Month: October 2021

On Tuesday, the Halo Infinite edition Xbox Series X console bundle was made available to pre-order for GameStop PowerUp Rewards Pro members ahead of the game’s long-awaited release in December. The latest Halo installment is set to pick up where 2015’s Halo 5: Guardians left off, and it will bring with it an all-new limited edition new-gen console and controller.

A special limited-edition Halo Infinite Xbox Series X console and controller bundle, in addition to a separately sold Halo Infinite Elite Series 2 controller, was unveiled in August, with the products being set for a November 15 release to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Halo franchise. Unfortunately, scalpers quickly got a hold of Halo Infinite Xbox Series X pre-orders and began listing them for prices upwards of $1000, just as has been done with the vanilla Xbox Series X since it launched in 2020. Luckily for some GameStop customers (some of whom might also be scalpers), the Halo Infinite Xbox Series X has been made available at retail price.

On Twitter and elsewhere, GameStop announced a $550 special edition Halo Infinite Xbox Series X bundle became available to pre-order an hour early for GameStop PowerUp Rewards Pro Members. The gaming retailer’s bundle includes the custom Halo Infinite-themed Xbox Series X console (which features a star pattern modeled after the Zeta Halo skyline and a “Cortana Blue” vent), a matching Xbox Series X/S gamepad (not to be confused with the green Halo Infinite Elite Series 2 controller), and a digital download code for Halo Infinite.

Halo Infinite was notoriously planned to be released as an Xbox Series X/S launch title, but developer 343 Industries ultimately delayed the game after weighing negative feedback, leaving the console’s launch window next to empty. In the months since, public opinion on the game has warmed largely thanks a series of multiplayer betas, but its sales and Xbox Game Pass success isn’t necessarily assured after the developer revealed Halo Infinite’s Forge and campaign co-op modes won’t be available at release.

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For those customers prepared to drop back into the Halo universe feet-first after the long wait for Halo Infinite regardless of its launch state (as well as for those who lack an Xbox Series X or want a more fancifully designed one), the special edition Halo Infinite Xbox Series X console and controller bundle seems like a reasonable deal for welcoming Master Chief into their living rooms in style. GameStop’s pre-orders for the bundle came less than five weeks before the console releases on November 15, a date that only precedes Halo Infinite‘s own release by a few weeks.

Sources: GameStop, GameStop/Twitter

Source: Tech Crunch

Twitter is testing a new way to switch to your reverse-chronological feed a bit more easily, the company announced Tuesday. Right now, when you tap the three-star icon at the top of your feed to switch between the Home feed (which sorts tweets for you) or the Latest feed (which shows them in reverse chronological order), a small menu shows up that prompts you to switch to whichever feed you’re not on. For some users on iOS, though, when you tap the three-star icon, Twitter is testing new Home or Latest tabs at the top of your screen instead.

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Here’s what the change will look like, according to Twitter. If you’ve pinned lists, the tabs should look familiar:

This change does feel like it will be an improvement since it will mean fewer taps to switch between feeds and make it easier to know at a glance which feed you’re looking at. That said, it’s unclear if Twitter plans to roll this test out more broadly and, if so, when that might happen.

Source: Tech Crunch

The 1986 remake of The Fly is one of the single-best horror/sci-fi epics ever made, and the debate still rages over whether it’s better than the original 1958 version. Jeff Goldblum’s excellent performance as the eccentric and loopy Seth Brundle is one of his best, and the film is loaded with many memorable quotes not just from his character, but others as well.

These quotes help tell the story of Brundle’s grotesque transformation from a handsome young scientist into a horrific man/fly hybrid and the horrors that ensue. It’s one of the darkest and most tragic horror flicks of the 1980s, and the blood-curdling visuals are married to

one fantastic script that sticks to the story and sells it perfectly.

10 “What Am I Working On? Uhhh, I’m Working On Something That Will Change The World And Human Life As We Know It.” – Seth

Seth Brundle was an eccentric oddball who mostly kept to himself, and the rigors of his work. His days were spent researching technology related to teleportation, which would have a drastic impact on humanity, were the power harnessed correctly. He wasn’t a typical horror movie mad scientist, but he walked the obsessive edge of the knife that led many to fall astray.

He first met Victoria at a science gala, where he immediately tried to woo her with tales of his research. It was enough to capture her interest, and agree to come back to his lab, where he introduced her to the teleportation pods he had been working on.

