Blackout, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's new game mode, begins the same way all battle-royale sequences do. You fly over a remote warscape—this time, in a series-appropriate attack helicopter—and drop in, bristling with fear and aggression. What follows is by now a familiar sequence, popularized by battle-royale phenomena like PlayerUnknown's Battleground and Fortnite: scramble…
It's time once again to turn on The Monitor, WIRED's roundup of the latest in the world of culture, from box-office news to announcements about hot new trailers. In today's installment: Spider-Man swings to the top of the box office; Netflix announces the actors landing fizzgigs on its forthcoming Dark Crystal prequel; and good Ol'…
Spike Lee's white-hot genre mash-up BlacKkKlansman initiates its course in the early 1970s. It's a time “marked by the spread of integration and miscegenation,” according to an unnamed race theorist in the opening sequence (he’s played with palpable animosity by Alec Baldwin). In Colorado Springs, he continues, a sect of “true, white Americans” sense a…
When it debuted in 2004, The L Word was a lot of things: groundbreaking, provocative, a little bit campy. One of the first shows ever to focus on the lives of queer women, the Los Angeles–set Showtime series was a minor hit, running for six drama-filled, cable-ready seasons. It was also, in hindsight, problematic. Though…
"Do you like Instagram?" Bee Fisher asks her son, Tegan Fisher, a 3-year-old Instagram sensation who specializes in posing next to his family's enormous Newfoundlands. He doesn't seem to understand the question. "Is this yogurt cooled down?" Tegan replies. "Do you like Instagram? Do you like taking pictures?" Bee asks again. Once again, the temperature…
Click:F70230-1 Happy Monday and welcome to another edition of The Monitor, WIRED's look at all that's good in the world of pop culture. In this installment: The Walking Dead is losing a beloved cast member, The Lego Movie 2 underperforms, and Donald Glover did something unprecedented at the Grammys—without being there. Childish Gambino's History-Making Grammy…
Crossovers, screen tests, and the ever-looming threat of legal action—this week had it all. Let's get to it. Super Smash Bros Ultimate Is the Greatest Crossover Event in Yada Yada Yesterday morning, Nintendo held a Nintendo Direct conference for the upcoming Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and—lord, where to start? Well, a new Pokemon (Incineroar), and…
Late last year, I got a Facebook message from someone, let's call them a "fan," asking why writers like me "always talk about misogyny and somewhere find a way to cry about Trump no matter what it's about." (They didn't refer to me as a "writer" but I'm not going to type the epithet actually…