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Netflix somehow never runs out of original films and TV shows despite the many hurdles faced by Hollywood over the past several years. This month, Millie Bobbie Brown and Adam Sandler lead new movies, and the Game of Thrones TV creators have a new series coming your way. The streaming service also resurrected a comedy series, and Guy Ritchie is reigniting his adoration for the word “gentlemen.” It’s all good.

Beyond those new offerings, library additions are coming in hot. Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies will both arrive, so you can watch this scene on repeat if you so desire (don’t lie and say you won’t), and the original The Hunger Games trilogy will materialize as well. This is also your final chance to stream John Wick films on Netflix for the foreseeable future, so tick tock.

Here’s everything coming to Netflix in March:

Spaceman (Netflix film streaming 3/1)

Adam Sandler’s Netflix partnership keeps taking new turns, even if we still haven’t seen a Hubie Halloween 2. The humanity! However, this film takes Sandler back into dramatic mode as an astronaut who is attempting to fix his marriage from the depths of the solar system, and somehow, a creature hiding inside his ship decides to help him. Wait, what? The story is based upon Spaceman of Bohemia, the novel by Jaroslav Kalfař. Additionally, Carey Mulligan portrays Sandler’s movie wife, and Paul Dano voices the ship. Hmm.

Damsel (Netflix film streaming 3/28)

Another Netflix fave, Millie Bobbie Brown, kicks some dragon (and royalty) ass after discovering that she’s marrying a prince whose family decides to sacrifice her to a dragon as part of an enormously screwed-up ritual. This twisted fairy tale adapts Evelyn Skye’s twisted fairy tale novel that prioritizes world building, and this film should fly high on the streaming charts.

Girls5eva (Peacock to Netflix series streaming 3/14)

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt fans, if you didn’t check out this series while it was on Peacock for two seasons, be sure to hit up all three seasons on Netflix, which picked up the series in time for the show’s late ’90s girl group to go on tour. Surely, all will go smoothly despite the ladies having no tour manager or dates or venues or anything but a van and their own enthusiasm to relive their glory days. Netflix’s synopsis wonders, “Or will the road destroy them?” If that’s the case, then it sure will be fun to watch.

3 Body Problem (Netflix series streaming 3/21)

HBO’s Game of Thrones creators, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, head into the sci-fi drama realm here in this story that spans time and continents and decades. The thriller promises to bend genres with (of course) existential stakes and is based upon Liu Cixin’s bestselling novel trilogy of the same name. The title refers to three stars orbiting each other, and the story follows Earth’s discovery of aliens within this system.

The Gentlemen (Netflix series streaming 3/7)

Theo Rossi leads a whole new cast for Guy Ritchie’s continuation of the film starring Matthew McConaughey as a weed kingpin. As it turns out, Rossi’s character, Eddie, is connected to that same weed empire. It’s not a remake or a direct sequel, but this is a series that takes place in the same world, and yes, gangster-loving Guy Ritchie is very fond of “gentlemen” as well as Henry Cavill’s tongue.

Here’s everything coming to (and leaving) Netflix in March.

Avail TBA
Bad Dinosaurs

Avail. 3/1
Aníkúlápó: Rise of the Spectre
Blood & Water: Season 4
Furies
Maamla Legal Hai
My Name Is Loh Kiwan
Somebody Feed Phil: Season 7
Spaceman
2012
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
21 Bridges
A Madea Family Funeral
Beverly Hills Ninja
Bonnie & Clyde
Devil in a Blue Dress
The Disaster Artist
Dumb and Dumber
Fear
The Gift
Godzilla (2014)
The Jamie Foxx Show: Seasons 1-5
Love & Basketball
National Lampoon’s Animal House
Out of Africa
Step Brothers
Tammy
Think Like a Man
Think Like a Man Too
Vampires
Yesterday

Avail. 3/3
The Netflix Slam

Avail. 3/4
Hot Wheels Let’s Race
The Resident: Seasons 1-6

Avail. 3/5
Hannah Gadsby’s Gender Agenda

Avail. 3/6
Full Swing: Season 2
The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping
Supersex

