunning) comes in one day and develops an obsession with him. "This isn't the type of show with a clear resolution," I wrote in my review for Mashable. "It's messy, thought-provoking, and — like a dream that's difficult to shake — you'll find your mind going back to it long after the credits have rolled."* — S.H.

How to watch: Baby Reindeer is now streaming on Netflix.

Earlier this month, OpenAI's ChatGPT app became available for Apple's macOS platform, but only for ChatGPT Plus subscribers.

Now, this restriction has been removed, and ChatGPT for macOS is available for all users.

SEE ALSO: ChatGPT is ableist toward applicants with disabilities, new study finds

You can get the app for free through OpenAI's website, but have in mind that there are a few limitations: The app will only work on Macs running macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and only those running on Apple silicon, meaning the company's M1 chip or later.

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Oddly, the app is still not available for Windows; according to OpenAI, this should happen "later this year." As a reminder, Microsoft has a big investment in OpenAI, so you'd expect Windows to be prioritized, but this time Mac users get first dibs.

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The advantages of running ChatGPT in the app instead of a browser window include faster access to ChatGPT via the Option + Space shortcut, the ability to ask about stuff (such as documents) on your computer, upload files, or take a screenshot of a window on your desktop and ask ChatGPT about it.

Featured Video For You How to use ChatGPT from a mobile device

During this year's WWDC in June, Apple also announced it would integrate ChatGPT with iPhones and iPads, though those features will gradually be rolling out in beta versions as we get close to official launch of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18.

The Bear's second season introduced us to an onslaught of guest stars: Jamie Lee Curtis! Olivia Colman! Bob Odenkirk! Sarah Paulson! John Mulaney! Gillian Jacobs! Will Poulter!

Now, with Season 3, The Bear does it again, bringing some new guest stars into the fray, as well as repeat appearances from many of the above. While this new crop of big-name cameos isn't as sizable as those from Season 2, these appearances still pack a punch.

Here's a guide to the new guest stars joining the cast of The Bear in Season 3.

SEE ALSO: 'The Bear' falls victim to its own success: Full Season 3 review Josh Hartnett

Between Oppenheimer, the upcoming Trap, and now The Bear, it's clear the Hartnett-aissance is upon us. Here, he plays Frank, the fiancé of Richie's (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) ex-wife Tiffany (Gillian Jacobs).

The first (and only) time we meet Frank is when Richie drops off his daughter Eva (Annabelle Toomey) at his house in episode 4, "Violet." When Frank opens the door, you can hear the sound of Taylor Swift's "Long Live" playing in the background, so he's clearly down with Eva being a Swiftie. What are the odds of a Richie/Frank "Love Story" duet in Season 4?

SEE ALSO: M. Night Shyamalan's 'Trap' trailer has Josh Hartnett as a doting dad with a killer twist John Cena

Professional wrestler turned scene-stealer John Cena joins the Fak clan in Season 3 of The Bear, appearing as Neil (Matty Matheson) and Ted Fak's (Ricky Staffieri) brother Sammy.

Cena bursts on the scene in episode 5, "Children," bringing with him a floor buffer, a penchant for smoking indoors, and a vendetta against Ted for stealing his SD cards. The beef with Ted prompts Sammy to "haunt" him; basically, Sammy inconveniences and spooks Ted until he relents and gives Sammy the password he so desperately craves.

SEE ALSO: How to watch 'The Bear' online for free: when does Season 3 start streaming? So. Many. Chefs.

The Bear is no stranger to featuring stars from the culinary world. On Sydney's (Ayo Edebiri) Season 2 food tour of Chicago, she chatted with famed restaurateurs like Rob Levitt, Dylan Patel, Donnie Madia, and David Posey.

Season 3 kicks the chef cameos up a notch throughout, featuring Daniel Boulud of New York City's Daniel, René Redzepi of Copenhagen's Noma, and Thomas Keller of California's The French Laundry.

The season finale, "Forever," is also bursting at the scenes with culinary cameos, as flocks of real-life chefs join Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney at the funeral dinner for Ever, run by Andrea Terry (Olivia Colman). Among them are the heads of several Chicago-based restaurants: Grant Achatz, chef at Alinea; Anna Posey, pastry chef at Elske; Genie Kwon, chef at Kasama; and Kevin Boehm, head of the Boka Restaurant Group.

