Category: Worldwide

Nikola Jokic is a two-time NBA MVP and one-time NBA champion, but despite holding a claim to being the best basketball player in the world, he is not someone who we see a lot in ad campaigns.

Jokic, rather famously, prefers to live mostly out of the spotlight, going back home to Serbia in the summers to watch his horses race and live it up in his home country. However, Jokic finally found a company to work with that aligns with his laid back lifestyle and is the star of a new Hotels.com campaign in which he takes his young Nuggets teammate Peyton Watson along for some vacation time to show him the finer points of travel.

Two of Jokic and Watson’s ads went live on Tuesday (via Katy Winge of Altitude TV) and they are truly delightful, with one featuring Jokic wandering through a hotel with Watson with a pony (while a piano plays “Pony” by Ginuwine in the background) and the other having Jokic explain the similarities between a hotel pool and an NBA arena to his young teammate.

Jokic feeding a pony out of his hand in a hotel lobby and lounging in a cabana by the pool is maybe the most realistic ad campaign featuring a star athlete in history. His dry humor also shines through (as does Watson’s) in the ads, and thankfully there is also a blooper reel that includes the pony trying to eat Jokic’s fingers, pooping while he holds onto the leash, and Jokic cursing himself out for forgetting his lines.

I don’t expect this will be the start of Jokic becoming the next Shaq or Peyton Manning and showing up in tons of ads, but there might not be a better ambassador in sports for a brand that’s about fining the right vacation.

Nikola Jokic is a two-time NBA MVP and one-time NBA champion, but despite holding a claim to being the best basketball player in the world, he is not someone who we see a lot in ad campaigns.

Jokic, rather famously, prefers to live mostly out of the spotlight, going back home to Serbia in the summers to watch his horses race and live it up in his home country. However, Jokic finally found a company to work with that aligns with his laid back lifestyle and is the star of a new Hotels.com campaign in which he takes his young Nuggets teammate Peyton Watson along for some vacation time to show him the finer points of travel.

Two of Jokic and Watson’s ads went live on Tuesday (via Katy Winge of Altitude TV) and they are truly delightful, with one featuring Jokic wandering through a hotel with Watson with a pony (while a piano plays “Pony” by Ginuwine in the background) and the other having Jokic explain the similarities between a hotel pool and an NBA arena to his young teammate.

Jokic feeding a pony out of his hand in a hotel lobby and lounging in a cabana by the pool is maybe the most realistic ad campaign featuring a star athlete in history. His dry humor also shines through (as does Watson’s) in the ads, and thankfully there is also a blooper reel that includes the pony trying to eat Jokic’s fingers, pooping while he holds onto the leash, and Jokic cursing himself out for forgetting his lines.

I don’t expect this will be the start of Jokic becoming the next Shaq or Peyton Manning and showing up in tons of ads, but there might not be a better ambassador in sports for a brand that’s about fining the right vacation.

A24 almost never, ever misses, and this holiday season, they’re bringing us the tragic-but-jacked wrestling-dynasty story of The Iron Claw and preparing us for next year when Kristen Stewart will romance a bodybuilder in Love Lies Bleeding. As well, the production and distribution house has unfurled a particularly unsettling movie, the Auschwitz-focused drama Zone Of Interest, that is currently beginning to hit selected theaters to rattle audiences.

The film hails from Under The Skin director Jonathan Glazer and paints a haunting portrait, so let’s talk details:

Plot

The film follows Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, who was convicted of war crimes following the end of WWII. He committed unspeakable horrors, essentially overseeing mass murder of the Jewish people, but also apparently didn’t want to commute too far to do so. As the film’s synopsis succinctly describes, he “tries to build a dream life for his family near the Auschwitz concentration camp.”

What transpires involves a disturbingly lavish setup, wherein Höss, his wife, and children live a life of luxury, practically next door to agonizing screams and the stench of death. Christian Friede portrays the central commander and previously told Vogue “felt the responsibility towards the victims every day. And when I visited Auschwitz for the first time and understood the dimension of the crime, I felt the responsibility. It’s so… huge.” That feeling must have been particularly intense given that Höss tasked himself with “efficiency” in running the camp, which is as an exceedingly brutal approach as it sounds.