Avail. 3/7
The Gentlemen
I Am Woman
Pokémon Horizons: The Series
The Signal

Avail. 3/8
Blown Away: Season 4
Damsel

Avail. 3/9
Queen of Tears

Avail. 3/11
CoComelon: Season 10
Young Royals: Season 3

Avail. 3/12
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir: Season 4
Steve Treviño: Simple Man
Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War

Avail. 3/13
Bandits

Avail. 3/14
24 Hours with Gaspar
Art of Love
Girls5eva: Seasons 1-2
Girls5eva: Season 3
Red Ollero: Mabuhay Is A Lie

Avail. 3/15
Chicken Nugget
Irish Wish
Iron Reign
Murder Mubarak
The Outreau Case: A French Nightmare

Avail. 3/17
30 for 30: I Hate Christian Laettner
30 for 30: Survive and Advance
30 for 30: The Fab Five

Avail. 3/18
Love & Hip Hop New York: Season 1-2
Young Royals: Season 3
Young Royals Forever

Avail. 3/19
Brian Simpson: Live from the Mothership
Forever Queens: Season 2
Physical: 100: Season 2

Avail. 3/20
Bodies Bodies Bodies

Avail. 3/21
3 Body Problem

Avail. 3/22
Buying Beverly Hills: Season 2
The Casagrandes Movie
El Paseo 7
On The Line
SHIRLEY

Avail. 3/25
Gabby’s Dollhouse: Season 9

Avail. 3/26
Dave Attell: Hot Cross Buns

Avail. 3/27
The Believers
The Conners: Seasons 1-5
No Pressure
Rest In Peace
Testament: The Story of Moses

Avail. 3/29
The Beautiful Game
Heart of the Hunter
Is It Cake?: Season 3
The Wages of Fear

Avail. 3/30
Vikings: Seasons 1-6

Avail. 3/31
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Martin: Seasons 1-5
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2

And it’s your last chance to stream these titles:

Leaving 3/1
Bee Movie
This Is Where I Leave You

Leaving 3/2
Lady Bird

Leaving 3/12
Miracle in Cell No. 7

Leaving 3/14
The Giver

Leaving 3/15
Get on Up
Savages

Leaving 3/17
The Cursed

Leaving 3/19
Carol

Leaving 3/29
Spy Kids: All the Time in the World

Leaving 3/30
Jackie Brown
John Wick
John Wick: Chapter 2
John Wick: Chapter 3

Leaving 3/31
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Black Adam
Community: Seasons 1-6
Hoarders: Season 12
It’s Complicated
Justice League
Little Fockers
Man Like Mobeen: Seasons 1-3
Man of Steel
Meet the Fockers
Meet the Parents
My Best Friend’s Wedding
Seven Souls in the Skull Castle: Season Bird
Seven Souls in the Skull Castle: Season Flower
Seven Souls in the Skull Castle: Season Wind
Shazam!
Shazam! Fury of the Gods
Suicide Squad
The Suicide Squad
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman 1984

Years after wondering what the heck “fortnight” is, Lady Gaga is officially coming to Fortnite Festival. The experience is set to kick off soon, so here’s what to know about getting the new Gaga-themed in-game rewards.

How To Get The Fortnite Lady Gaga Skin

First, you need the Fortnite Festival Pass for Season 2 in Fortnite. So, in the menu, select the Festival Pass tab. Then you can complete the Free Reward Track and buy the Premium Reward Track for 1,800 V-Bucks (Fortnite’s in-game currency that needs to be purchased with real money, either in the game or with a gift card from an outside retailer). The Premium Track is the only way to earn the Gaga-themed rewards.