Other guests at Ever's funeral dinner include Rosio Sanchez, a Chicago native who now runs Sanchez in Copenhagen; Christina Tosi, CEO of Milkbar; Malcolm Livingston II, former pastry chef at Noma; Wylie Dufresne, chef at New York's now-closed wd~50; and Will Guidara, former co-owner of the Make It Nice hospitality group, which operates NoMad hotels and restaurants.

All episodes of The Bear Season 3 are now streaming on Hulu.

Like any exciting recipe, The Bear's first two seasons established a solid mix of tradition and experimentation.

At first glance, the show operates like a workplace dramedy. Yet the more time we spent getting to know the various workers of The Bear (formerly The Beef), the more comfortable The Bear became with playing with its own form. Season 1 treated us to the anxiety-inducing "Review," a blistering one-take episode that played out in real time. Season 2 turned up the heat with "Fishes," its nightmarish, hour-long take on a Christmas special.

SEE ALSO: 'Fishes' vs. 'Forks': What's the best episode of 'The Bear'?

But The Bear also proved it could do more than stress us out. Single character-centric episodes like "Honeydew" and "Forks" — focusing on Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), respectively — served as surprisingly mindful oases in a sea of screaming chefs. By switching up its own formula with episodes like these, The Bear cemented itself as something special. It's no wonder, then, that "Review," "Honeydew," "Fishes," and "Forks" all wound up on various best-of-the-year lists.

Unfortunately, The Bear appears to have taken all the wrong lessons from these episodes' successes. Its highly anticipated third season strives (and fails) again and again to recreate these lightning-in-a-bottle moments, delivering a batch of tonally dissonant episodes that feels frustratingly inert as a whole.

The Bear is off its rhythm in Season 3. Jeremy Allen White in "The Bear." Credit: FX

The Bear Season 3's imbalance begins right with its first episode "Tomorrow," which picks up the morning after the Season 2 finale. As Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) processes his accidental imprisonment in The Bear's walk-in fridge — including all the horrible things he said to Richie and his now-ex Claire (Molly Gordon) — he begins cooking a new menu from scratch. With that project come memories of all the prior restaurant experiences and family tragedies that led him to where he is today.

The memories range from peaceful sequences of cooking to toxic experiences with an old boss (Joel McHale). It's a neat encapsulation of the show's double-edged view of restaurant work. On the one hand, there's a joy in crafting something that will nurture diners. On the other, the obsession over perfection leads to conflict and harm. (Think of "Forks" and "Honeydew" as one end of the spectrum of what it's like to work in a restaurant, and "Review" as the other.) Underscored by looping ambient music, Carmy's cycle of memories lures you into a near-meditative state. Yet after a while, the loop (all 37 minutes of it) becomes stale, repetitive, borderline tedious.

SEE ALSO: A guide to the guest stars of 'The Bear' Season 3

After the languid recollections of "Tomorrow," The Bear Season 3 switches gears for a rapid-fire episode that focuses on an extended conversation between Carmy, Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), and the rest of The Bear's staff. Then, with its third episode, Season 3 changes again for an extended montage detailing a month in the life of the restaurant.

The change-ups from episode to episode keep the audience off balance, not unlike how the staff of The Bear are constantly walking a knife's edge between competence and chaos. But as the formal inconsistency piles up across 10 episodes, it begins to read more like co-showrunners Christopher Storer and Joanna Calo trying to create standout episodes instead of a standout season.

The two clearest attempts at this come in the latter half of Season 3. "Napkins," Edebiri's directorial debut, works to capitalize on the success of "Forks" and "Honeydew," crafting a narrative centered on Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas). Only instead of focusing on Tina's current inner life and the challenges and triumphs she might face at The Bear, "Napkins" takes us back in time to show us how Tina came to work at The Beef. The flashback format of the episode is disappointing: We've already seen Tina grow leaps and bounds as a chef and a person since the beginning of The Bear. Why can't we hone in on that growth as The Bear gets up and running? Why do we have to look to the past, when other character-centric episodes root us in the present? The entire episode, while it does feature some nice story beats, stings as a missed opportunity to give both Tina and Colón-Zayas the showcase they deserve.

SEE ALSO: The 13 best TV shows of 2024 (so far)

Then there's "Ice Chips," a late-season response to "Fishes" that sees Natalie (Abby Elliott) in labor with only her mother Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) to help her. Here, The Bear teases out their fraught relationship further from what we saw in Season 2, leading to some some genuinely sweet bonding between the two, as well as tense arguments. Yet just like with "Tomorrow," the pacing begins to drag, and you wonder what the rest of The Bear's ensemble is up to. More an Emmy reel for Curtis's performance than an engaging episode, "Ice Chips" — and all the episodes that came before it — reads as a fundamental misunderstanding of why people cared about "Forks" and "Fishes" in the first place.

