Category: News

Gerda Cole received the most special gift she could have asked for on her 98th birthday: a chance to reunite with her daughter for the first time in 80 years.

As a young Jewish refugee, Cole fled her home of Austria in 1939 for England at the start of World War II.

Several years later, Cole became a mother at the age of 18. But limited education and economic hardship left her with virtually no choice but to give her newborn daughter up for adoption.

Though she was never allowed to make contact with her child again, Cole went off to live a full life. She moved to Canada, earned multiple degrees and got to travel the world.

Meanwhile: Cole’s daughter, Sonya Grist, knew little about her birth mother, and believed her to be dead. As Grist’s son Stephen found out, that was most certainly not the case. He told The Toronto Sun:

“I discover that Gerda, my mother’s birth mother, has a stepson and I contact the stepson on Facebook and I say, ‘I’m missing one last piece of information. I just need Gerda’s death certificate …can you help me with that?’ And he said, ‘You’re not going to find her death certificate because she’s still alive and living in a nursing home in Canada.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, my God! My mother’s mother is still alive and is 97 turning 98 (Saturday)!”

Stephen and Sonya quickly whisked away from England to the long-term care home in Toronto where Cole resided. A video from CBC News shows the two sharing their long overdue hug:

A Toronto woman reunites with her daughter after 80 years apart. #TheMoment pic.twitter.com/2vGiRjM6R5

— CBC News: The National (@CBCTheNational) May 9, 2022

They squealed, laughed, smiled, danced and ate cake. It really was a remarkable birthday full of moments to be cherished. Also on Mother’s Day weekend, no less.

Eighty years might have passed, but the bond between this mother and daughter was still strong. Grist recalled to CTV News that in their first email correspondence, Cole wrote “you have to understand this computer doesn’t like me.”

“It was exactly something I would say,” Grist joked. She might be tech challenged, but at least she comes by it honestly.

As for motherly advice, Cole did have some wisdom to bestow upon her daughter.

“Don’t wait until tomorrow before it is too late, if you want to live, live now, not tomorrow or the day after.”

In this case, it certainly wasn’t too late for a mother and daughter to share their love.

Can you remember how old you are? As we get older, remembering our actual age can get harder, especially when it begins to take longer and longer to scroll and find your birth year. Now imagine having to keep track of two different ages. For many South Koreans, this is the reality. That’s right, based on a tradition that dates back so far no one really knows when it started, most South Koreans are two different ages. But their new president is looking to change the tradition, to make life easier for everyone.

Currently, South Koreans have their “Korean age” and their international age. The “Korean age” is the thing that President Yoon Suk-yeol is looking to change. The way it works is that a person is considered a year old at birth, adding a year every January 1. So if you have a baby born on December 30, on January 1, they’re 2 years old, even though they’ve only been alive two days. The Korean age is mostly used in social situations, while the international age (where you turn 1 on your first birthday) is used for legal purposes.

“If I try to fill out a form at a government office or a foreign embassy, I’m not sure what to put for my age,” Lee Jae-hye, a video producer in Seoul, told The New York Times.

It’s worth mentioning there’s a third, less common way of defining age: “year age,” which is kind of a hybrid of the two other practices. A newborn is considered 0 at birth, but they add the first year on January 1. So again, a December 30 baby would be 2 days old and also 1 year old. This is only used for military service and elementary education. No wonder it’s confusing for the citizens.

Lee Yong-ho, chief of the president-elect’s transition committee, acknowledged the stress these different ages puts on citizens.

“Due to the different calculations of legal and social age, we have experienced unnecessary social and economic costs from persistent confusion and disputes over calculating age when receiving social, welfare and other administrative services or signing or interpreting various contracts,” he said in a press briefing.

For many South Koreans, keeping track of up to three ages is just too much of a pain. Having to remember the right birth certificate because you use one for the doctor’s office but another one for the DMV sounds like a nightmare. While the average person understands what paperwork they need for where, the need alone is a major source of frustration. That’s why so many adults are in favor of the president’s decision to make the change by the end of the year.

