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Olivia Rodrigo has plenty of punk-rock and ferocity in her pop songs, and that might be due to hearing some unexpected music growing up. The teen prodigy appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live this week to talk all things Sour, and what she’s been up to during a pretty hectic year. After letting fans know about the bizarre gift that President Biden gave her when she visited the White House, she also filled everyone in on some Rodrigo family knowledge. When Kimmel asked Olivia about whether her mother is concerned when she includes curse words in her songs, the world got a funny bit of information about Mrs. Rodrigo. Apparently, she loves listening to death metal and punk, which suddenly makes Olivia’s cursing seem far more restrained.

“My mom’s actually really funny though, my mom is like a third grade teacher from the midwest,” Olivia begins, “And she’s very sweet, but her favorite music is like death metal and punk music. She’s the sweetest woman, and she’ll turn on like Motorhead. She has some edge to her. I remember being really young and she’d wake me up and she’d put a record on, and she’d put on a Motorhead record to like wake me up.”

So don’t be surprised if we get an “Ace Of Spades” cover from Olivia on LP number two. Watch the whole interview with Kimmel above.

The final Daniel Craig film in the James Bond canon is still making an impact in theaters, and one No Time To Die‘s biggest stars may have their next action project already lined up. Ana de Armas, who stole the show in the oft-delayed release, may have landed herself a spot in another big action series.

As Deadline revealed on Thursday, Ana de Armas is “in talks” to headline Ballerina, a John Wick-universe spinoff project as part of that franchise’s big expansion.

Knives Out and No Time To Die star Ana de Armas is in talks to take the lead role in anticipated John Wick spinoff Ballerina, about a young female assassin who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.

The character made a fleeting appearance in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum as a ballerina who is also training to be an assassin.

As we previously revealed, Len Wiseman (Underworld) is aboard to direct the action-thriller, whose script comes from Shay Hatten, known for Zack Snyder’s Army Of The Dead and John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

De Armas taking the title spot here would certainly be intriguing for action movie fans who loved her work in No Time To Die, as many have raved about her action sequence as a highlight of the movie. The report mentions speculation about who else may appear in the film, including Keanu Reeves as Wick himself. But as far as potential anchors for action franchises go, there’s no hotter name in Hollywood right now.

[via Deadline]

The Oculus Quest is considered to be one of the best VR headsets available. It has some of the coolest technology behind it, and for gamers, it has a rather large library of VR games. The problem: With Facebook owning Oculus, it became a requirement to have a Facebook account to log in and use it.

Thankfully, that feature is not going to last much longer. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced during Thursday’s Facebook Live event that they would be phasing out the requirement. Instead, they will be looking at other means to log in. (H/t PC Gamer)

“As we’ve focused more on work, and frankly as we’ve heard your feedback more broadly, we’re working on making it so you can log in into Quest with an account other than your personal Facebook account,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg during his keynote. “We’re starting to test support for work accounts soon, and we’re working on making a broader shift here, within the next year.”

VR is one of those cool technologies in gaming that we’re starting to see more companies try to get creative with. Games such as Beat Saber and Half-Life: Alyx, for example, are both extremely popular games among VR players. It’s a technology fresh for new ideas with the potential to make some extremely cool games. Now, more people can embrace these new experiences without the need of a Facebook account.

Call of Duty is one of the world’s most popular video game franchises. The first-person military shooter series sells millions of copies yearly, and a wide legion of fans approach each game with heavy anticipation. Unfortunately for them, anyone that has tried to keep up with CoD over the years has found it more difficult to play all of its games. Ever since Modern Warfare and Warzone released, the series has become infamous for ridiculously large file sizes. At one point, a standard 500gb PlayStation 4 was unable to hold the three most recent CoD games on a single console.

It makes sense why these games are so huge. The amount of detail that goes into them, and how big games like Warzone are, contributes to that huge download file. Thankfully, it seems like the developers of the franchise are starting to find ways around this to make games that are at least slightly smaller. The upcoming Call of Duty: Vanguard is still going to be a sizable game compared to the average game’s download size, but in comparison to other Call of Duty games it’s going to be smaller.