People gravitated towards "Forks" and "Fishes" so much because they serve as special departures from The Bear's familiar (yet excellent) structure. Once we return to The Bear's "normal" state, the work these episodes do enhance the show's usual framework, letting us gain an even better understanding of our characters and why they do what they do. However, in Season 3, there is barely any standard framework to enhance or depart from. Instead, the novelty of these episodes quickly wears off and loops all the way around to being The Bear's norm. If you're always doing something different, don't the differences meld into sameness?

The excessive variety calls to mind Carmy's insistence that The Bear change its menu every night, a demand that no one else finds feasible. Confusion sets in, with characters mistaking ravioli for agnolotti for cavatelli. The Bear Season 3 finds itself in a similar identity crisis.

The Bear Season 3 is more frustrating than anything. Ayo Edebiri in "The Bear." Credit: FX

With all these constant changes, you might expect this season of The Bear to be propulsive. That's not the case. If Seasons 1 and 2 of The Bear were about letting it rip, Season 3 is about letting it stagnate, constantly teasing huge plot points — sometimes for episodes at a time — without following through.

Take the fact that Carmy needs to apologize to Claire. Or that Sydney gets offered a prestigious position at a new restaurant and needs to make a decision about where her loyalties lie. Or that the threat of a review hangs over The Bear for over half the season. All of these are key storylines built up throughout Season 3, yet none receive any kind of closure. The way the finale handles the review in particular is some of the most aggravating TV I've witnessed this year. It's less a cliffhanger than it is an infuriating moment of stringing the audience along.

Elsewhere, The Bear's over-reliance on seconds-long flashbacks proves stifling. It's almost impossible to make it through an episode without a snapshot of the "Fishes" fight, or to Sydney and Carmy's many conversations, or to Carmy and Claire's relationship. Once the review comes into play, The Bear switches up these flashes a bit, incorporating Carmy's best-case and worst-case ideas of what a restaurant review of The Bear might say. Even that isn't enough to make these memory montages feel fresh.

Of course, the reliance on memory — established extra thoroughly in "Tomorrow" — has thematic relevance. Carmy is so caught up on past mistakes and past traumas that he is incapable of moving forward. As such, he traps those around him in a cycle of miscommunication and emotional turmoil, and on and on it goes. From a stylistic standpoint, though, the nonstop flashbacks halt what little momentum The Bear Season 3 has. They also read as if The Bear doesn't trust its audience to make connections between a character's past and their present. Why, after Carmy parrots something his old toxic boss once told him, do we need a clip we've already seen of said boss repeating that exact same line? The comparison comes through even without the flashback — and given that The Bear is released all at once, you can bet that eager binge-watchers will pick up on that moment right away.

The Bear being The Bear, there are still strong moments across the season. The entire main cast continues to excel, especially the core trio of White, Edebiri, and Moss-Bachrach. Plus, discussions about everything from legacy to the reason why chefs cook in the first place make for strong emotional touchpoints throughout.

It's a shame, then, that so much good stuff is buried under mountains of dissonance and bizarre stylistic choices. Following in the footsteps of its sublime second season, The Bear Season 3 feels like an overlong exercise in experimentation that doesn't fully pay off. Perhaps it would have benefitted from one of the non-negotiables Carmy preaches this season: Subtract.

All episodes of The Bear Season 3 are now streaming on Hulu.

A covert campaign to target a writer critical of the country’s Communist Party has extended to sexually suggestive threats against his 16-year-old daughter.

TL;DR: The Autio Unlimited Plan just got a price drop: New members can save 56% on lifetime access to this unique, award-winning app, which tells you location-based stories narrated by celebrities as you travel the world. Normally £237.61, you can now get a lifetime membership for £102.94.

Opens in a new window Credit: Autio Autio Unlimited Plan: Lifetime Subscription £102.94 at the Mashable Shop
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When you’re packing your bags for a summer holiday, don’t forget to bring celebs like Kevin Costner and John Lithgow with you. They're inside the Autio app, which gives you celebrity-narrated audio stories about an area’s history, people, and folklore. If you’re a podcast nerd, this unique audio app was made for you.

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