A survey taken this past January shows that 40% of adults believe making the change will “ease conflicts within the country’s social hierarchy.” As a hierarchical society, the focus on age and having multiple ages can cause confusion and unnecessary conflict. If you search “Korean age system,” you’ll discover multiple calculators in case you forget or don’t know. Some historians and scholars worry that the change will be a detriment to society, but there’s a better chance that younger generations will embrace the universal change to international age.

Teens of today live in a totally different world than the one their parents grew up in. Not only do young people have access to technologies that previous generations barely dreamed of, but they’re also constantly bombarded with information from the news and media.

Today’s youth are also living through a pandemic that has created an extra layer of difficulty to an already challenging age—and it has taken a toll on their mental health.

According to Mental Health America, nearly 14% of youths ages 12 to 17 experienced a major depressive episode in the past year. In a September 2020 survey of high schoolers by Active Minds, nearly 75% of respondents reported an increase in stress, anxiety, sadness and isolation during the first six months of the pandemic. And in a Pearson and Connections Academy survey of US parents, 66% said their child felt anxious or depressed during the pandemic.

However, the pandemic has only exacerbated youth mental health issues that were already happening before COVID-19.

“Many people associate our current mental health crisis with the pandemic,” says Morgan Champion, the head of counseling services for Connections Academy Schools. “In fact, the youth mental health crisis was alarming and on the rise before the pandemic. Today, the alarm continues.”

Mental Health America reports that most people who take the organization’s online mental health screening test are under 18. According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 50% of cases of mental illness begin by age 14, and the tendency to develop depression and bipolar disorder nearly doubles from age 13 to age 18.

Such statistics demand attention and action, which is why experts say destigmatizing mental health and talking about it is so important.

“Today we see more people talking about mental health openly—in a way that is more akin to physical health,” says Champion. She adds that mental health support for young people is being more widely promoted, and kids and teens have greater access to resources, from their school counselors to support organizations.

Parents are encouraging this support too. More than two-thirds of American parents believe children should be introduced to wellness and mental health awareness in primary or middle school, according to a new Global Learner Survey from Pearson. Since early intervention is key to helping young people manage their mental health, these changes are positive developments.

In addition, more and more people in the public eye are sharing their personal mental health experiences as well, which can help inspire young people to open up and seek out the help they need.

“Many celebrities and influencers have come forward with their mental health stories, which can normalize the conversation, and is helpful for younger generations to understand that they are not alone,” says Champion.

That’s one reason Connections Academy is hosting a series of virtual Emotional Fitness talks with Olympic athletes who are alums of the virtual school during Mental Health Awareness Month. These talks are free, open to the public and include relatable topics such as success and failure, leadership, empowerment and authenticity. For instance, on May 18, Olympic women’s ice hockey player Lyndsey Fry will speak on finding your own style of confidence, and on May 25, Olympic figure skater Karen Chen will share advice for keeping calm under pressure.

Family support plays a huge role as well. While the pandemic has been challenging in and of itself, it has actually helped families identify mental health struggles as they’ve spent more time together.

“Parents gained greater insight into their child’s behavior and moods, how they interact with peers and teachers,” says Champion. “For many parents this was eye-opening and revealed the need to focus on mental health.”

It’s not always easy to tell if a teen is dealing with normal emotional ups and downs or if they need extra help, but there are some warning signs caregivers can watch for.

“Being attuned to your child’s mood, affect, school performance, and relationships with friends or significant others can help you gauge whether you are dealing with teenage normalcy or something bigger,” Champion says. Depending on a child’s age, parents should be looking for the following signs, which may be co-occurring:

• Perpetual depressed mood
• Rocky friend relationships
• Spending a lot of time alone and refusing to participate in daily activities
• Too much or not enough sleep
• Not eating a regular diet
• Intense fear or anxiety
• Drug or alcohol use
• Suicidal ideation (talking about being a burden or giving away possessions) or plans

“You know your child best. If you are unsure if your child is having a rough time or if there is something more serious going on, it is best to reach out to a counselor or doctor to be sure,” says Champion. “Always err on the side of caution.”

If it appears a student does need help, what next? Talking to a school counselor can be a good first step, since they are easily accessible and free to visit.

“Just getting students to talk about their struggles with a trusted adult is huge,” says Champion. “When I meet with students and/or their families, I work with them to help identify the issues they are facing. I listen and recommend next steps, such as referring families to mental health resources in their local areas.”