Players will need Festival Points to unlock the rewards in both Tracks. These are the rewards in the Free Track (via Dexerto):

• Festival Loading Screen — 1,000 Festival Points
• 8-Bit Beat Jam Track — 2,000 Festival Points
• Pop Off Aura — 3,000 Festival Points
• Strap Spin Emote — 4,000 Festival Points
• Festival Guitar Spray — 5,000 Festival Points
• Bloom Jam Track — 6,000 Festival Points
• Festival Guitar — 7,000 Festival Points
• Backbeat Bow Emote — 8,000 Festival Points
• Festival Emoticon — 9,000 Festival Points
• Best Buds Jam Track — 10,000 Festival Points
• Woodworker Drums — 11,000 Festival Points

And these are the rewards in the Premium Track:

• Chromatica Guitar — 1,000 Festival Points
• “Ride Wit Me” Jam Track by Nelly ft. City Spud — 2,000 Festival Points
• The Gaga Collection Loading Screen — 3,000 Festival Points
• “Black Whole Sun” Jam Track by Soundgarden — 4,000 Festival Points
• Aurora Aura — 5,000 Festival Points
• “Breaking Me” Jam Track by Topic w/ A7S — 6,000 Festival Points
• Chromatica Keytar — 7,000 Festival Points
• “Poker Face” Jam Track by Lady Gaga — 8,000 Festival Points
• Electric Sine Back Bling — 9,000 Festival Points
• Kindness Punk Emote — 10,000 Festival Points
• Enigmatic Gaga Outfit — 11,000 Festival Points

(By the way: “outfit” = “skin,” with “skin” being an informal but widely used word for the official terminology, “outfit.”)

The new season kicks off on February 22 and runs until April 22, 2024. Find more information in Fortnite‘s official post about the new season.

It’s actually endearing to hear Ethan Coen worried about what critics might think of his new film, Drive-Away Dolls – a romp of a film about two women, Jamie and Marian (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan), on a cross-country road trip being chased by mobsters for (unknowingly at first) being in possession of a suitcase of dildos that could ruin the life of a conservative senator, played by Matt Damon. It’s endearing considering the overwhelming success he’s had in that department, until recently alongside his brother Joel. (You may have heard of the two referred to as “The Coen Brothers.”) Co-writer of Drive-Away Dolls, Tricia Cooke (also longtime Coen Brothers’ editor and Ethan Coen’s wife), is less concerned about that aspect of things. But does admit people showing up for something a little more serious might be surprised by the more fun nature of this film compared to what’s come in the past.

It wasn’t too long ago it was unclear if Ethan Coen would ever make a movie again, stating the process made him “bored.” Luckily, working on Drive-Away Dolls with Tricia seems to have reinvigorated him, admitting that he actually had fun making this movie – a movie that was first announced by the couple way back in 2007. Ahead, Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke explain why they had such a great time making this movie. But, conversely, why they worry (at least why Ethan worries) about the reaction, since it’s a departure.

Also, it’s always fun when filmmakers start listing influences for current movies, which happens here. Especially if I happen to know the movie. (Even though I briefly mixed up Marty and Harvey, two movies that are nothing alike outside of the title.) Also, who knew Ethan Coen would be such a fan of the Kris Kristofferson vehicle, Convoy?

A couple of years ago Ethan said he wasn’t having fun making movies anymore. Then this comes out, one of the most fun movies I’ve seen in a theater recently. I’m going to assume you had fun making this one.

Ethan Coen: Yeah, you may assume. Yes, it was really fun to make. No, it was great. We both had a great time. I’m glad you can feel that.

Your quotes before sounded pretty dire.

Ethan Coen: They did?

It sounded like you just didn’t like the job anymore.

Ethan Coen: Oh, man. I was all mopey! No, I’m much better now. I’m totally recovered. As somebody says in John Carpenter’s The Thing, “I’m all better now.” I think it’s Wilford Brimley, right before he turns into a raving space monster. I’m all better now, yes.

Tricia Cooke: Yeah, I think a lot of that had to do with just also the energy and enthusiasm of the cast. I think they helped restore Ethan’s faith in…

Ethan Coen: Humanity. Movies.

Tricia Cooke: Yeah, movie making.

It’s always a positive sign when you compare yourself to a character from The Thing in regards to how well you’re doing.