Still, Höss appreciated the shooting style of Glazer on the film while capturing the family’s everyday existence. “For me, as an actor, it was a luxury situation because we had no technical interruptions,” he told Gold Derby. “And every scene outside and inside were shot with five to ten cameras at the same time simultaneously, sometimes in different rooms at the same time.”

Cast

As mentioned already, the film stars Friede as Höss and, and Sandra Hüller portrays his wife, Hedwig. The cast also includes Medusa Knopf, Maximilian Beck, Daniel Holzberg, Sascha Maaz, Ralph Herforth, and Wolfgang Lampl. The story is based upon Martin Amis’ same-named novel with a screenplay from Glazer.

Release Date

The film began to arrive in selected theaters on December 15.

Trailer

Zone Of Interest will hopefully be playing somewhere near you.

Nikola Jokic is a two-time NBA MVP and one-time NBA champion, but despite holding a claim to being the best basketball player in the world, he is not someone who we see a lot in ad campaigns.

Jokic, rather famously, prefers to live mostly out of the spotlight, going back home to Serbia in the summers to watch his horses race and live it up in his home country. However, Jokic finally found a company to work with that aligns with his laid back lifestyle and is the star of a new Hotels.com campaign in which he takes his young Nuggets teammate Peyton Watson along for some vacation time to show him the finer points of travel.

Two of Jokic and Watson’s ads went live on Tuesday (via Katy Winge of Altitude TV) and they are truly delightful, with one featuring Jokic wandering through a hotel with Watson with a pony (while a piano plays “Pony” by Ginuwine in the background) and the other having Jokic explain the similarities between a hotel pool and an NBA arena to his young teammate.

Jokic feeding a pony out of his hand in a hotel lobby and lounging in a cabana by the pool is maybe the most realistic ad campaign featuring a star athlete in history. His dry humor also shines through (as does Watson’s) in the ads, and thankfully there is also a blooper reel that includes the pony trying to eat Jokic’s fingers, pooping while he holds onto the leash, and Jokic cursing himself out for forgetting his lines.

I don’t expect this will be the start of Jokic becoming the next Shaq or Peyton Manning and showing up in tons of ads, but there might not be a better ambassador in sports for a brand that’s about fining the right vacation.

A24 almost never, ever misses, and this holiday season, they’re bringing us the tragic-but-jacked wrestling-dynasty story of The Iron Claw and preparing us for next year when Kristen Stewart will romance a bodybuilder in Love Lies Bleeding. As well, the production and distribution house has unfurled a particularly unsettling movie, the Auschwitz-focused drama Zone Of Interest, that is currently beginning to hit selected theaters to rattle audiences.

The film hails from Under The Skin director Jonathan Glazer and paints a haunting portrait, so let’s talk details:

Plot

The film follows Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, who was convicted of war crimes following the end of WWII. He committed unspeakable horrors, essentially overseeing mass murder of the Jewish people, but also apparently didn’t want to commute too far to do so. As the film’s synopsis succinctly describes, he “tries to build a dream life for his family near the Auschwitz concentration camp.”

What transpires involves a disturbingly lavish setup, wherein Höss, his wife, and children live a life of luxury, practically next door to agonizing screams and the stench of death. Christian Friede portrays the central commander and previously told Vogue “felt the responsibility towards the victims every day. And when I visited Auschwitz for the first time and understood the dimension of the crime, I felt the responsibility. It’s so… huge.” That feeling must have been particularly intense given that Höss tasked himself with “efficiency” in running the camp, which is as an exceedingly brutal approach as it sounds.

Still, Höss appreciated the shooting style of Glazer on the film while capturing the family’s everyday existence. “For me, as an actor, it was a luxury situation because we had no technical interruptions,” he told Gold Derby. “And every scene outside and inside were shot with five to ten cameras at the same time simultaneously, sometimes in different rooms at the same time.”