Details about download size and other aspects of the upcoming game are on CoD’s blog.

Due to new on-demand texture streaming tech, Vanguard’s install size at launch will be significantly below that of previous Call of Duty releases – up to 30% – 50%+ of a file size difference on next-gen console and PC.

By console, these are the estimated file sizes needed to install Vanguard at launch, including via pre-load, as well as the disk space needed to play the game:

PlayStation 5: 64.13 GB Download | 89.84 GB Required Space

PlayStation 4: 54.65 GB Download | 93.12 GB Required Space

Xbox Series X |S: 61 GB Download | 61 GB Required Space

Xbox One: 56.6 GB Download | 56.6 GB Required Space

Considering that Black Ops Cold War managed to push over 100 GB on some platforms and a patch was necessary to reduce Warzone’s size we should all be pretty happy to see that all of these console sizes are starting off below 100GB. Hopefully future patches don’t push them further than that.

One thing that does stand out of course is how PlayStation is well above the Xbox in terms of necessary space. This is because of the PlayStation-only issue where the console requires players have more space on their console before downloading a game. So while the game is actually smaller, PlayStation owners still have the misfortune of needing almost 100GB of free space just to download Vanguard.

What the f*ck is up with the Zuck? Aside from everything going on with Facebook right now, anytime we see Zuckerberg in the news he’s doing something weird that leaves people scratching their heads in confusion. Last spring, he donned a full face slathered in sunscreen while surfing in Hawaii then made the entire internet cringe when he celebrated July 4th by flying an American Flag while riding an electric surfboard. Now he’s inexplicably snuck a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce into his presentation for the Facebook name-change pivot, Meta.

At least there is no water involved in this one. But on its face, it seems even more absurd than a rich dude trying to avoid too many UV rays.

Seriously, just what the hell is going on here? Why the bottle of Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce? Why is it on a bookshelf and what does he think it says to us about him? How did it get there and better yet, who put it there? This would be coffee-cup-in-the-final-season-of-Game of Thrones-levels of carelessness, so I refuse to believe it’s an oversight. I’d like to think someone pointed it out to him and he simply replied, “I’m going to answer you the same way I’ve answered my wife for the last nine years of our marriage: ‘The Baby Ray’s stays.’”

Alas, the answer isn’t quite that fun. According to some internet sleuthing, it appears that Zuckerberg’s love for Sweet Baby Ray’s goes deep and was first revealed in an early Facebook Live presentation where, according to this Ceros article that chronicles the whole thing, he uttered the word “meats” about 13 times in a single video and name-dropped the sauce constantly.

Of course, this was given the meme treatment.

Also, who could forget this summer bop, which is the coolest thing the Zuck has ever been involved in, even if it wasn’t intentional.

That means that the Baby Ray’s bottle is actually an example of him being meta in a presentation about Meta, which itself is an anagram for meat. Our minds would be blown if this didn’t seem like a shallow attempt at making the internet forget Facebook’s role in public polarization. Here is how the rest of the internet took the ploy:

T-Pain was on Twitch well before it was cool. While Twitch had been in use for years among video game fans, it was not a place that celebrities typically hung out like it is now. These days it’s not uncommon for famous athletes, actors, or musicians to be seen hanging out on Twitch playing a game and interacting with their community. T-Pain, on the other hand, was doing it originally as just something to do in his free time. He’d play games, show off new music, and just hang out.

These days, Twitch is almost as much of a job as his music career for him. He’s an extremely popular streamer with thousands of people tuning into his streams live or watching the VODs after he’s wrapped up. Twitch saw his popularity and got in contact with him. Now, T-Pain and Twitch have formed a partnership where his presence on the site will be even more visible. He’s kicking off his partnership with an exclusive listening party on his Twitch channel for his new single “I’m Cool With That.”

“This partnership means that I have been seen,” T-Pain said. “With so little representation on the service previously, the fact that Twitch came to me means that they actually see our community and understand the value of our contribution to the streaming world. We’ve been hosting beat battles and collaborative sessions for years… ‘I’m Cool With That’ is a combination of some of those efforts and was the first song created and released with my community, and I hope this is just the start of a journey Twitch and I are about to go on to uplift and strengthen the music community on Twitch.”