9 “I’m Glad I Didn’t Give You My Rolex, If I HAD A Rolex!” –  Victoria

Brundle’s teleportation technology was akin to something out of the Black Mirror franchise, and just as dangerous. To demonstrate the power of his teleportation pods, Brundle asked Victoria to share a personal item. She ended up taking down one of her stockings and giving it to him, after which he placed it in a pod, activated the

machine, and successfully teleported it to the other pod.

At first, Victoria believed he had destroyed her stocking, prompting this funny quote that was ironic in and of itself. She’d later come to realize just how on the money Seth was when it came to his research, even if teleportation of organics was still out of his reach.

8 “The Complete Record Of The Most Earth-Shattering Invention Ever. The One That Ended All Concepts Of Transport, Of Borders And Frontiers, Of Time And Space.” –  Seth

When Victoria revealed that she wanted to write a piece on Seth’s work, he immediately hesitated for fear of his funding being cut. He tried to woo her a little more by inviting her to lunch, where he pitched the idea of them working together, rather than on opposite sides.

Victoria would hold off on revealing her story until Seth felt that the technology had been perfected. It was a deal made on mutual trust, paving the way for a working relationship, and a romantic one that followed.

7 “… Human Teleportation – Molecular Decimation, Breakdown And Reformation Is Inherently Purging. It Makes A Man A King!” – Seth

After experiencing a bout of jealousy over Victoria’s ex-boyfriend, Seth got a little too drunk and decided to test his teleportation pods on himself. He emerged healthy and intact on the other side, but it didn’t take long for the warning signs to start popping up.

He took Victoria to

lunch, where he went off on a super-energetic rant about teleportation technology, and how it made him feel. He seemed reborn, like a new man bursting with boundless optimism, self-confidence, and physical strength, not to mention a rather unhealthy obsession with sugar.

6 “Something Went Wrong, Seth! When You Went Through, Something Went Wrong!” – Victoria

Victoria realized that Seth wasn’t well when his personality started to change. He was no longer the adorable, socially awkward guy she fell in love with. He had become arrogant, unhinged, temperamental, and judgmental, all because she wouldn’t allow herself to be teleported as well.

He eventually clashed with her and sabotaged his romantic relationship by saying he’d find someone else who wasn’t afraid of the process. To Seth, teleportation was the pathway to ultimate bliss. To Victoria, it was a nightmare scenario wrought with pitfalls that she did not trust.

5 [Seth] “Don’t Be Afraid.” [Veronica] No, Be Afraid! Be VERY Afraid!”

After breaking up with Victoria, Seth decided to go out and find another woman that he could convince to get into the teleportation pods. He arm-wrestled a burly bar patron and broke his wrist as a demonstration of his power, which was enough to entice a young woman to come home with him.

The two hooked up after Seth demonstrated his teleportation technology to her, but when he tried to convince her to go through, she resisted. Seth told her not to be afraid as he dragged her to the pods, but Victoria stood in his way, telling the young woman to be very, very afraid. Ironically, a behind-the-scenes Fly factoid reveals that comedy legend Mel Brooks was the one who came up with this quote as a tagline, believing it was a comedy instead of a horror film.

4 “What’s Happening To Me? Am I Dying?” – Seth

After Victoria left Seth to his own devices, he began taking her warnings about his physical appearance and personality changes to heart. He went into the bathroom to examine himself, noticing that several parts of his body were beginning to deteriorate.

He ended up pulling off one of his own fingernails with ease, which was enough to strike fear into him. He wondered if the process had caused him to contract some sort of disease, or mess with his molecular structure to the point where a rabid form of cancer had set in. This element of “body horror” is just one reason why the 1986 remake is better than the original 1958 version of The Fly.

3 “I’m Becoming Brundlefly. Don’t You Think That’s Worth A Nobel Prize Or Two?” – Seth

Seth compared the data of his first teleportation trip and discovered that a foreign organic entity was in the pod with him at the time. He was horrified to learn that it was a common housefly which the computer didn’t know what to do with. It chose to fuse their respective DNA patterns together at the genetic level.

He finally had his answer for why he was changing. When Victoria showed up to discuss it with him, Seth indicated that the unnatural fusion of the DNA was turning him into something the world had never seen. To lighten the mood, he cracked a joke about the scientific merit that would undoubtedly have earned him at least one Nobel Prize.

2 “The Medicine Cabinet Is Now The Brundle Museum Of Natural History. You Wanna’ See What Else Is In It?” – Seth

As Seth kept mutating, so too did parts of his body keep falling off. His teeth, ears, genitals, and other pieces of his body were now becoming redundant in the wake of the emerging new genetic mutation. Rather than get rid of them, he stuffed the parts in jars and hid them in the medicine cabinet of his home.