Cast

As mentioned already, the film stars Friede as Höss and, and Sandra Hüller portrays his wife, Hedwig. The cast also includes Medusa Knopf, Maximilian Beck, Daniel Holzberg, Sascha Maaz, Ralph Herforth, and Wolfgang Lampl. The story is based upon Martin Amis’ same-named novel with a screenplay from Glazer.

Release Date

The film began to arrive in selected theaters on December 15.

Trailer

Zone Of Interest will hopefully be playing somewhere near you.

Over the last few weeks, streaming giant Spotify has been a trending topic, but it hasn’t all been positive chatter; The company’s latest round of layoffs was accompanied by news of artists like Snoop Dogg and “Weird” Al calling them out over its payout rates

However, users flooding their social media timelines with the Wrapped results have somewhat helped offset the negative remarks. The platform is focusing on user excitement by rolling out yet another feature: AI playlists.

What is Spotify’s AI playlist feature?

Similar to the AI DJ function, which rolled out in February, the AI playlist feature allows users to generate a collection of songs using prompts.

Spotify has several curated playlists based on genre, artists, decade, release date, charting history, and even modes. However, the AI playlist feature allows users to think far beyond what already exists. According to TechCrunch, users must select the AI chatbot to get started to access the add-on. Users can let their imagination fly once the box takes over the screen. Prompt ideas mentioned presented by the outlet as an example were “get focused at work with instrumental electronica,” “fill in the silence with background café music,” “get pumped up with fun, upbeat, and positive songs,” and “explore a niche genre like Witch House.”

The feature has not yet gotten a wide release, and it’s not clear when (or if) it will. A spokesperson told TechCrunch, “We routinely conduct a number of tests. Some of those tests end up paving the path for our broader experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have anything further to share at this time.”

A24 almost never, ever misses, and this holiday season, they’re bringing us the tragic-but-jacked wrestling-dynasty story of The Iron Claw and preparing us for next year when Kristen Stewart will romance a bodybuilder in Love Lies Bleeding. As well, the production and distribution house has unfurled a particularly unsettling movie, the Auschwitz-focused drama Zone Of Interest, that is currently beginning to hit selected theaters to rattle audiences.

The film hails from Under The Skin director Jonathan Glazer and paints a haunting portrait, so let’s talk details:

Plot

The film follows Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, who was convicted of war crimes following the end of WWII. He committed unspeakable horrors, essentially overseeing mass murder of the Jewish people, but also apparently didn’t want to commute too far to do so. As the film’s synopsis succinctly describes, he “tries to build a dream life for his family near the Auschwitz concentration camp.”

What transpires involves a disturbingly lavish setup, wherein Höss, his wife, and children live a life of luxury, practically next door to agonizing screams and the stench of death. Christian Friede portrays the central commander and previously told Vogue “felt the responsibility towards the victims every day. And when I visited Auschwitz for the first time and understood the dimension of the crime, I felt the responsibility. It’s so… huge.” That feeling must have been particularly intense given that Höss tasked himself with “efficiency” in running the camp, which is as an exceedingly brutal approach as it sounds.

Still, Höss appreciated the shooting style of Glazer on the film while capturing the family’s everyday existence. “For me, as an actor, it was a luxury situation because we had no technical interruptions,” he told Gold Derby. “And every scene outside and inside were shot with five to ten cameras at the same time simultaneously, sometimes in different rooms at the same time.”

Cast

As mentioned already, the film stars Friede as Höss and, and Sandra Hüller portrays his wife, Hedwig. The cast also includes Medusa Knopf, Maximilian Beck, Daniel Holzberg, Sascha Maaz, Ralph Herforth, and Wolfgang Lampl. The story is based upon Martin Amis’ same-named novel with a screenplay from Glazer.

Release Date

The film began to arrive in selected theaters on December 15.