Just as parents would take their child to a doctor for a sprained ankle, they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help if a child is struggling mentally or emotionally. Parents also need to realize that they may not be able to help them on their own, no matter how much love and support they have to offer.

“That is a hard concept to accept when parents can feel solely responsible for their child’s welfare and well-being,” says Champion. “The adage still stands—it takes a village to raise a child. Be sure you are surrounding yourself and your child with a great support system to help tackle life’s many challenges.”

That village can include everyone from close family to local community members to public figures. Helping young people learn to manage their mental health is a gift we can all contribute to, one that will serve them for a lifetime.

Join athletes, Connections Academy and Upworthy for candid discussions on mental health during Mental Health Awareness Month. Learn more and find resources here.

Nursing homes and assisted living facilities are an integral part of many people’s lives. In some cultures, caring for your elderly relative within the home is expected but it’s not always feasible or even desirable for some families. Some elderly people want to maintain as much of their independence as possible and facilities can help them feel less alone and more active, especially as there are usually activities scheduled. Even with the activities and companionship of other residents, some older people can feel a bit lonely and disconnected without family nearby. That’s why in Australia, an intergenerational playgroup is changing lives.

Chandani Ramasundara, who immigrated from Sri Lanka to Australia 10 years ago, came up with the idea of intergenerational playgroups. Ramasundara told ABC Australia, “People over here really loved their independent living, whereas in Sri Lanka we grew up in a multigenerational family environment so I thought these intergenerational playgroups would be a great idea to ease their isolation, get together, interact together, and play together.”

Every Monday, parents bring their children to play with the residents. The babies and toddlers have a special bond with their elderly friends. One of the moms in the group said she immigrated from Scotland and brings her baby to play with the residents as she doesn’t have her own family close by. Ramasundara hopes that the playgroup helps teach the kids to respect the elderly and that it helps the parents see the residents in a new light.

The residents of the home have their favorite children they interact with every Monday. One family that relocated makes sure to video chat for every playgroup to maintain the bond they built with one of the residents. This program is such a wonderful way to give the older people in the playgroup something to look forward to. In fact, one of the residents who rarely used to come out of his room now never misses a playgroup. Hopefully this idea catches on and other residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities get a chance to extend their family in such a wholesome way.

I’m not quite sure how it happened, but his week’s list is somewhat dog-heavy.

It’s a bit odd, because I’m really more of a cat person. I’ve had more than a dozen cats in my lifetime and not a single dog. I do love other people’s dogs, though, and there’s no shortage of awesome stories about dogs that occasionally make me question my loyalty to cats.

Animals in general are joy-bringers, though. Along with the dogs, we’ve got bears and an otter this week that I think will bring a smile to even the most hardened of hearts.

And there are awesome humans, too. Sometimes it’s easy to become dismayed with our fellow humans, especially when most of what we see are headlines about bad behavior. It’s good to be reminded that there are so many people doing so many great things in the world.

If you need a boost of faith in humanity or just a little mood boost with some endorphin-pushing animal videos, we’ve got you covered. Here are 10 things that made us smile this week:

The dramatics of this husky are entirely extra and it’s hilarious. (Sound up.)

See on Instagram

“You went and got groceries WITHOUT me? Waaaaaaah!” And how he just escalated with the foot tap. Such a drama king.

Then there are these guys with the cutest doggo photo shoot ever. 

We all have that friend when you try to take a picture.. pic.twitter.com/LNRC6J4aPE

— Buitengebieden (@Buitengebieden)
1652120810

How do you train dogs to do this? Or do they just do it on their own?

Chef José Andrés inspires with his words about utilizing our talents to change the world.

“Longer tables, not higher walls.” Chef José is an international treasure. Read the full story here.

Ths mama bear wrangling her toddlers across the street is every mom.

Anyone whou2019s gone somewhere with a toddler can relate to this nnOn a serious note – a big shout out to all those people who stopped their cars and patiently waited! nnin/crazyforcouturepic.twitter.com/Sm39VJZkMH

— Jess ud83cudf3b (@Jess ud83cudf3b)
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Been there, mama. Totally feel you.

Girls ask their stepmom to adopt them after 12 years and the joy is palpable.