With nothing else to do but ride the mutation out, Seth felt compelled to at least make some jokes about his state of affairs. He asked Victoria if she’d like to see the collection of body parts that had since fallen off, but she was understandably opposed to the idea.

1 “I’ll Hurt You If You Stay!” – Seth

When the mutation entered its second-last stage, Seth realized that his mind was gradually regressing into something much more primitive. He joked about the irony of “insect politics” with Victoria, which was meant to illustrate that insects are brutal and instinctive, and don’t care much for diplomacy.

It was his way of demonstrating the dangers of her being around him. Finally, he came right out and said that if she stayed, he’d end up hurting her. Seth knew that as his mental state deteriorated, so too would his regard for humans. Instinct would become his first reactionary mechanism, and nothing could be more dangerous.

Source: Tech Crunch

Larger-than-life, witty, and fascinating villains were one of the things that fans of the cult fantasy Supernatural couldn’t get enough of. In fact, the show had a range of supervillains who kept the heroic Winchester brothers on their toes.

However, the big baddies alone wouldn’t be able to sustain the show had it not been for a variety of other, low-key, but often dangerous antagonists that the brothers had to face and fight. Whether humans, angels, or humans and angels possessed by other angels and archangels, there was no dearth of challenges that the brothers had to rise to, beyond the typical freak-of-the-week monsters.

10 Bela Talbot

Bela wasn’t a villain per se as much as she was a troublemaker. She turned up as suddenly as she left but within the short span of time that her path crossed the boys’, she brought them a world of trouble, including stealing a staggering 46,000 dollars, that was probably more money than Sam and Dean had or were ever to see in their lives.

Bela also stole the coveted Colt from

the brothers, the gun that was the only one of its kind and could kill any entity however immune to other weapons. Never particularly scrupulous, Bela was a slippery eel, but she certainly wasn’t as horrifying as some of the people or creatures that Sam and Dean go on to meet. Her death, presumably by hellhounds, seemed a tad harsh and the boys seemed to forget about her pretty soon.

9 Anna Milton

The fallen angel Anna seemed like a potential ally for the brothers and Castiel at first, and even had a steamy night with Dean at the back of the Impala, one of the many emotional Supernatural moments the Impala had been through. She was an angel who had revolted against the requirements of Heaven and thus seemed like one of the good guys, capable of thinking of her own.

However, she soon became antagonistic as she decided to go back in time and kill Mary and John Winchester so that Sam and Dean would never be born, the first of the 66 seals that needed to be broken to unleash Lucifer upon the earth would remain intact, and most importantly, Lucifer would not have his true vessel. She was then killed off by the archangel Michael possessing John who wanted to save his wife and although it meant that the apocalypse couldn’t be stopped, Anna’s death was good riddance.

8 Gadreel

Not an out-and-out villain, Gadreel was one of the main characters in season 9, and a secondary antagonist of sorts after Metatron, the scribe of God.

Gadreel had taken refuge in Sam’s body after most of the angels were ejected from Heaven. Having convinced Dean that that was the only way to keep Sam alive, he ended up becoming the scheming Metatron’s right-hand man. While he did seem ambivalent at first, fans went thoroughly against him when Gadreel, possessing Sam, murdered young Kevin Tran in cold blood following Metatron’s instructions, and Dean could do nothing about it.

7 Duma

An angel who at first seemed desperate to save a chaotic Heaven, Duma gradually turned antagonistic as she allowed Lucifer to rule over Heaven in return for his help in creating more angels.

She also held sway over Heaven briefly herself, creating a reign of terror which made Heaven a brutal final destination for humans. She also manipulated Jack so that she could have his tremendous power at her disposal, and eventually became a vessel for the Shadow, the entity ruling the Empty, one of the main locations/sets on Supernatural, since time immemorial. Duma was yet another loose end that needed tying up which Cas finally did.x

6 Billie

Billie the reaper became Death after the former Death was killed with his own scythe by Dean Winchester. Initially appearing to be an ally who wanted to save the world and destroy God just as the Winchesters did, Billie turned out to be a villain too towards the end of season 15.

Billie’s endgame was ambiguous, for the most part, although it seemed as though she was on the brothers’ side and wanted to get rid of God. To that end, she had even had Jack resurrected and told him how h

e could improve his strength which he would need to preserve to kill God. Yet, at the end, it was revealed that Billie had been manipulating the brothers and Jack all along. She wanted to kill God not to save the world but to take over the universe herself.