The upcoming listening party will be where T-Pain further breaks down the new track and shares details about other aspects of his partnership, such as monthly “Post Ya Song” and “Post Ya Beat” reviews from community producers. It’s really cool to see this kind of opportunity for T-Pain considering that he was one of the first well-known names to really embrace Twitch. Now he has a partnership and his community gets to watch his streams become even bigger.

This is another big step for Twitch as well, as the platform continues to try and show it’s for more than just video games. Twitch will always be about video games first and foremost, but the platform has not shied away from growing to become something even bigger. Lucky for them, T-Pain not only represents the video game side of the platform but the music side as well. He’s the perfect choice for this partnership.

Japanese whisky can be a very intimidating category, even for seasoned whisk(e)y drinkers. A big part of that comes down to accessibility. Japanese whiskey simply doesn’t make it to your average liquor store shelf as often as other regional-specific styles. On top of that, Japanese whisky isn’t cheap. $40 is where it bottoms out — about double the price of a perfectly drinkable bottle of bourbon.

All of that aside, Japanese whisky is a fascinating category of barley single malts, mellow maturations, varied sourcing, masterful blending, and unique finishings. If I were to call out a single throughline for the whole category, it’d be “mellow.” This whisky is generally very soft, fruit and floral forward, and really embraces the malt and water at the base of the spirit. Those are very broad brushstrokes, of course, but it feels like a good place to start.

The ten whiskies below represent a good primer if you’re looking to get into Japanese whisky. Most of these bottles are fairly easy to find and relatively affordable, but I’ve thrown in two spendy bangers at the end for good measure. If any of these pique your interest, make sure to click on the prices to give them a shot.

Suntory Whisky Toki

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $40

The Whisky:

This whisky is a blend of single malts and grain whiskies from Suntory’s Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Chita distilleries. Hakushu is the main component of the blend in this case. The single malt is aged in American oak before it’s married to the grain whisky from Chita and a touch of the Yamazaki single malts, which were aged in Spanish and American oak.

Tasting Notes:

You’re greeted with a bright and floral note of apple blossoms next to fresh green grass on a summer’s day with a touch of lemon-honey-basil iced tea. The palate holds onto that bright greenness with hints of fresh mint sprigs next to cold and sweet green grape skins, a touch of rosemary, and a slight grapefruit pith bitterness. The end returns to that lemon-honey sweetness and adds in a small dose of fresh ginger juice spice and a very distinct echo of bourbon vanilla.

Bottom Line:

This is the perfect introductory bottle for anyone looking to dip their toe in the world of Japanese whisky. It’s also a very solid cocktail mixer.

Hibiki Japanese Harmony

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $95

The Whisky:

This blend marries the single malts from Suntory’s Yamazaki and Hakushu distilleries with a grain whisky from the famed Chita Distillery. The whiskies are aged in five types of oak, including the much-sought-after Mizunara. Finally, Master Blender Shingo Torii creates a blend that exemplifies Japanese whisky in a single bottle.

Tasting Notes:

That signature fruitiness of Japanese blends is on display from the first whiff with a focus on bright, tart berries and honey-soaked cinnamon apples, and a note of orange marmalade. All of that fruit carries on and adds juicy, sweet peaches before a spiciness kicks up a notch while a creaminess counterbalances the sip. The oak and spice carry on towards the end as a final hint of sweet toffee lingers on the slow fade.

Bottom Line:

While this is a little bit on the pricier side, it’s one hell of a sipping whisky. The reason I listed it second here is that it’s a great counterpoint to the whiskies in the Toki expression above and a good stepping stone to bigger sippers in the category.

Nikka Coffey Grain Whisky

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $75

The Whisky:

We’re staying in the pricier side of things. But, we’d argue that this one is well worth the price tag. The “Coffey Grain” in this whisky refers to the Scottish Coffey stills and the corn “grain” mash bill.