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Speaking of mamas, oof, this one hits right in the feels. Stepparents can be a gift, and this family clearly has no shortage of love.

As if sea otters needed to get any cuter…

Sea otters will often cover their eyes with their paws to help them sleep during the day.pic.twitter.com/16l99GTBxy

— Wonder of Science (@Wonder of Science)
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It’s not even doing anything and I think I might die from the cuteness.

The delightful anger management skills of this young one. 

@larobenz

BRO I CANNOT WITH HER 😭😂😂😂😂 @emmali. #TheSuicideSquadMovie #stitch #fyp #foryou #viral #blowthisup #kids #emmali #kidstiktok #funny #comedy

That grin, though. He may want to sleep with one eye open, but that girl has got charm times a hundred.

Couple celebrating their 67th anniversary get a tear-jerking surprise from their kids.

See on Instagram

Well, shoot. That one required a tissue warning. So sweet. Read the full story here.

On a personal note, the teens are all right.

My teen daughter and her friend went to Dairy Queen and were helped by a woman who was just a ray of sunshine. She was juggling lots of different things, but was warm and cheerful and kind with everyone, from co-workers to customers. My daughter and her friend noticed.

She took their order for two mini Blizzards, but then handed them two smalls (the next size up) instead. They told her they’d ordered minis, and she smiled and said, “I know. It’s all right. Enjoy.” They were delighted.

They didn’t see a tip jar but wanted to do something to show their appreciation. So they went to the grocery store down the road, bought a small bouquet of flowers, and went back.

When they handed her the flowers and explained how they saw and appreciated her excellent service, she was shocked and thrilled.

“You guys! I’m gonna cry!” she said. “Oh you’ve just made it all worth it! Can I give you a hug?”

And she did. And it was all just pure joy. And my daughter came home beaming about the whole experience.

The teens are all right.

Let’s pounce into the weekend like this dog pounces into the ocean for the first time.

guess which dog has never seen the oceanpic.twitter.com/Mm15BomgBK

— Puppies ud83dudc36 (@Puppies ud83dudc36)
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Bounding with joy. Let’s do it.

Hope that brought a smile or six to your face! Come back next week for another roundup of joy and delight.

“This is a love story.”

That’s how Hacks co-creator Paul W. Downs describes the rollercoaster relationship of the show’s other comedic duo, talent agent Jimmy LuSaque and his laughably incompetent assistant, Kayla (Meg Stalter). The pair might play supporting characters to Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder’s odd-couple odyssey – one that sees a stand-up legend trying to hit the refresh button on her career with the help of a privileged millennial screenwriter – but after the show’s first season, their mismatched one-sided love affair became a huge hook for fans.

Downs, who’s put in work on shows like Broad City, plays the beleaguered, out-to-prove-himself manager trying to revive one client’s once-rising star appeal and save another’s from crashing before it’s even had the chance to get off the ground. Stalter, a fresh voice on the comedy scene who gained an impressive following on social media during lockdown a couple of years ago, serves as his over-confident airheaded assistant, a nepo-baby with no sense of boundaries spouting off a slew of inappropriate one-liners.

Their “love story” in season one included skipping work for “adult ballet recitals,” hip-pocketing clients, and booking the honeymoon suite for work trips. In season two, their unconventional boss-employee dynamic is the butt of even more jokes when HR gets called in and the pair’s work relationship descends to new lows.

Uproxx chatted with Downs and Stalter about their real-life friendship, improv-ing season two storylines, and sharing more screentime with Jean Smart.

We’ve made it to season two. Are you both sick of each other by now?

Meg Stalter: Never. I love Paul more than Kayla loves Jimmy.

Paul, watch out.

Paul W. Downs: Wow. I know. Well, I love Meg way more than Jimmy loves Kayla.

I think we all felt the kind of like, ‘will they won’t they’ of season one and yet when we get to season two, Barb from HR has been brought in. What’s up with that?

PD: Well, they’ve got to deal with the fallout from Vegas. What happens does not stay in Vegas when it comes to that shared hotel room. But it’s so funny that you say that about the ‘will they won’t they,’ because that’s absolutely what Kayla feels. She’s like, ‘The office is talking about it. It’s not just me.’ I’m like, ‘You’re feeling frustration, not sexual tension. I’m frustrated because you forgot my lunch.’