Trailer

Zone Of Interest will hopefully be playing somewhere near you.

Over the last few weeks, streaming giant Spotify has been a trending topic, but it hasn’t all been positive chatter; The company’s latest round of layoffs was accompanied by news of artists like Snoop Dogg and “Weird” Al calling them out over its payout rates

However, users flooding their social media timelines with the Wrapped results have somewhat helped offset the negative remarks. The platform is focusing on user excitement by rolling out yet another feature: AI playlists.

What is Spotify’s AI playlist feature?

Similar to the AI DJ function, which rolled out in February, the AI playlist feature allows users to generate a collection of songs using prompts.

Spotify has several curated playlists based on genre, artists, decade, release date, charting history, and even modes. However, the AI playlist feature allows users to think far beyond what already exists. According to TechCrunch, users must select the AI chatbot to get started to access the add-on. Users can let their imagination fly once the box takes over the screen. Prompt ideas mentioned presented by the outlet as an example were “get focused at work with instrumental electronica,” “fill in the silence with background café music,” “get pumped up with fun, upbeat, and positive songs,” and “explore a niche genre like Witch House.”

The feature has not yet gotten a wide release, and it’s not clear when (or if) it will. A spokesperson told TechCrunch, “We routinely conduct a number of tests. Some of those tests end up paving the path for our broader experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have anything further to share at this time.”

Vanderpump Rules is starting Season 11 on January 30 of next year, and there is a ton to unpack. Last season ended with the explosive cheating scandal between Tom Sandoval, Ariana Madix, and Rachel Leviss, which caused tension and division between the cast. Because of this, there are some lineup changes for who viewers will see on their screen when it starts airing.

Here’s an official cast guide for what to know for Season 11.

As expected, the show’s titular character, Lisa Vanderpump, will still be a key player as she watches over her staff at Sur — and guides them through the drama.

DJ James Kennedy seems to have the least drama level, as his arc finds him continuing his relationship with Ally Lewber and playing his regular shows.

Katie Maloney and Tom Schwartz‘s story for this season revolves around them dating different people after their divorce. Things get messy though when they both become interested in the same woman.

According to Bravo’s description, Lala Kent will find “an unlikely connection with Tom Schwartz, forming a friendship that neither saw coming, but creating tension between her and the rest of the girls as her forgiveness for the Toms grows.”

Scheana Shay and her husband, Brock Davies, are experiencing some relationship trouble that will surface this season.

Although he is not included in Bravo’s official cast guide, Jax Taylor is also set to return to the show, at least for a little. The season trailer saw him having a conversation with Vanderpump.

Finally, Madix and Sandoval will both be returning this season. However, Leviss has left the show and did not film for Season 11.

Over the last few weeks, streaming giant Spotify has been a trending topic, but it hasn’t all been positive chatter; The company’s latest round of layoffs was accompanied by news of artists like Snoop Dogg and “Weird” Al calling them out over its payout rates

However, users flooding their social media timelines with the Wrapped results have somewhat helped offset the negative remarks. The platform is focusing on user excitement by rolling out yet another feature: AI playlists.

What is Spotify’s AI playlist feature?

Similar to the AI DJ function, which rolled out in February, the AI playlist feature allows users to generate a collection of songs using prompts.

Spotify has several curated playlists based on genre, artists, decade, release date, charting history, and even modes. However, the AI playlist feature allows users to think far beyond what already exists. According to TechCrunch, users must select the AI chatbot to get started to access the add-on. Users can let their imagination fly once the box takes over the screen. Prompt ideas mentioned presented by the outlet as an example were “get focused at work with instrumental electronica,” “fill in the silence with background café music,” “get pumped up with fun, upbeat, and positive songs,” and “explore a niche genre like Witch House.”

The feature has not yet gotten a wide release, and it’s not clear when (or if) it will. A spokesperson told TechCrunch, “We routinely conduct a number of tests. Some of those tests end up paving the path for our broader experience and others serve only as an important learning. We don’t have anything further to share at this time.”