Tasting Notes:

The nose on this one is very bourbon adjacent with sweet corn vibes and vanilla woodiness drawing you in. The whisky’s palate is full of melon candies, pithy grapefruit, and malty vanilla wafers. The mid-palate sweetens with a Caro syrup feel as the vanilla kicks back up with an almost masa dryness on the back end.

Bottom Line:

This is an interesting bridge of whisky between Kentucky and Japan. It’s not a bourbon by any stretch but it feels like a familiar sipper that’ll help you get into the style a bit.

Ohishi Whisky

ABV: 45%

Average Price: $75

The Whisky:

In another departure, this single malt whisky is made from malted and unmalted rice. The mash bill is 30 percent gohyakumanishi rice that’s grown in the distillery’s own fields. The rest is Kumamoto mochi rice. The juice is then aged in ex-sherry casks. The final blend is a marrying of the 27-year-old, ten-year-old, and seven-year-old whiskies.

Tasting Notes:

There’s a definite rice liquor note up top next to a floral essence and an almost molasses sweetness. Those florals give way to nuttiness and a spicy edge that hints at salted black licorice. The end is longish with the spice hints lasting the longest.

Bottom Line:

Rice whisky is its own thing and worth checking out. While I’m not over the moon about this expression, it’s very interesting and palate expanding. That makes it worth giving a shot.

Hatozaki Japanese Blended Whisky

ABV: 40%

Average Price: $40

The Whisky:

This whisky is named after the oldest lighthouse in Japan, which dates back to the 1600s. The juice is a blend of single malt and grain whiskies from Japan and abroad that are aged in ex-bourbon, ex-sherry, and Mizunara oak.

Tasting Notes:

You’re immediately met with floral notes and cherry next to a hint of lemon and orange. The sip has a real malt underbelly with a honey sweetness next to a whisper of oak that leads towards the finish. The malt sustains through the end as a hint of pear next to peach arrives late.

Bottom Line:

This is a nice sipper that’s clean, distinct, and very light. That fruitiness helps this go down easy while the malt reminds you that you are drinking some easy-sipping whisky.

Kamiki Cedar Cask Japanese Whisky

ABV: 48%

Average Price: $72

The Whisky:

This is a fascinating dram. The blend is comprised of single malts from around Japan and hand-selected international single malts. The juice is then finished in Yoshino-sugi barrels — that’s a Japanese cedar that imparts a big flavor profile into the whisky.

Tasting Notes:

This sip opens with a note of peat next to spicy baked apples cut with orange zest. More floral orange notes and stone fruit wind towards a mossy cedar forest on a rainy day. The oak kicks in late with a bit more of that initial spice as the wood becomes resinous and dry on the long finish.

Bottom Line:

I’m a big fan of cedar in my whisky, so this is an easy pick. That being said, this is a solid example of the unique finishings coming out of Japan.

Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $82

The Whisky:

This newly formulated malt from Nikka is a blend of single malts from Nikka’s Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries. The base malts are both peated and unpeated with a sherry cask finish.

Tasting Notes:

The nose opens with freshly cut green grass next to a bold grilled pineapple, bright orange blossoms, and coconut cream pie with a vanilla pudding base. The taste really leans into the fruit with sweet pear candy next to white peach, cream soda, and wildflowers in full bloom. The end takes its time and attaches a bitter peatiness to the fruit with a final whisper of burnt cinnamon and clove left to linger on your sense.

Bottom Line:

Peaty Japanese whisky has a totally different vibe than most peat monsters, especially from Islay. This is subtle, fruity, floral, and really keeps the smoke in check.

Shibui Pure Malt Whisky

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $72

The Whisky:

Shiibui pure malt is a marrying of both Japanese and Scotch malt whiskies. The Japanese malt is blended with a Lowland single malt. The whiskies spend time mellowing a medley of barrels, including bourbon, Oloroso sherry, and Mizunara casks.

Tasting Notes:

The malty grains are the star of the show on the nose and in the taste. Those malts present as a dark chocolate-covered Graham cracker next to a light orchard fruitiness on the nose. The taste layers in vanilla from that bourbon barrels as dark raisins, a touch of holiday spice, and a buttery shortcakes flavor profile drive the palate back towards that dark chocolate and cracker.