Ethan Coen: [Laughs] Yeah. Just to finish my thought, I think Wilford Brimley says, “I’m all better now,” and then immediately sprouts like eight legs and starts vomiting slime.

Obviously, you two have collaborated on many movies, but this is the first as credited co-writers. Did you learn anything about each other that you didn’t know? Is that even possible at this point?

Ethan Coen: No, it’s not possible at this point. Yeah, we’ve worked together before, but this was different. We were making a movie together, from soup to nuts, as me and Joel did – writing, directing, cutting, just making the movie together. Would you say we learned anything? We’re past learning.

Tricia Cooke: We learned I’m nicer.

Ethan Coen: No, no. We always knew that.

Tricia Cooke: I don’t think that there was anything. I mean, it was fun to work with Ethan. I worked with him in the cutting room before, and we’d actually written other things before. But just the amount of trust and, I don’t know, respect he has? That wasn’t something that I learned, but it was nice to experience on a different scale – that kind of trust that you have in someone. That was good.

I’m curious, on past movies, when you’re credited in editing, there had have been moments where you were going over ideas together during the writing process even then, right? I mean, this can’t be completely a new situation. Or maybe it is? I don’t know.

Tricia Cooke: Well, I’ll often read the scripts that Ethan and Joel are going to make and give notes and stuff. But collaborating, like I said, Ethan and I have written stuff before, made little things, but that’s the extent of it. I’ll look at the work that he’s doing. I mean, even when I stopped cutting with them, I would watch cuts and give notes. Or I would read the script and give notes, that kind of thing, sure.

I’ve seen in some recent interviews you seem a little worried audiences might not get this movie or critics might not get it? This movie’s really fun. Why are you at all worried about this?

Ethan Coen: Well, not worried about them getting it in terms of… Yes, it’s fun. I’ll tell you what I’m worried about. Okay. Thank you for helping crystallize my thought because it’s a good question. I am worried about people being suspicious of a movie that’s fun.

I see.

Ethan Coen: It’s a weird thing, but people can be, you know what I mean? People will like… You know what I’m saying, right? I don’t get it. I mean, I’m just supposed to enjoy myself.

Okay, so let me try to unpack that. Do you think people are going into this looking for a grand message that you think might not be there because they’re just supposed to have a good time and you think they might be disappointed?

Ethan Coen: Yeah.

Tricia Cooke: I don’t know if I think they’re going to be disappointed. I think they might be like, “Huh, okay.” Because it’s meant to be kind of light and not heavy. It’s a departure from, I think, what Ethan usually does. And so I think they might just be like, “Huh, okay.” I’m not afraid that they’re not going to get the tone. I mean, it’s kind of slapped all over the movie, but it might be a head-scratcher like, “Oh, this is what Ethan does? This is what Ethan and Tricia made? Okay.” I mean, not that they’ll be disdainful of it, but it’s just kind of a head-scratcher.

But let me ask you this way. Over the years, I feel like you guys are batting, what? 98 percent as far as critics enjoying the stuff you guys have made. I actually find it kind of endearing that you would even worry about that. That’s the way I’ll word it.

Ethan Coen: Well, to be honest, what is it? I don’t know. To be honest, I’m always worried and Tricia never is. I don’t know. You stumped me. I don’t know what my worry is. I’m just a worrier. And I don’t know, maybe that’s what I’m saying: You want to immerse the audience in your movie and let them feel secure. Not that they know what’s going to happen next in terms of plot, but that they know where they are in terms of, okay, I’m in a movie, I’m in this world.

Tricia Cooke: And I guess though, I am much more blithely moved through the whole process. I think for me, representing the lesbian world, it makes me a little anxious because that world isn’t represented in this light way often. And so it feels, not like a burden, but like, oh, I hope I don’t fuck this up. And that’s a little daunting. I mean, not that you’re not going to push people’s buttons, and to some extent that’s what you’re doing. But this is like, I don’t want to let all the lesbians out there down.

That you feel the pressure of wanting to get this right?

Tricia Cooke: Right. Yes, yes. Exactly.

