Pointed

Lauren Oyler, an American literary critic who writes for Harper’s Magazine and the New Yorker, believes her metier is under threat. “I am a professional, and I am in danger,” she declares in My Perfect Opinions, one of eight previously unpublished essays gathered in her first nonfiction book. She wonders if popular digital platforms such as Goodreads, where users can upload book reviews with minimal editorial filtering, will have long-term ramifications for the more considered, rigorous literary criticism that she gets …

Latto threw on her Sunday best to hit the studio for her latest single “Sunday Service” — and she’s taking any skeptics who may have doubted her straight to church. “I don’t sing R&B but, bitch, I’m really her, fuck wrong with niggas?/How you let him cheat and take him back?/Must be your only nigga,” she raps on the track’s chorus. “I get loud just like my weed, I don’t watch my tone with niggas.” “Sunday Service” arrives after a few weeks of teaser drops on social media. One included a sneak preview…

Among the raft of reissues from heritage imprints, this one stands out, partly because the author’s writing career lasted little more than six months before her death in a motorcycle accident in 1966 at the age of 22. Diane Oliver published four stories in her lifetime and two more posthumously; they are all included here along with eight stories previously unpublished.Oliver’s subject is the black female experience in 1960s America, in the period when racial segregation was illegal but prejudices remained ingrained – but…

Rarely will we see Elon Musk rendered speechless and it takes one genius to achieve this herculean feat. In one such incident, Google DeepMind co-founder Demis Hassabis exposed a fundamental flaw in Musk's plan to colonise Mars, leaving him flummoxed…

A former security staffer for Lil Wayne filed a lawsuit Friday claiming the Grammy-winning musician threatened him with a semiautomatic rifle and punched him in the head during an incident at the rapper’s residence in Hidden Hills, Calif., two years ago. In the seven-page complaint obtained by Rolling Stone, plaintiff Carlos Christian alleges Lil Wayne, whose legal name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., pointed the firearm directly at him “as a threat,” then punched him in the ear with a fist “while waving around the…

Image via HBO Max HBO Max is dead! Long live Max! This controversial rebranding exercise is at the behest of Warner Bros. Discovery, which is eager to make the streaming service its one-stop shop for all content it owns. The thinking seems to be that having “HBO” in the title might make some assume it only streams HBO content when it will now encompass everything its parent company has to offer. But there’s already an amusing wrinkle. HBO is clearly the most prestigious brand on MAX, so with that being stripped…

The negativity towards Thor: Love and Thunder has become so loud that it’s reached deafening levels, with the majority of the vitriol being pointed in the direction of Taika Waititi. Eve though predecessor Ragnarok comfortably stands tall as one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s very best efforts, fans didn’t extend him much leeway when it came to the sequel. Riding a wave of hype and expectation, greatness was expected from Chris Hemsworth’s fourth solo outing as the Odinson, but it would be an understatement to say…

Illustration: Carl Knox – OzGrav, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, Swinburne University of TechnologyOn February 11, astronomers saw a distant flash of light that seemed to come from a source as bright as a quadrillion suns. They alerted other scientists to the event, and several telescopes quickly pivoted to focus on the flash. Now, two teams of researchers have identified its source: a black hole feasting in the distant universe.Black holes are famously dark; their gravitational pull is so…

$5 straight cash compared to 700 Overwatch bux Yikes! That’s just about the only thing that can sum up a lot of Overwatch 2 news post-launch, but this Overwatch 2 charm situation is so funny it has to be shared. Over on the Overwatch Reddit, user hi_im_redbeard shared an anecdote that showcased how out of control the monetization scheme is in Overwatch 2. In short, they purchased a real life Pachimari keychain/charm that they can hold in their hand for cheaper than it costs to buy the same Overwatch 2 charm in-game.…

Smartphone giants have always been seen engaged in fun banters and roasting each other on social media. This time, Google took a dig at Apple CEO from Pixel’s…