Bottom Line:

This is a cool example of how sourced Scottish juice can play with Japanese whisky in the bottle. It’s subtle yet stands out as something a little bit different and delicious.

Hakushu Aged 12 Years

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $168

The Whisky:

Okay, we had to include one stellar, albeit spendy bottle to cap off this list. Hakushu 12 is a sort of Japanese highland whisky made in the pine forests near the Japanese “Alps.” The juice is a combination of three whiskies produced at Hakushu: A non-peated whisky aged in ex-bourbon, another non-peated whisky aged in ex-sherry, and a peated whisky aged in American oak.

Tasting Notes:

This sip is grassy, nutty, floral, and slightly bitter on the nose. The dram then leans into ripe yet tart fruits, lemon citrus, and a herbal tea note while a wisp of smoke and an undertow of creaminess arrive. A fresh ginger spice arrives with a note of orange zest as the sip quickly fades away with a final floral note.

Bottom Line:

This is just freakin’ good from top to bottom. You’re getting a masterclass on what truly great Japanese malts can do when put together by masters high up in the mountains of Japan. It’s an eye-opening experience.

The Yamazaki 12

ABV: 43%

Average Price: $170

The Whisky:

This is a beloved expression of whisky from Suntory’s most important distillery. The juice is a blend of spirits that come off three old stills and then ages in a combination of bourbon, sherry, and Mizunara oak for at least 12 years before masterfully being blended into this iconic whisky.

Tasting Notes:

The whisky opens with a matrix of rich holiday spices next to ripe peaches and pears next to a subtle floral nature that leans towards orange blossoms and lemongrass with a touch of soft, old wood. That winter spice marries to a bright orange oil on the palate as a flutter of creamy coconut leads towards buttered scones and cranberry sauce cut with clove and cinnamon. That spice drives the finish towards a subtly mellow end with the orange oils, spices, and tart fruit coming together for a warming embrace.

Bottom Line:

This feels like it should be an advanced dram you spend a lifetime getting to know. While that can be true, the brilliance of this whisky is that as soon as you sip it, it’ll be like you’ve become old friends from the jump. It’s familiar yet new and enticing.

It’s nuanced yet approachable. It’s also just damn good.

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As a Drizly affiliate, Uproxx may receive a commission pursuant to certain items on this list.

Tucker Carlson seems done with just dog whistling neo-Nazi talking points and winking commentaries about race: he’s going full far right lunatic with his latest Fox News project. And that apparently doesn’t sit very well with a co-worker of his, who called out his conspiracy theory “bullsh*t” on social media and in a new interview.

Carlson’s newest foray into misinformation was announced earlier in the week: a “documentary” series called Patriot Purge that falsely claims the January 6 riot at the US Capitol in Washington was a “false flag” meant to ensnare otherwise law-abiding citizens into the clutches of law enforcement. That’s all bullsh*t, of course, and has been rightly called that by another Fox News mainstay, Geraldo Rivera.

In an interview with the New York Times, Rivera criticized Carlson for his work on the series and the false implication that it was a “false flag” operation of any kind:

“Tucker’s wonderful, he’s provocative, he’s original, but — man oh man,” Mr. Rivera said in a phone interview. “There are some things that you say that are more inflammatory and outrageous and uncorroborated. And I worry that — and I’m probably going to get in trouble for this — but I’m wondering how much is done to provoke, rather than illuminate.”

“Messing around with Jan. 6 stuff … ” Mr. Rivera added, pausing briefly. “The record to me is pretty damn clear, that there was a riot that was incited and encouraged and unleashed by Donald Trump.”

He certainly didn’t hold back on Twitter, either, calling it “bullsh*t” at one point and making it clear that, though he might get in trouble for being outwardly critical of a colleague’s work at the network that employs them both, this is simply a bridge too far for the host.

It’s definitely something to see public pushback from Fox News employees about work the network may have approved. And it will likely do little to actually stop the series from seeing the light of day. Yet when you employ someone like Carlson and do nothing to stop the very clear parroting of misinformation about vaccines, replacement theory, and everything else that’s become in Carlson’s wheelhouse these days. If anything, Rivera crying foul at this point may be too little, too late.