Ethan Coen: Well, that’s the pressure. The pressure you always have at work. Jess Gonchor, the production designer, we were spending too much money on some movie and Jess said, “Look, guys, I just want it to not suck.”

Tricia Cooke: And I think that ultimately you get it right, or right enough for yourself. You can’t make the movie for everyone else. You’re just trying to do the best job you can and make it authentic to yourself, and hopefully that reads to everyone else.

Ethan Coen: You want the movie to not suck.

I guess that’s what it all comes down to in the end. I found this article from 2007, when this movie was first announced, and Ethan is quoted as saying that the script is like the exploitation movies of the ’70s that he loved. But it didn’t have any examples. I was curious if there were direct examples.

Ethan Coen: Well, exploitation movies in the ’70… I mean, the ones I really liked were the blaxploitation movies. I love the blaxploitation movies. I don’t even know what I was thinking of specifically. I mean, Tricia probably has a different but related list. There are also older movies, like noirs from the ’40s that are just kind of cheap and energetic and a little crazy. You know what I’m saying?

Tricia Cooke: I mean, exploitation movies, to me, is like, I don’t like to refer – I mean, certainly not in terms of this movie because I don’t feel like we’re exploiting women or sexuality in a way. I think that those movies, the Russ Meyer movies or B movies like Doris Wishman, the thing about them that’s fun is that they are sexual and have an energy that we wanted to use in this movie. We certainly didn’t want to exploit anyone. We wanted them to feel sexy and fun and have that kind of freewheeling energy, I think. That kind of messy energy that those movies had.

Yes, the messy energy. I watched something recently from that era that has that, Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.

Ethan Coen: You know what? The title is really familiar.

It stars Peter Fonda.

Ethan Coen: Peter Fonda. Yeah. Fucking hell!

They steal $150,000 from a grocery store one of them worked at I think? Then they go on the run.

Tricia Cooke: They stole $150,000? Wow. A grocery store had that much money. That’s impressive. It sounds like a great movie. I’m going to check it out. I’ve never seen it.

Ethan Coen: Yeah, but all those movies. Yeah, Charley Varrick, Tom Seidel movies. We just saw Kris Kristofferson’s first movie, Cisco Pike.

Oh, I’ve never seen that. Though I just watched Convoy again recently.

Ethan Coen: Oh my God. Convoy! Kris and Ali MacGraw!

Directed by Sam Peckinpah.

Ethan Coen: Yeah! Fucking hell, man. Fucking A. All I can say is: C.W. McCall.

That’s the thing. If you watch Convoy again, you’ll have that song stuck in your head for about a week.

Ethan Coen: Fucking A, man. Ernest Borgnine, one of the greats, truly, in my opinion.

I love him in The Poseidon Adventure.

Ethan Coen: Seriously. He’s really great. You should see The Catered Affair. If you haven’t seen it it’s Ernie and Bette Davis.

Tricia Cooke: Yeah, that was a great movie.

I will. [Update: I did and, yes, The Catered Affair is great.] I watched Harvey again recently. He’s so good in that.

Ethan Coen: You mean Marty?

What did I say? Yes, Marty. It won Best Picture. Harvey is Jimmy Stewart.

Ethan Coen: Yes, Jimmy Stewart.

So the scandal in this movie involves dildos. I realize this was written a few years ago. Would this scandal today actually bring down a conservative politician?

Tricia Cooke: Absolutely not.

Ethan Coen: Oh my God, because there’s been so many worse that have failed to. No, your question answers itself.

Tricia Cooke: Which is one of the reasons we made it a period movie. We knew that that would not bring down a president these days. Apparently, nothing does.

Ethan Coen: And that’s part of the movie. The simpler time when being naughty was being naughty.

Tricia Cooke: And you got in trouble for it.

And I hope you two watch Convoy again.

Tricia Cooke: And Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry.

Ethan Coen: Yes. I’m actually going to watch that. You have to watch The Catered Affair because it is great. Bette is great. She’s really good.

You can contact Mike Ryan directly on Twitter.

