Culture
A Minecraft Movie Has Some Fantastic Things To Say About Toxic Masculinity
A Minecraft Movie is fine. It’s not a surprise subversive treat like The Lego Movie, nor an unwatchable dirge, but much like 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it lands firmly in the region of “fine.” My 10-year-old enjoyed it (with qualifications), as did the many other kids around us. It’s also an astonishing success,…
The Last Of Us, Season 2: The Kotaku Review
In the years since The Last of Us Part II launched in 2020, I’ve noticed a fascinating phenomenon when people talk about Naughty Dog’s divisive sequel. Some people talk about Ellie’s revenge story in ways that seem incongruous with the game I experienced. Where I would call The Last of Us Part II a beautiful…
Vanishing Culture: Punch Card Knitting
The following guest post from digital humanities scholar Nichole Misako Nomura is part of our Vanishing Culture series, highlighting the power and importance of preservation in our digital age. Read more essays online or download the full report now. Punch cards are a fascinating binary data storage format that aren’t just history—they’re still used by knitting machines today! Thanks to the…
Arvest Bank CISO on building a strong cybersecurity culture in banking – Help Net Security
In this Help Net Security interview, Mike Calvi, CISO at Arvest Bank, discusses building a strong cybersecurity culture within the banking sector. He explains how leadership, effective reporting, and proactive engagement with associates are key in strengthening security. Calvi also touches on how banks can measure success and balance accountability while fostering a collaborative environment….
The best Star Trek fan event of the year joyfully celebrates the franchise’s worst episode
Star Trek fans celebrate a lot of holidays. There’s Star Trek Day on Sept. 8, the anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek: The Original Series. There’s First Contact Day on April 5, the anniversary of the fictional date on which humanity made first contact with Vulcan visitors. One might even celebrate Captain Picard Day…
“It always felt like this vague form of superficial hell to me” Doom: The Gallery Experience devs on turning a 90s shooter into high culture
“I’ve had a lot of experience in these gallery spaces and it always felt like this vague form of superficial hell to me,” Filippo Meozzi, director and producer of Doom: The Gallery Experience, tells me. “I work in the art industry as an artist’s assistant, I produce sculptures and other things like that. So, I’m…
Why queer characters often feel ‘too safe’
This is a story about fear and anxiety. It’s also about Taash, the fire-breathing qunari companion in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. When I was playing through the game for my review, they were one of my favorite folks to have along on missions. There are various reasons why and some are just practical: I was…
MrBeast And Amazon Prime’s Beast Games Feels Flat And Unimportant
After nine months of hype, controversy, and hyped controversy, MrBeast and Amazon’s Beast Games has begun, the first two episodes of ten added to Amazon Prime today. The reportedly $100 million deal to secure the world’s most popular YouTuber has resulted in a game show that combines Squid Game with, er, Squid Game: The Challenge…
Sonic The Hedgehog 3: The Kotaku Review
With Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the live-action adaptation of Sega’s speedy platformer is entering a new era. With each subsequent movie, the Sonic films have sought to shed the generic “family” movie image for one that was more honest to the anime-inspired twists and turns of the long-running platformer series. And this latest film succeeds….