(Via New York Times)

For a long time, it wasn’t that hard to define what Star Trek was all about. Pitched by creator Gene Roddenberry as Wagon Train in space, Star Trek followed, as the opening narration reminded viewers each episode, the adventures of the Starship Enterprise and its five-year diplomatic voyage of discovery to the far reaches of space. Each self-contained installment (barring one two-parter) brought a new adventure and the mix of science fiction concepts and social commentary favored by Roddenberry and the show’s creative staff. The series ran for three seasons between 1966 and 1969 and focused on a handful of colorful crew members. Though declining ratings cut its run short, Star Trek found a second life in syndication and an adoring group of fans who loved it just the way it was, even if they wanted more.

But that was a long time ago and in a dramatically different media environment. To survive, Trek has had to change. A string of movies and a new wave of series followed from the late-’70s through the first years of the 21st century. Each, in their own way, stayed close to the original Trek formula. The movies mostly played like Trek adventures writ large. The shows offered variations on the original series’ mix of memorable characters and thoughtful stories (apart from the occasional dopey side trip, like a visit to the Old West by way of a malfunctioning holodeck). That phase reached its end in the early ’00s with the truncated TV run of Enterprise and the box office failure of Star Trek: Nemesis. Questions started to swirl: Was there a place for Star Trek in the 21st century? And if so, where was it?

The mid-’00s saw the beginning of an ongoing, if often creatively fertile, identity crisis of which Star Trek: Prodigy is just the most recent example. An animated series aimed at younger viewers, it’s part of a strategy apparently designed to blanket the market with a Star Trek for every possible audience, from kids looking for interstellar adventures to those who like their Trek served up with wiseassery and in-jokes, to those accustomed to the serialized storytelling of contemporary TV (and who like to hear the occasional F-bomb dropped alongside talk of spore drives). All of these appeared on the heels of three big-screen adventures that featured classic characters but didn’t always try to recreate the classic Trek feel.

Is this mission drift or adaptability? The three episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy provided to critics (a double-sized premiere and one subsequent episode) don’t provide clear answers. Taking the form of pleasant but unmistakably budget-friendly 3D animation, it frequently resembles the Disney Channel series Star Wars: Rebels and similarly puts the emphasis on the high-energy adventures of a handful of wisecracking characters pitted against—at least in these early episodes—a power-hungry bad guy. Brett Gray (On My Block) provides the voice of Dal, who begins the series working as the Diviner (John Noble), a tyrant in the business of enslaving innocents to perform hard labor on his mining planet. The Diviner’s daughter Gwyn (Ella Purnell) serves by her father’s side but has already begun to question her father’s ways before Dal kidnaps her while escaping the Diviner’s clutches after unexpectedly discovering a disused Federation starship.

Despite the presence of a familiarly shaped Starship and some supporting characters connected to deep bits of Trek lore—Jason Mantzoukas voices a Tellarite, Angus Imrie plays a Medusan—Prodigy doesn’t feel that much like Trek, at least not yet. Its opening episodes involve a lot of running around and narrow escapes but not that many philosophical inquiries or moral conundrums. That could change, thanks to one element that provides a strong tether to Trek’s past: nothing less than one of its most revered characters, Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Sort of.

Unmistakably voiced by Kate Mulgrew, this Janeway is actually an advanced hologram built into the stolen starship, an educational device designed to assist fledgling members of Starfleet still learning the ins and outs of space exploration. It’s a clever device, one that sets up an arc in which Prodigy’s characters—none of whom have ever heard of the Federation—become immersed in the core Federation beliefs as they learn to navigate the stars. And while she might be a computer creation, this holographic Janeway is very much the character we met on Star Trek: Voyager, from her wry delivery to her love of coffee. (Do holograms need coffee? Better not to think too much about that.)