It looks like we will finally be getting Normani‘s long-await debut solo album soon. Yesterday (February 20), the former Fifth Harmony member cleared her Instagram, hinting that a new era is imminent. Today, she revealed that the album is on the way.

Normani first started hinting at her solo album in 2018, with a tweet reading, “I have my album title y’all.” Every year since she first posted the tweet, fans resurface the message, noting how much time has passed. More than five years since the original posting, Normani quote-replied the tweet, with a link to a website appropriately called wheresthedamnalbum.com.

The website reveals a black screen, with the word “Dopamine” on the left, a mysterious logo in the center, and a date written in numerics on the right. The date, though, is constantly changing, so the release date is not currently clear. But one thing that remains constant is the year 2024 on the release date, indicating that Dopamine will, indeed, arrive at some point this year, via RCA Records.

Also on the website, fans can pre-save the album into their Spotify and Apple Music libraries. Upon pre-saving Dopamine, fans receive a special message from Normani, saying, “Can’t wait till this new music graces your ears!”

On her social pages, Normani has since shared the album cover. You can see the Dopamine artwork below.

Normani’s Dopamine Album Cover Artwork

Over the course of two-and-a-half years, Fifth Harmony was productive, releasing three albums in that time. Since Normani launched her solo career in 2018, though, she hasn’t been quite as fruitful. She’s had some big singles: 2018’s “Love Lies” with Khalid and 2019’s “Dancing With A Stranger” with Sam Smith were both top-10 hits in the US. As far as albums, though, Normani actually hasn’t released a single one.

It looks like that’s finally about to change.

Is Normani Releasing A New Album In 2024?

On X (formerly Twitter) today (February 21), Normani shared a quote-tweet of a post of hers from 2018, in which she wrote, “I have my album title y’all.” Her added text was simply a link to wheresthedamnalbum.com. The page, an official RCA website, features pre-save links and a logo flanked by two telling pieces of text. On the left is Dopamine, which is the title of her debut album (as she confirmed elsewhere, more on that in a second). On the right is a date, but the months and days are constantly changing. The year, though, stays the same, so it appears Dopamine is indeed set for a 2024 release, with an exact date to be confirmed later.

Shortly after that, she revealed the cover art, which features her wearing a bikini and riding atop a black rocket. She captioned her post, “cryingg typing this rn. DOPAMINE THE ALBUM.”

So, at long last, Normani’s debut album is finally, officially on the way, it’s called Dopamine, and it’s expected to drop in 2024.

Normani’s Dopamine Album Cover Artwork

Earlier today, AdWeek dropped a bombshell report that claimed Amazon was in the process of shutting down Freevee, it’s free ad-based streaming tier that includes hits like Bosch: Legacy and Jury Duty.

Citing “three people familiar with the strategy,” AdWeek reported that Amazon will “sunset” Freevee “in the coming weeks” as the streamer throws all of its resources behind Prime Video, which recently implemented streaming ads on January 29. A recent round of layoffs at Freevee also hinted at trouble for the streaming tier, but in a new statement, Amazon has denied that it’s planning on shuttering the service.

“There are no changes to Freevee,” a company spokesperson told Deadline. “Amazon Freevee remains an important streaming offering providing both Prime and non-Prime customers thousands of hit movies, shows, and originals, all for free.”

However, AdWeek‘s report did note that there was a chance that Amazon could still keep Freevee despite the service now being redundant and internal metrics reportedly showing that it fails to convert users into Prime Video subscribers:

The decision could let Prime Video market itself more clearly as a three-tiered service, with Freevee rebranded as its free, ad-supported version, an ad-supported subscription product and an ad-free premium tier with new perks still to come, according to two people familiar with the strategy.

AdWeek also reported that Amazon could also delay shuttering Freevee if there’s a customer revolt that makes Prime Video “unable to meet the inventory quotas it has promised advertisers.”

As for what’s really happening behind-the-scenes is anyone’s guess, but for now, the official word is that Freevee is here to stay.