Or Jimmy’s frustrated because he can’t face his true feelings for her.

MS: You’ve been hired by Kayla to say this.

Kayla is this delusionally confident character. Meg, are you like that at all?

MS: I think I am. I’m not as delusional as Kayla. My love is pure. My friendships are normal. But I definitely think that … I was just telling Paul, ‘Don’t you think you have to be a little bit delusional to make it in Hollywood?’ Even an acting job, I feel like you have to be your number one fan to even go on an audition. You have to be like, ‘Yes, I believe in myself.’ I think a little bit of delusion is good and then a lot of delusion will ruin you.

PD: Meg has the perfect amount. Kayla has a little too much.

The season one finale used Kayla and Jimmy to flip the script a bit on #MeToo and what sexual harassment looks like in the office. Are we still expanding on that this season?

PD: Yeah, we never want to do anything in the show that’s just sort of a one-off that doesn’t have implications. Because we want the show to feel grounded and real, we always want to pay things off and follow things. In the same way that the email Ava sends in the end of season one wasn’t something we were just like, ‘Oh, this is just a cliff hanger.’ We were like, ‘No, there’s going to have real repercussions.’ And not only do those repercussions get explored at the beginning of the season –without spoiling things, they also continue to reverberate through the very last episode.

We have so much fun together. Meg and I love getting to play these characters and we’ve been so lucky that people have responded to this duo in the show that we just wanted to have more of them. Even though we knew we wanted to explore what happened in the hotel room and maybe use it as a means for Jimmy to potentially change the dynamic in the office, our feeling about the storyline had a lot to do with what Meg improvised. When [Jimmy says] ‘I’m emailing Barbara from HR’ and Meg in the bathroom of that hotel says, ‘Not Barbara!’ And so we were like, ‘Okay, Barbara needs to be somebody that kind of scares Kayla but at the same time is really funny,’ which is how we ended up with Martha Kelly. Martha Kelly felt like the person that Kayla was saying, ‘No! Not Barbara!’ to. That was Meg-improvised and we just followed it.

Meg, you’ve said you pitched an idea for more male models in Kayla’s scenes. I’ve yet to see one. Are there any other ideas you had for this season that haven’t happened that you’d like to confront Paul over now?

PD: Oh, god.

MS: [laughs] My two wishes are that number one, she has a lot of male model boyfriends and girlfriends coming in and out of the office. The other thing that I pitched before, which is too crazy, is that I come in one day and I have extensions down to my ankles. There’s not a storyline with it, I just think she has really long hair and she’s acting like it’s her own hair. Like, ‘What? Any questions?’

How are these characters going to grow this season? How will things change for them?

MS: I think that you definitely see a softer side [to Kayla]. I think that Jimmy and Kayla have some really sweet moments this season where you see that they really do care about each other. And it was some of the most fun stuff. I think that every time we watched a scene where we had a sweet moment, we were like, ‘Oh my God precious.’

PD: It’s like Deborah and Ava in this strange, twisted love affair. This is also a love story. Meg is so funny in the show, but there’s also these poignant moments. I mean, she’s such a good actor. It’s going to be fun for the audience to see her spread her wings and show off her range because she’s a genius. I’ll say it.

So Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder need to watch out?

PD: We’re throwing down the competition. Good luck girls. You aren’t the only power couple on the show.

Will there be any interaction between the two duos this season?

PD: You do see Jimmy and Kayla with Deborah and Ava in the final two episodes. Quite a bit.

MS: You’re going to be happy.

A big problem this season is Ava’s email and Jimmy spends a lot of time trying to fix the mistake she made in sending it. Have either of you ever had to get your agent to bail you out of a jam like that?

MS: I think that there’s been some begging about schedule stuff. But no, pretty much normal on my part.

PS: I know, the worst thing is maybe like CCing people instead of BCCing people. I’ve done some email faux pas in the past. I’ve never done anything like Ava though.

If you’re pulling any inspiration for season three from your own life you’ll need to get on that soon.

PD: I have to have a wild summer.

A hot boy summer, perhaps.

PD: Watch out world. Paul W. Downs is having a hot boy summer!