It’s not clear where Prodigy goes from here, or whether Janeway will be a strong-enough tether for it to remain recognizably tied to Trek. But in that sense, it’s not so different from Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond, the film series kicked off by J.J. Abrams that ushered in what’s now called the Kelvin Universe. Or Star Trek: Discovery, the Paramount Plus series that brought Trek back to television and incorporated season-long storylines, movie-quality effects, and other 21st century touches. Or Picard, which attempted much the same while reviving Patrick Stewart’s beloved Next Generation character Jean-Luc Picard (and some other familiar faces). Or Star Trek: Lower Decks, whose stories remain firmly ensconced in Trek continuity but whose attitude and fast-paced wit owe much more to the world of adult animation.

Where Trek used to be variations on one clearly defined approach, there are a lot of different approaches to Trek floating around these days. The tension—between the clearly defined thing Star Trek used to be and its nebulous present and unclear future—can be frustrating to viewers at times. For some, the Star Wars-iness of the Kelvin Universe films provided a reason to check out (but also reintroduced the universe to contemporary multiplex goers). Lower Decks has some extremely vocal detractors (but also many fans). Across three seasons, Discovery has had tedious lows that suggest maybe Trek wasn’t supposed to work as a 13-hour movie. But it’s also had highs, introducing winning new characters, intriguing ideas, and, with its most recent season, offering a glimpse of the future that suggests the Federation’s future might not be that bright. Even at its lower moments, Discovery has still felt like a show in touch with the spirit of exploration, of both outer and inner space, that animated the original Star Trek. And though some might balk at Lower Decks’ humor or what Picard does with Picard, for others they play as attempts to try to do something new within the framework of something old. And for newcomers, not weighed down by ideas of the past, they may just play like exciting shows that double as gateways to the Trek of yore. Tension can be destructive but it can also be dynamic. What it will ultimately mean for the future of Trek as it goes where no Trek has gone before, and in several directions at once, remains to be seen.

Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, California held an assembly for all students on Friday that was presented by Life Training Institute and featured speaker Megan Almon.

The institute’s goal is to equip “Christians to make a persuasive case for life” through “pro-life apologetics presentations in Catholic and Protestant high schools, universities, and worldview conferences.”

But the idea of sitting through a pro-life presentation didn’t appeal to the vast majority of students and a few minutes into the presentation, they began to walk out. A few were prompted by Almon comparing the number of abortions in the United States to deaths in the Holocaust. Almon also discussed how embryos should be considered people who are just as valuable as those sitting in the auditorium.

Some female students were upset because it was the first year that the school was co-ed. It was previously an all-boys school and was integrated by girls who attended the recently closed Mercy High School. “It’s just so frustrating,” Clare, a transfer from Mercy, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “It’s been so hard to go from an environment of female empowerment to someone telling me what I can and can’t do with my body.”

Only a few dozen of the 800 students who attended the assembly remained to hear the entire presentation. Video from the walkout went viral on TikTok.

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“I don’t know why some people say Gen Z is going to ruin society. As a millennial, thank you for your service to Earth,” one commenter wrote.

“It’s a health decision between a woman and her doctor, it doesn’t need to be discussed in school like this,” another commenter added. The school said in a statement that the assembly was all part of a Catholic school education.

“The assembly was an opportunity to come together in order to learn more about the dignity of human life. We recognize that members of our school community, whether they are Catholic or not, have different viewpoints on this topic,” interim president Tim Reardon said in a statement. “We appreciate that those with different views shared those respectfully today. We offered an alternative safe venue for students.”

In anticipation of some blowback, the school sent an email to parents preparing them for the speaker.

“The administration is aware that not all Riordan students are Catholic. We understand that we live in a society in which people have strong, disparate opinions about all the categories ascribed to this theme … Our speaker will be here simply to explain the Catholic position, primarily with regard to abortion. We ask that all students listen respectfully to the speaker, who is nationally recognized for her work on this subject.”

Parents of the students shouldn’t be too shocked over the school having an antiabortion presentation because they sent their kids to a Catholic school; the Catholic church is one of the most prominent pro-life organizations in the world.

However, the students are at the age when the issue of abortion and who has the right to control their bodies is of utmost importance. So it was brave of them to walk out and to face potential punishment over having to hear someone telling them to relinquish control of their reproductive rights.

Their decision was also powerful given the war on Roe v. Wade currently happening in America’s court system.