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ABC Daytime’s series Dark Shadows took the serialized television format of traditional soap operas and twisted it on its head, turning a simple story of a community with various romantic connections playing out daily into a gothic adventure in a world with a supernatural twist.

While the soap is best known for introducing Vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid), the series' first supernatural storyline actually began months earlier. With the show struggling in the ratings, it ended its first year ranked 13th out of 16 with a 4.1. The creative team decided to do something different, and thus, between December 1966 and March 1967, Dark Shadows told the tale of The Phoenix in a unique supernatural adventure.

Dark Shadows tells the story of Victoria Winters (Alexandra Moltke), who comes to the town of Collinsport to work for the Collins family as a governess to the young David Collins (David Henesy). Living at the mansion, Collingswood, are David's father, Roger Collins (Louis Edmonds), his aunt Elizabeth Collins (Joan Bennett), and his niece Caroline Stoddard (Nancy Barrett).

The series started out as a gothic drama, following Victoria as she navigated the town and established relationships while living in the mansion on the hill.

Following the murder of Bill Malloy (Frank Schofield) by Matthew Morgan (Originally George Mitchell), viewers saw the ghosts of Bill and Josette Collins (Kathryn Leigh Scott) appear throughout the storyline, offering a glimpse of what was to come.

But it wasn’t until the introduction of Laura Collins (Diana Millay) that the supernatural element truly began.

Prior to the show’s premiere, Roger's wife, Laura, had been sent to a sanatorium after suffering a mental break. She had been away from Collinsport for over ten years.

Laura returns to town to reconnect with her son, David, and build a relationship with him. She explained that she’s been living in Phoenix, Arizona. Laura’s return caused tension throughout the Collins family, particularly between her husband, Roger, and his sister, Elizabeth.

Unbeknownst to her, while drunk, Sam Evans (David Ford), on the other part of town, draws a painting of a woman in flames; it turns out that the woman is none other than Laura Collins.

David gets his hands on the portrait and wants to have it in his room; this proves to be a horrible decision as David begins having nightmares, seeing his mother’s face come out of the portrait.

The ghost of Josset Collins continues to make an appearance, and she finishes Sam’s portrait by placing David inside the picture.

Shortly thereafter, Sheriff Patterson arrives at Collinswood in order to question Laura, as a body was found at her former residence in Phoenix, and the body had been identified as that of Laura Collins.

Throughout the storyline, viewers are given glimpses of the power Laura has acquired. This is highlighted in a confrontation between Laura and Elizabeth. Having seen how unstable and erratic Laura has been, Elizabeth orders her to leave Collinswood. Elizabeth leaves the room and heads towards her bedroom, and Laura looks into the fire, causing Elizabeth to fall down the stairs. As she tries to recover, Laura visits her and places Elizabeth in a deep trance, locking her inside so she cannot communicate with the real world.

Dr. Peter Guntrie then arrives to assess Elizabeth’s condition and also assists Victoria in investigating what is happening in Collingswood. A séance is held at which point Josette speaks through Victoria, warning of an evil presence within the town.

Dr. Gunthrie is determined to get to the bottom of things and correctly identifies Laura’s involvement. He confronts her, but she isn’t going to go down without a fight. Through research, Victoria and her friends discover that every 100 years, “Laura” dies, and they believe she revives as “the phoenix.” To solve this mystery, they exhume Laura Murdoch's tomb.

Dr. Guthrie confronts Laura, calling her one of the “undead”. Before he is able to meet Victoria and assist with a second séance, Laura forces his car to crash and burst into flames, killing him on impact.

Laura convinces David to escape from Collingswood and meet her in an abandoned cabin. It was there she set the cabin on fire and planned to kill herself and her son; only Victoria showed up in time and helped convince David to escape; only Laura didn’t make it and burned to death.

Having seen an uptick in viewer reactions and ratings, Dark Shadows embraced the supernatural and began planning its next arc, the introduction of Vampire Barnabas, which was initially planned to be a short story arc, but instead changed the trajectory of the show and skyrocketed it in popularity.

Today, nearly 60 years later, Dark Shadows continues to have a strong cult following, with an active community thriving on Reddit and YouTube. The series has even recently inspired a fan-watch-along podcast, Ghost Want You Dead,and has returned to television, with episodes being rebroadcast weekly on MeTV+.

The Complete series of Dark Shadows is available to stream on Tubi.

Out of Lincoln Park, Michigan, the rock band MC5 quickly made a name for themselves with their outspoken music and chaotic on-stage energy. The band became the frontrunners of the punk rock movement, with a live band album considered one of the best, and was fired by their label.