While it might not officially be summer, it’s hard to not feel like we’re entering the summer months. The weather is starting to approach scorching temperatures, school is finishing up, and it’s about that time to be coming up with some vacation plans. That also means that we’re about to enter a time of the year where the video game release schedule typically eases up a bit. This doesn’t mean there won’t be any major releases at all, but traditionally game studios keep their major releases for the fall/holidays and late winter/early spring.

Because of that, it leaves a lot of us with free time to play older games, and with it being so hot outside we’re gonna want something that can keep us occupied inside for hours on end: something like an RPG. Maybe it’s just me, but the summer was always when I wanted to dive into a lengthy RPG of some kind, and since we don’t have any must play hits on the horizon this feels like a good year to do just that. These are the games that I’ll be spending my time playing throughout the summer.

Final Fantasy XIV

For awhile it started to feel like the MMORPG was a dying breed. Popular constants like World of Warcraft were slowly losing their popularity and the era of everyone trying to make one is a distant memory. While we still aren’t getting a new MMO every year like we used to, we do have a really great option for fans of the genre in Final Fantasy XIV. While the game was first released in 2010, it underwent a massive transformation that completely changed how it played. Multiple expansions since that transformation and it’s become one of the most popular games in the world, largely behind its story.

MMOs historically aren’t well received for their story, but more for how fun they are to play and the ability to let friends experience that fun together. Final Fantasy XIV meanwhile is one of the few MMOs that managed to make its userbase fall in love with, and overwhelmingly praise, its plot. Its most recent expansion, Endwalker, was beloved by fans with many of them saying it paid off plot threads over a decade in the making. If there was ever a time to get into a game that fans and critics have praised endlessly, it’s now. Experiencing everything Final Fantasy XIV has to offer can take hundreds of hours, but the experience will be well worth it.

Elden Ring

Yes, everyone is still talking about Elden Ring and it’s hard to not see why. While it can be a bit of a challenge to get into because of its difficulty, everyone that has managed to break through the difficulty curve has had an experience that is completely their own. What makes Elden Ring so special is that it manages to capture that same level of fun that exists in something like Dungeons and Dragons, where the player experience thrives on how the player responds to everything. Through the open world of Elden Ring, the player is always on their own individual quest where every discovery is their own and only they can decide what direction they go in.

It helps that the world of Elden Ring is also MASSIVE. While players are making a point right now of beating the game in less than 15 minutes, the average Elden Ring playthrough can range well over 100 hours depending on how much the player wants to explore and do. Be warned that this game isn’t for everyone, its challenges are frustrating and can create an early roadblock, but with endless time this summer there might not be a better time than now to fight through it.

Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 was one of the best JRPGs on the PlayStation 4 and one of the best games that came out in 2017. However, it also took something like 80 hours to beat and could go well over 100 for players that wanted to do even more. So when Persona 5 Royal was announced, and it advertised that it had even more stuff to do, this easily felt like it was going to be a 100-hour game at a minimum. With such a time commitment to a game that’s admittedly more of an expansion than a new game, it was hard to justify playing Royal when it was first announced.

It’s that long playtime that makes Persona 5 Royal such an intriguing option for the summer. Back when some of us were children, or in college, and had the summer to ourselves it wasn’t unusual to play a game like this over the summer break. It might even be the only game we played during that break. Persona 5 really is a great game, and Royal is by all accounts an even better version of that game, but we needed the free time to experience it. That free time is right now.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

Some of the best games ever made is the Mass Effect trilogy. Originally released during the Xbox 360/PS3 era of consoles, these games took the player’s own Commander Shepard on an adventure to save the galaxy. While some might argue that it’s not technically an RPG, but instead a third-person shooter with RPG elements, we feel it fits thanks to the franchise’s customization options and dialogue tree. It’s the dialogue tree specifically that made Mass Effect feel so special at the time. It let so many players experience their own personal playthrough with their Commander Shepard where we each got to save the galaxy with our own brand of hero or scumbag.

