Grapples

“There’s nothing fake about what we do,” says wrestler Kevin Von Erich (a teak-hued, wardrobe-sized Zac Efron delivering the finest, rawest performance of his career). He’s fielding a coy question from flirtatious fan (and girlfriend in waiting) Pam (Lily James), and he fervently believes what he’s saying. She, reasonably, asks him how anyone can call themselves a “world champion” wrestler when so much of what plays out in the ring is “pre-arranged”. Kevin argues that the performance is the point; that the difference…

On Twitter, we see Lil Nas X the troll. In his music, we hear Lil Nas X the musician. And in his new documentary, the “J Christ” singer hopes to give viewers a glimpse of Lil Nas X the human. “Some people think my music is dope. Some people see me as this satanic devil. But me?” he reflects while laying down. The trailer shows clips of his upbringing as he was grappling with deep anxiety attacks, and videos from his performances as he talks about the struggles of coming out to his family. (Lil Nas came out…

Remedy Entertainment, the developer that created the Max Payne and Alan Wake video game franchises, is embroiled in a trademark dispute with Take-Two Interactive over claims that Remedy’s new “R” logo too closely resembles that of its subsidiary Rockstar Games.Take-Two submitted the Rockstar logo as evidence against Remedy’s trademark applicationThe developer also later submitted trademark applications with the UK on May 11th and the US on May 24th, with the latter filings still “awaiting examination.” In turn, Take-Two…

The coming-of-age story was produced by Janelle Monae Actress and frequent Sia collaborator Maddie Ziegler is a teenage girl with an unexpected crisis in the trailer for Fitting In. The film, from writer and director Molly McGlynn, stars Ziegler as a 16 year old who has been diagnosed with MRKH syndrome. The movie co-stars Emily Hampshire, Djouliet Amara, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, and Ki Griffin, and was notably produced by Janelle Monae, among others. It will open in theaters on Feb. 2.…

In the spring of 2021, the staff at video-game juggernaut Roblox Corp. gathered for an all-hands meeting over the video conferencing app Zoom. An employee submitted by text a question to executives about why there were so few women at the top ranks of the company. According to multiple people in attendance, the company's co-founder and chief executive officer David Baszucki accepted the query at the virtual get-together and responded by saying that Roblox has a very high bar in hiring.Several of the women there said they…

Biden administration officials have been preparing a new executive order for months that will restrict U.S. investment into some geopolitical rivals, namely China. Their goal is to prevent U.S. private equity and venture capital from contributing to China’s development of cutting-edge technology that could aid Beijing’s military. Washington’s efforts to preserve American technological superiority over China, including by banning the export of some advanced semiconductors last year, has…

In a near-future Japan, the economic burden of an ageing population has become untenable. In response, the government has introduced Plan 75, a system of voluntary euthanasia offering a painless death to those over the age of 75 in exchange for a modest “preparatory grant” of $1,000.Chie Hayakawa’s thoughtful, slow-burning philosophical study focuses on former cleaner Michi (Chieko Baishô), 78, who is forced by poverty to consider Plan 75, and lonely widower Yukio (Taka Takao), who reconnects with his nephew, a Plan 75…

It is well known that the freeze in the funding environment is impacting venture-backed startups. But the fintech sector is bracing for the twin blows of a funding winter and increased regulatory scrutiny. The two are intertwined such that many early-stage companies are actually struggling to deal with these challenges. While the well-capitalised Razorpay, Groww, and PhonePe are setting aside dollars to get the requisite regulatory clearances, it is the early-stage ones that are suffering the most.Challenges in lending:…

The National Informatics Centre (NIC), which provides critical e-governance support and state of the art solutions to the Central government as well as states, has been grappling with acute human resource shortage, as since 2014, almost 1,400 posts are lying vacant there.According to highly placed sources, despite several rounds of parleys between the Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology (under which NIC falls) and Finance, the body continues to face shortage of manpower as 1,392 posts have been lying…

Once a luxury product, air purifiers have increasingly become a necessity as sales surge amid a rise in Delhi's pollution levels that are now just a notch below the 'Severe Plus' category.According to Central Pollution Control Board data, Delhi's overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 426 at 9.30 am on Friday. An AQI of above 400 is considered 'Severe' and can affect healthy people and seriously impact those with existing illnesses. On Thursday, the 24-hour average AQI stood at 450 at 4 pm, just a notch below the…