(Via Deadline)

As Jimmy Kimmel prepares to host the Oscars for a fourth time, his day job might be coming to an end soon.

“It’s hard to yearn for it when you’re doing it,” he told the Los Angeles Times about hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live. He described a recent night of his when “I was very tired and I had all these scripts to go through — I had to revise and rewrite all these pitch ideas for the Oscars — and I was literally nodding off onto my computer. In those moments, I think, ‘I cannot wait until my contract is over.’ But then, I take the summer off or I go on strike, and you start going, yeah, I miss the fun stuff.” Like the dildo jokes.

Kimmel has been hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live since 2003 (!), but “I think this is my final contract,” he said. “I hate to even say it, because everyone’s laughing at me now — each time I think that, and then it turns out to be not the case. I still have a little more than two years left on my contract, and that seems pretty good. That seems like enough.”

Kimmel is under contract until 2025. If he does leave then, I’m pretty sure I know who his final guest will be.

(Via the Los Angeles Times)

Perfume Genius sure knows how to tell a poignant love story. His latest song, “What A Difference A Day Makes,” is another fine example of his lyrical abilities. Today (February 21), Perfume shared his contribution to the soundtrack for Apple TV+’s The New Look.

On “What A Difference A Day Makes,” a Dinah Washington cover, Perfume details the events that unfold as he falls in love. Over a romantic piano, Perfume waxes poetic as he has found the solace he has been looking for.

“What a difference a day makes / Only 24 hours / Brought the sun and the flowers / Where there used to be rain / My yesterday was blue / Now I’m a part of you,” he sings on the song’s opening verse.

The New Look is a World War II-era piece about the fashions of the time, looking into the lives of designers like Coco Chanel and Christian Dior. The entirety of the show’s soundtrack was produced by Jack Antonoff and features artists like Perfume Genius, Florence + The Machine, and The 1975.

You can listen to “What A Difference A Day Makes” above.

New episodes of The New Look stream Wednesdays on Apple TV+.

The New Look Original Soundtrack is out 4/3 via Shadow Of The City/Dirty Hit. Find more information here.

Philosopher Eric Hoffer once said, “You can’t get enough of what you truly don’t need to make you happy.” His point is that we can have enough of the things that truly satisfy us, such as a healthy relationship, necessary material possessions, or nutritious food.

However, the things that can’t satisfy us, such as junk food, toxic relationships, or status symbols, will always leave us feeling hollow, no matter how much we indulge.

This idea has popped back into public consciousness, although with a slight twist by TikTokker Celeste Aria, who refers to her version of the idea as the “Dorito theory.” “One thing I can’t stop thinking about is called the Dorito theory,” she said in a post with over 1 million views. “I learned about this, and now I see everything a little bit differently.”

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Aria is a vintage fashion influencer and musician.

“When you eat a Dorito and finish your bite, you’re not fully satisfied,” Aria continues. “It’s not the same as eating a steak or eating a really satiating food that’s high in protein where after your bite, you really feel sort of that fullness and that warmth of satisfaction.”

Have you heard of Dorito Theory? 

@celeste.aria_

Have you heard of Dorito Theory? What types of things and experiences falls under it for you? #doritotheory #dopamine #addictivebehaviour #howtostoprotting #rottingtiktok #impulsivebehaviour #howtousetiktokless #howtoeathealthy #howtomotivateyourself #howtoimprove #thoughtexperiment #serotonin #mentalhealth #neuroscience #neurodivergent #adhd

“Eating potato chips is addictive because the peak of experience is kind of when you’re tasting it, and not after,” she continued. Put simply: “Experiences that aren’t truly satisfying are maximally addictive.”

The theory can even be applied to the platform where she went viral. TikTok may give us slight hits of joy (dopamine) as we scroll, but they can be few and far between. Eventually, when we put our phones down, the entire experience is little more than only a diversion. At worst, a waste of time and emotional energy.

The video received a lot of thoughtful responses on TikTok.