Now that the trilogy is available in a package with the Mass Effect: Legendary Collection we can’t recommend the franchise enough. While the first game’s story is very good and can stand on its own, the series is best experienced as a trilogy. That’s what makes it a perfect summer game. Spend a month, or two, blasting through the franchise at your own pace. Maybe replay them if you fall in love the way many others did and experience one of the best RPG experiences out there.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

Few games are as openly weird the way Yakuza: Like a Dragon is. On the surface, it’s an emotionally gripping crime drama featuring ex-Yakuza Ichiban Kasuga and his friends who all reside in the gray area of Japan’s laws going on the adventure of a lifetime. In this adventure, they’ll face off against the Yakuza, rival organized crime gangs, and the government itself as they try to solve the many issues of Japan’s underworld. When you dive into the game though, what you find is maybe the only game in the world where the player can simultaneously run a sweets shop while collecting different types of criminals for a digital encyclopedia. This is most likely the only game where a player can summon a crawfish for help in battle through an app called Poundmates and later on be on the brink of actual tears because the game’s plot can be that gut punching.

Like a Dragon is simultaneously a one of a kind game, but perfectly fitting for the franchise its set in, and that also makes it one of the best entry points into it. Like a Dragon is the first, and so far only Yakuza game, to be a JRPG and while it isn’t perfect it manages to merge into that setting exceptionally well. The main plot takes a little over 40 hours to beat on average, but it can take longer for players that really dive into its world it will likely take 60 hours. We strongly suggest diving into the world. It’s ridiculous, fun, and there’s something really neat around every corner. It’s a fantastic crime drama in a fantastic series of them and it’s a great way to spend the summer.

The impending GOP Senate primary is turning out to be quite a beast, and that’s a surprise to everyone, including Dr. Oz. The former daytime TV host (who’s not hanging in Switzerland, despite what Marjorie Taylor Greene believes) must be sweating bullets after spending at least $12.4 million on his campaign and even pulling in the far-right-coveted endorsement of ex-President Trump. He’s freaking out, too, because “Ultra-MAGA” rival Kathy Barnette is surging in the polls and almost neck-and-neck with Mehmet Oz, mere days before the election.

In response, Sean Hannity spent the entirety of his Thursday night show melting down over Barnette’s “rise.” He trashed her far-right positions, which to be fair (according to summations from the Daily Beast and CNN) are incredibly unsavory. To be clear, though, Hannity has been a ride-or-die for Trump, despite all of his controversies, and the self-declared “talk show host” really seems like he’s mostly rattled about his guy (Oz) facing a last-minute upset due to Barnette’s “surge,” for which Hannity expressed disbelief.

Well, Laura Ingraham is in a different camp, possibly as part of the hilarious MAGA mutiny inspired by Trump’s Dr. Oz endorsement. She spent her Fox News hour describing how “doctored videos” have been used to smear Barnette.

And then Ingraham trashed Oz himself. “But the more salient question is this,” she rhetorically asked. “With all his fame and all his celebrity and all his big endorsements, why hasn’t Dr. Oz been able to seal the deal with the Pennsylvania voters?”

It’s a valid question from Ingraham, but as with Hannity, I have to wonder if Ingraham’s defending Barnette (who does, in fact, have a history of anti-Muslim and anti-gay remarks) simply because the white males are piling onto her while defending their white-male candidate. In other words, there are no winners here, at least until May 18 when voters do their thing.

Deep into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Wanda Maximoff (also known as Scarlet Witch) is on a murderous rampage across the multiverse. Driven by rage, grief, and love, Wanda invades the home base of The Illuminati, a group of superheroes in an alternate reality who protect Earth. This particular version of The Illuminati exists purely as fan service, with cameos from Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter, John Krasinski as Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four, and Patrick Stewart as Professor X from the X-Men films. One by one, a bloodied Wanda easily kills every single member. Using her mind, the Scarlet Witch easily shreds Reed Richards like a paper shredder and explodes the mouth of some guy called Black Bolt. I don’t know who Black Bolt is, but I enjoyed seeing his head explode.

In order to spend her life with the children she created with her magic in WandaVision, Wanda intends to steal the power of traveling through the multiverse from America Chavez. The process will kill America, but Wanda sees her as collateral damage; a means to her happy end. Within the MCU, Wanda has experienced a tremendous amount of pain. She lost her parents in a bombing when she was a child, she lost her brother in a battle against Ultron, she accidentally killed civilians when she lost control of her powers and as a result, was put on house arrest by her friends, and she had to remove the life source from Vision, the love of her life, in order to save the universe from Thanos. The 2021 limited series WandaVision was about Wanda’s grief, and her journey in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is a continuation — or, more so the consequence of her actions in WandaVision.

