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Screenwriting professor Norman Blaustein has died, Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts confirmed. He had been teaching at the school since 2012. Blaustein had been living with Parkinson’s disease for ten years and recently received a diagnosis of Stage 4 pancreatic cancer last month, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
I’m hooked on the new Apple TV+ series, “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.” The show starts with Paula, a recently divorced mom, really letting it all out to a cam performer online. It quickly goes sideways when I realize he wasn’t just being a good listener – he was using her, and she ends up witnessing a kidnapping and getting caught in a ransom scheme! Things get even crazier when the cam performer is murdered, and Paula is suddenly trying to figure out what happened and prove she wasn’t involved. To top it all off, her ex-husband, Karl, is making everything worse. He’s moved across the country from Brooklyn to Boise, Idaho, and is using the move to fuel their already difficult custody battle. It’s a lot for her to handle, and I’m definitely invested in seeing how it all plays out.
graniph has released a new clothing line inspired by the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. The collection features designs based on popular characters like Motoko Kusanagi, the Tachikoma, Section 9, and the Laughing Man. You can pre-order the items online now through May 18th and earn double points, with the full collection available in stores on May 19th.
As a long-time Tekken fan, I was thrilled to hear Katsuhiro Harada is back! After leaving Bandai Namco at the end of 2025, he’s launched a new studio called VS Studio. It’s pretty amazing because it’s actually part of SNK – yes, the SNK, known for classic arcade games! It’s wild to think that creators from two of the biggest fighting game rivals are now working together – it’s going to seriously shake things up! Harada spent 31 years at his old company, basically defining 3D fighting games as we know them, so him joining a competitor is a huge deal in the industry.
Stormzy’s production company, Merky Films, is partnering to create a movie about the life of former football star Ian Wright. The film will follow Wright’s inspiring story, from his tough childhood in South London to becoming a famous athlete and popular TV personality. Stormzy, along with Akua Agyemfra, is producing the film as part of his dedication to sharing important British stories.
JJJJound and Vans are revisiting their popular Half Cab collaboration with a new release planned for 2026. Available only through Vans starting Tuesday, May 19th, the shoe builds on the design of the 2025 version. It features a minimalist look with removed ankle padding, replaced by JJJJound’s signature nylon tongue, and continues the Half Cab’s transition into a stylish, everyday shoe.
The TV series has received widespread praise from both viewers and critics. The Financial Times called it “outstanding” and “elegant,” and the show centers around a team of inexperienced undercover agents – known as Legends – who go deep into the criminal world to dismantle the drug gangs fueling Britain’s drug crisis. They operate under false identities, working from within to bring down these dangerous organizations.
Politico reports the amendment avalanche, led by the indomitable Senator Elizabeth Warren, who filed 40 changes alone-each one a dagger aimed at the Federal Reserve’s master accounts for crypto firms. Senator Jack Reed, meanwhile, proposed a ban so grand it could make a sailor blush: crypto as legal tender? Not on his watch. “You can’t pay taxes with Dogecoin,” he declared, as if the Constitution were a vending machine requiring only Bitcoin quarters.
Christopher Nolan explained his choice to cast Travis Scott in The Odyssey, telling TIME that it was a way to honor the history of the story. The Odyssey began as an oral tradition – a story told and passed down by word of mouth – and Nolan sees a strong connection between that tradition and the art of rap. The casting initially surprised some people, but it turns out to be a carefully considered choice for a film that’s already changing what audiences expect.
Get ready for a new take on Westworld! While the HBO series was recently canceled, Warner Bros. Discovery is now developing a movie reboot. Instead of finishing the story from the show, the film will be a fresh start, reimagining the original 1973 movie by Michael Crichton. That film centered on a futuristic, adult-oriented theme park where the robot hosts unexpectedly become dangerous.