Those ways aren't pretty: incels glommed onto the "red pill" idea; "free your mind" has been adopted by far-right populists; "post-truth" is now regularly applied to today's media environment; deepfake videos resemble the way Morpheus's group hacked the matrix. - BBC
He achieved quite a lot — far more than he, or skeptical observers, expected: rejuvenating the animation studios; acquiring Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox; opening major theme parks in China; pioneering in direct-to-consumer distribution; increasing Disney's stock value by 400%. - Variety
Biden is blazing a path that will make it harder for large internet service providers to exert their market control. The point of net neutrality is to force ISPs like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast to treat internet traffic equally. - CNBC
Shasta can record a conversation, automatically transcribe its contents in the cloud, and then make that audio every bit as easy to edit as a document. That means Shasta is a quietly revolutionary piece of software in the world of editing. - Engadget
Not sequels: people obviously love new installments in a franchise. The difference seems to be that fans want the characters they already know in new situations, not new actors as the characters they know. (Exception: when the previous version didn't work, as with Dune.) - The Guardian
"You know, I think I'm committed to doing this show until its 50th anniversary, which is in three years," said Michaels, who'll be 80 that fall. "I'd like to see that through, and I have a feeling that'd be a really good time to leave." - The Hollywood Reporter
Why did several generations watch old Looney Tunes alongside new work and actually prefer the stuff made before they were born? It was partly a historical accident caused by television’s demand for endless material at a relatively high cost. - The Walrus
The 88-year-old Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin says Canada's commitment to making First Nations stories has grown tremendously. From where she began to now, she says, "to see our people being treated ... like human beings. It's such a big change." - CBC
They have the actors to suit any Hollywood twistedness or despair. And, let's face it, "There is clearly a very strong appetite for bleak nuance in current American entertainment." - The Observer (UK)
The third movie in the Tom Holland Spider-Man universe busted records, reaching the third biggest opening ever, not just during the pandemic. What does this mean for movie theatres as the omicron variant threatens Christmas showings? - Baltimore Sun
It's about money, of course, but subscribers - especially sports fans - may not care about the reasons. "The outage came during an ESPN broadcast of a Lakers-Minnesota Timberwolves game, upsetting some basketball fans." - Los Angeles Times
"As a movie star, George Clooney is a happy warrior, always ready with a thoughtful quote or charming anecdote, and he’s the rare celebrity whose political acumen matches his outspokenness." But his directorial career is "bereft of personality and devoid of substance." - Slate
"The Cinerama Dome first opened in 1963. The venue survived a demolition scare in 1998, when a proposal by Pacific Theatres would have stripped the dome and replaced it with restaurants and a movie multiplex" - and now, too, the pandemic. - Los Angeles Times
Studio executives and box-office pundits expected audiences to show up for In the Heights, Dear Evan Hansen and West Side Story, and not just fans of the movie musical but general audiences, as well. After a year without movies, audiences would crave the spectacle. It didn’t happen. - The Guardian