5 Toni Bevell

Although not exactly low profile, Lady Toni Bevell became a temporary villain in season 12 as the merciless killer on the British Men of Letters’ payroll.

Bevell was shown to be a terminator of sorts, with very little morality or scruples to anchor her, and willing to go to any length to follow the instructions coming from upstairs. She abducted Sam Winchester and tortured him inhumanly, all to please the high command, And unlike Ketch who at least had a compelling personality, Bevell’s character was simply irritating. This was one villain fans hated unlike some of the other Supernatural villains whom they loved.

4 Uriel

One of the earliest angels the brothers met, Uriel deceived everyone (including Castiel) when it was revealed that he was actually working to bring about the apocalypse, rather than helping to stop it.

As the Devil’s mole in Heaven, Uriel was one of the angels who had turned against God, sick of his absence and tired of following instructions from someone who never really showed up. He was probably the one who proved to Sam and Dean that angels, contrary to popular perception, weren’t necessarily the good guys. Uriel was still just a pawn since more important angels like Zachariah soon joined the party and made life a living hell for Sam and Dean. But he was the first of the villainous angels the brothers encountered.

3 Castiel

Castiel makes this list since he nearly went dark side more than once. Season 6 saw Cas going rogue, killing hundreds of his fellow angels, to say nothing of humans he massacred. The idea of becoming God possessed him to the extent that he lost any ounce of humanity he might have picked up from spending time around humans like Sam and Dean.

Later too, Cas agreed to let Lucifer in so that they could beat the Darkness. However, Lucifer had his own plans and the Cas shaped Lucifer soon took over Hell where he kept Crowley under captivity, killed Rowena and basically raised hell. Castiel himself might have been the best of entities, but he made some choices that didn’t go so well, especially for him.

2 Soulless Sam

One of the villains in the course of the series that fans might have forgotten but who was definitely a key antagonist at the time was Soulless Sam. Sam Winchester returned in season 6 from Lucifer’s Cage in Hell where he had been broken and battered to the point that when he returned, his soul had been left behind.

The havoc that the Soulless Sam wreaked became a major plot point in the sixth season as Sam lost his connection with

the softer human emotions and didn’t care if he had to kill a few perfectly innocent humans here and there. He even set a vampire on his own brother knowing that the latter ran the risk of getting turned, and indeed he did! Soulless Sam might have been pretty low-key in the context of the entire series but he was quite terrifying for a period of time.

1 John Winchester

Of course, John Winchester was a good man who had met with a terrible tragedy when his wife died so shockingly, leaving him with two young kids, one of them an infant. It was also he who taught the boys everything they knew about hunting.

However, there is a reason Supernatural fans consider Bobby a better father to the brothers than John Winchester. it was John’s obsession with finding the demon who had killed his wife that led Sam and Dean down this path from where there was no turning back, that took away their childhood. And although they did save the world multiple times, and certain events had been set in motion that would have affected them anyway, the brothers only had their father to thank for a lot of the sacrifices they had had to make.

Source: Tech Crunch

Instagram will introduce new measures to nudge teenagers away from harmful content and encourage them to “take a break,” from the platform, Facebook vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg said on Sunday. Clegg made the remarks on CNN’s State of the Union show less than a week after whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before Congress about internal research that showed Instagram can have a negative effect on the mental health of young people.

“We’re going to introduce something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where our systems see that a teenagers is looking at the same content over and over again, and it’s content which may not be conducive to their well being, we will nudge them to look at other…

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Source: Tech Crunch

Cheryl Burke and Cody Rigsby have reunited inside the Dancing With The Stars rehearsal studio following their COVID-19 diagnosis. Within the last two weeks, both Cheryl and Cody tested positive for COVID-19, forcing them to rehearsal and perform virtually and individually. In doing so, they were allowed to remain in the competition despite not being physically present for the live shows.

Cheryl was the first to test positive between the dancing duo. Just days before the second live show of DWTS season 30, Cheryl tested positive for COVID-19. In place of their live performance for that week, the four judges based the couple’s scores off of a prerecorded rehearsal from before Cheryl’s diagnosis. Then just a few short days later, Cody tested positive as well. As the duo continued to rehearse via Zoom, their third performance took place virtually from inside their individual homes. This was the first time ever on the show a couple has performed in such a way.