The Illuminati massacre is Elizabeth Olsen, who has played Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch since 2014’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, at her most terrifying and most vulnerable. Wanda is seduced by dark magic but motivated by good intentions. She’s goal-oriented, which explains the murder spree, but deep down the hero buried deep inside of her is conflicted about the damage she’s causing and the many lives she’s responsible for taking. Olsen conveys all this with her face. A glance, a widened eye or mouth quiver behind a face covered in blood. In this moment, and several other moments throughout the film, I found myself rooting for Wanda. In both WandaVision — which earned Olsen an Emmy nomination last year— and Doctor Strange Into the Multiverse of Madness, Olsen delivers a performance undeserving of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Olsen’s striking, impassioned performance, a perfect balance to co-star Benedict Cumberbatch’s quiet one, anchors the film. Likely aided and influenced by (real) visionary director Sam Raimi, Olsen believably captures the grief of a mother longing for the children she cannot have with elements of horror and manages to deliver iconic villain moments and, ultimately, an earned return to heroism. Elizabeth Olsen is one of the few actors in MCU history who can tell a story with their face while moving their hands and body to unintelligible visual effects, and who can perform expositional dialogue effectively. Olsen does more than deliver quippy one-liners in a tight costume. The MCU isn’t completely lacking in good performances. But that’s just it: they’re good at best, with a few exceptions including Tom Hiddleston as Loki (a performance so powerful that the character was brought back from the dead several times), Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan in Black Panther, who together brought a necessary human element to the franchise.

While Olsen is most known for playing Wanda Maximoff, her other, lesser-known performances prove she’s a force and one of the best actors of her generation, including 2011’s Martha Macy May Marlene, her mesmerizing feature film debut, the Facebook Watch original Sorry For Your Loss, Ingrid Goes West, and Wind River opposite fellow Avenger Jeremy Renner. Olsen is also a fun, brutally honest celebrity, between a Harper’s Bazaar skincare video in which she notes that she is from Los Angeles but does not own crystals, and criticizing the criticism of Marvel movies in a good way: by celebrating the crew members who make these movies happen. “I’m not saying we’re making indie art films, but I just think it takes away from our crew, which bugs me. “These are some of the most amazing set designers, costume designers, camera operators ― I feel diminishing them with that kind of criticism takes away from all the people who do award-winning films, who also work on these projects,” she told The Independent.

Anything can happen in the MCU – especially when your character is as popular as Wanda/Scarlet Witch has become – but Wanda’s fate in Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness suggests, for now, that Elizabeth Olsen is up for grabs. While she’s free from the IP monolith, it’s time for Olsen to be in conversation with her Oscar-favorite peers including Jennifer Lawrence and Emma Stone.

The turnover from autumn to winter last year saw Drake and Kanye West apparently set aside their longstanding differences. It was a surprising time for many who had been paying attention to the many chapters of their relationship, as it all seemed to happen so fast. The two hip-hop heavyweights quickly agreed to perform at the LA Coliseum in a concert dedicated to Larry Hoover and appeared like the best of friends on stage, sharing high fives, side hugs, and covers of each other’s songs. Among the many confused was Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar, though it was more personal for him.

On the new album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, K Dot’s first solo LP since 2017’s Damn, he addresses the reunion and what it reveals about his own maturity as a man. “When Kanye got back with Drake, I was slightly confused / Guess I’m not as mature as I think, got some healin’ to do,” he says on “Father Time,” which features Sampha.

Drake and West threw jabs at one another for years but their bubbling tension reached its peak in 2018, when Ye produced Pusha T’s Daytona album, which included “Infrared,” a shot at the 6 God for his ghostwriting allegations, among other things. Drake replied on the very same day with “Duppy Freestyle,” a two-birds kind of approach that fired back at both of them. What would ensue from there is Pusha responding with “The Story Of Adidon,” revealing to the world that Drake has a son, and a lot more subtle shots over the years between the three until this past year.

Listen to “Father Time” above.

Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is out now via PgLang/TDE/Aftermath/Interscope. Get it here.