“In Gabor Maté’s book ‘In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, ’ he says ‘You’ll never get enough of something that almost works,'” C. Badger wrote. “There’s a line in ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ that says something along the lines of ‘I love a cigarette it leaves one so unsatisfied,” and I think of it daily,” Louis said, referring to Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece.

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“This is a unique TikTok video that is more like a steak than a Dorito. I feel I learned something and now I’m actually satisfied and don’t need to keep scrolling,” Stevesapao added.

Dr. Jamie Sorenson says that the Dorito theory makes much sense from a psychiatric perspective. “Dorito theory is consistent with other addiction and behavioral theories,” she tells Fast Company. “The more immediate [the reward], the more likely we are to repeat that behavior, whether it’s eating Doritos, using a drug of choice, or scrolling on social media.”

The psychological underpinnings that drive people to overeat, engage in toxic relationships, or fall into the darkness of addiction are more complex than any idea that can be explained in a 90-second TikTok video. However, Dorito theory is a good test for whether we should indulge in certain vices, possessions, or people.

If you keep repeating a specific behavior repeatedly and it always leaves you feeling hollow, why not substitute it for something that is ultimately satisfying instead? Obviously, that’s easier said than done when you have a big bag of chips in your lap.

Some people fear heights or small spaces, some fear spiders or snakes, and some fear illness or death. When taken to an extreme, such fears can form of an anxiety disorder, but they are understandable fears to have because any one of those things could theoretically spell our demise.

But what about fearing something that isn’t physically dangerous at all, but rather psychologically uncomfortable, like…awkwardness?

For people with social anxiety, the fear of awkwardness is as real as the fear of death. “I’d rather cross a glass bridge over a 1,000-foot canyon than introduce myself to someone new” is a totally normal thought for a socially anxious person. The silences and pauses that mark most social interactions are magnified to painful degrees and the feelings of self-consciousness most of us experience in those moments are felt in extremes in the mind of a socially anxious person.

No one likes feeling awkward, of course, but why is it even a thing in the first place? What makes some interactions feel so uncomfortable to our brains? And more importantly, how do we overcome the fear of awkwardness, especially those who find themselves completely paralyzed by it?

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The YouTube channel VSauce shared some of the science behind awkwardness, what’s happening chemically and emotionally when we feel awkward and some of the perspective shifts that can help keep us from fixating on awkward feelings.

First, the video explains that awkwardness is actually a social good because our feelings of self-consciousness prompt us to avoid certain actions in ways that actual laws and formal etiquette don’t.

“People who demonstrate self-consciousness when needed are communicating cooperative intentions, which helps them get along well with others,” host Michael explains. “It’s no coincidence that brains,susceptible to feeling occasional awkwardness, would become so common.They’re successful at cooperating,at social life. Feeling awkward shows that you understand and are keen on smooth social exchanges.Now, too much or too little concern for social rules isn’t healthy, but researchers found that just the right amount is great. When a person shows remorse or embarrassment or awkward discomfort, when appropriate,others perceive them as being more trustworthy, and their actions as more forgivable.”

In other words, having the capacity to feel awkward actually makes us more likeable. So why does it feel so awful?

Our brains actually respond to awkwardness similarly to how they react to pain or name-calling, flowing along the same neural pathways, resulting in similar physical sensations and triggering our fight-or-flight response. (Thanks, evolution!)

But there are ways to tamp down our overreaction to awkward moments, which can be especially helpful for people who struggle with social anxiety. One reason awkwardness sticks with us so much is that we worry too much about what people are thinking about us, and social anxiety magnifies that worry. The more we realize that people aren’t thinking about us nearly as much as we think they are, the more we can let awkward moments go.

In fact, there’s a word for the realization that we are just extras in other people’s stories, and not the main character—sonder. We are only the protagonist in our own lives. Other people are focused on their own lives.

“Acknowledging this makes your awkwardness look small,” Michael says, adding, “But it also makes all of you look small. Tiny. A needle in a giant haystack.” That’s both a positive and a negative, but that perspective can help us in those moments when we’re feeling the pain of awkwardness.

Watch:

You can follow VSauce for more insights on the human experience on YouTube here.