Now as the dancing competition nears its fourth week, Cheryl and Cody are preparing to head back to the ballroom together. Over the weekend, Cheryl took to Instagram to share photos of herself and Cody back inside the rehearsal studio together after being apart for nearly two weeks. In preparation for the upcoming two-part Disney Night on DWTS, Cheryl and Cody posed in their best Disney attire. Cheryl wore a pair of Minnie Mouse ears while Cody rocked a Goofy hat as they prepared for not one but two brand-new dances. Cheryl captioned the post, “Reunited and it feels so good!” Take a look at the post below:

Fans were excited to hear that Cheryl and Cody will be rejoining the other remaining couples in the ballroom this week, especially in time for Disney Night. Some referred to them as the “dream team” while others admitted how happy this news made them. Fellow professional dancer Daniella Karagach shared her excitement for their return in the comments section as well, writing, “YAAASSSSSSSS.” One user noted, “The judges better be fair for once!!!!” Following Cheryl and Cody’s virtual dance last week, many felt the judges were too harsh with their scores. Even Cody admitted their low scores hurt.

Since Cheryl and Cody have been quarantined at home for nearly two weeks, this will only be their second live performance together inside the ballroom. In addition to that, they have not one but two dances to prepare for this week. Monday night’s episode will feature a Disney-themed Heroes Night. Then on Tuesday night, the couples will take on performances based off of Disney villains. Here’s hoping Cody and Cheryl can earn some higher scores now that they are back in the ballroom together.

Source: Cheryl Burke/Instagram

Source: Tech Crunch

The Spawn universe has a variety of hellspawn, created by the demon Malebolgia. There have been a few different iterations of the comics’ main character and the hellspawn, including Medieval Spawn, Gunslinger Spawn, and Raven Spawn. Lately, Gunslinger Spawn – a fan favorite – has been garnering some extra attention, but who exactly is he and what do fans need to know about him?

Gunslinger Spawn first appeared in Spawn #119 in 2002, in a very brief cameo with no dialogue. In 2008, his backstory was revealed within Spawn #174 and #175. This hellspawn had the name of Jeremy Winston, but was known as “ol’ Job”. He was a former preacher in Bane, Colorado in 1881, before being framed for the murder of his own family. A rich man named Ed Kemper was after silver on Winston’s land. He wanted it so bad, he tried to force a deal which quickly went south since Winston’s wife wasn’t the kind of person to back down to intimidation. As a result, Kemper and his men killed her, as well as Winston’s children. Their power allowed them to place the former preacher into prison to be hanged.

At the same time, Henry Simmons (formerly Francis Parker) had stumbled across the murder scene and was also thrown into prison for a fight and murder in another town. Simmons is the ancestor of Al Simmons – the original and current Spawn. He was a Buffalo soldier whose regiment was harassed with one of their fellow soldiers being killed – forcing Simmons’ hand. Both Simmons and Winston were offered deals by Mammon, a fallen angel, to sell their souls to Malebolgia. Winston accepted the deal in exchange for taking his revenge on the town that killed his family. Simmons didn’t take the deal, but he was spared since his lineage would eventually result in Al Simmons’ birth – and he took on the name of Henry Simmons to partially start his life over.

Image Comics’ Gunslinger Spawn is easily recognizable thanks to his appearance. While his face appears in the style of many of the other hellspawn with glowing green eyes, he is set apart by his Western attire. He wears a ten-gallon hat and a red duster. He also brandishes a gun on his bandoliers, aptly providing him his name. He is a hellspawn from a long past time, though he has also had a couple of minor cameo appearances throughout the Spawn series.

Gunslinger Spawn is not the most powerful of the hellspawn, but he is certainly one of the most interesting and recognizable. Despite that, he has had very few Spawn appearances over the years. That has been changing as of late. In Spawn #308 and 309, Gunslinger’s journey to the future was revealed. His life and ability to return to his own time are now connected to Spawn himself as a result of a war Spawn is currently fighting. Gunslinger will soon star in his own ongoing comic series, which bears his name as the title. Most recently, he appeared in Spawn’s Universe #1, a one-shot comic kicking off a new era of Spawn stories, as well as King Spawn – a series still focused on Al Simmons’ Spawn that began in August. King Spawn #1 revealed that he has also lost a sister who he wants to avenge, waking up from death in 1865, leaving a peculiar gap between this appearance and his prior origin story. Gunslinger’s self-titled series will focus on his quest to return to his own time. Fans can follow Gunslinger Spawn’s new independent adventures when Gunslinger Spawn #1 releases October 20.

Source: Tech Crunch