MC5 released their debut live album, Kick Out the Jams, in 1969, which was recorded at the Grande Ballroom in Detroit over the course of two nights on Halloween. The album was a two-sided record with hit tracks like "Ramblin' Rose" and "Motor City is Burning." It received mixed reviews upon its release, with Rolling Stone calling it a "ridiculous, overbearing, pretentious album".

Despite this, Kick Out the Jams became iconic as a rock album, and Rolling Stone now ranks it at No. 85 on their list of the Best Punk Albums of All Time. They tag the album as "a proto-punk landmark" that originally peaked at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 charts. MC5's title track for the album landed at No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts upon its release.

According to LouderSound, the band wanted to be revolutionary by releasing a live album as their debut, seeing as performing was what they did best. It also worked for the record label since the band didn't 100% know how to work in a studio and would have cost a fortune.

While the album was a success on the charts, it soon face controversy over its title track, "Kick Out the Jams" due to its opening line and profanity.

Related: 1976 Soft Rock Hit, Inspired by a Young Love Affair, Ranked Among ‘Best Rock Songs of All Time’

The opening of "Kick Out the Jams" starts with, "And right now ... right now ... right now it's time to ... kick out the jams, motherf*ckers!" before the opening guitar riff. Contrary to popular belief, the band knew very well that the offensive word wouldn't sit well with executives and audiences.

Guitarist Wayne Kramer explained that they developed two versions of the track, knowing the profanity was "never going to get played on the radio, so we recorded a ‘Kick out the Jams, brothers and sisters’ version for the single." He reveals that they had asked the record label to hold off on debuting the album until the single peaked on the charts. In a frenzy of popularity, the label debuted the album, "and when kids came home with this record and mom and dad heard ‘motherf*cker’, you could hear the outrage reverberate across America."

The guitarist went on to reveal that the label released a clean version of the album despite the band not wanting to. Due to the original album having profanity and the word printed on the inside jacket, multiple stores refused to sell it, including a local store called Hudson's. Due to the band's contract giving them control over advertising, they took out an ad against the store using the label's logo without permission. "That was the final straw, and Elektra fired us," said Kramer.

90 Day Fiancé star Jenny Slatten just revealed she was diagnosed with ALS.

The reality star, 68, rose to stardom on the hit TLC series and The Other Way, which features "Americans who move overseas to risk it all for love." While she found love with husband Sumit Singh, 38, she's now battling the disease.

In an Instagram post featuring Slatten standing alongside her husband, she spoke candidly about how she came to decide to reveal her diagnosis.

"With a heavy heart we wanted to share a news with all of you guys. That, there was a rumor that I had a stroke, but it turned out to be ALS. At first, we tried to keep it private because it’s been very emotional and overwhelming for us. We were hoping to find some kind of solution before speaking publicly. But after trying for some time, we feel like it’s time to reach out," Slatten shared. "Thank you so much for all the love and support. Right now, we are open to any kind of help — treatments, clinical trials, lifestyle changes, or anything that could help treat this disease or slow down its progression."

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In an interview with PEOPLE, Slatten received her diagnosis of ALS in December 2025, one year after she started developing symptoms. Her first symptom appeared in December 2024 when she choked “badly” while drinking water, according to her husband. Soon after, she began to suffer from painful migraines and struggled to swallow pills.

Now, the couple is taking all the right steps as they move forward.

"We're doing what we can," Slatten told the publication.

Slatten revealed her diagnosis ahead of her appearance on season 3 of 90 Day: The Last Resort. The show premieres June 1.

Check out Jenny and Sumit in the trailer for the show:

ALS is a progressive disease in which a person’s brain loses connection with the muscles, slowly taking away their ability to walk, talk, eat and eventually breathe, according to the ALS Association. While there is still no cure or treatment that halts progression, new treatments are helping to slow and ease symptoms.

Related: Eric Dane Shares Touching Message While Fighting Against ALS Alongside His ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Co-Stars

The tea aisle is typically the quietest place in the grocery store: a fluorescent-lit meadow of fragrant chamomile and peppermint boxes, the drinks shoppers buy when they have a cold or a sudden urge to feel grounded. But Tazo, a brand that defined the 90scoffee-shop aesthetic, is looking to change that by moving into the performance beverage space. 

The brand just announced a spring lineup that looks like marriage between a tea collection and a supplement stack. First up: a proteinlatte powder that packs 20 grams of whey protein per serving. It is an attempt to turn your morning cuppa into a workout recovery tool.

Tazo is betting that consumers have moved past the era of drinks that... taste like tea. In the current market, buyers are looking for a beverage that can fix your gut, clear your skin, or build your biceps. By adding 20g of protein into a chai and a matcha, they are making a play for the athlete and the busy professional who doesn't have time for a three-egg omelet and a caffeine fix separately.

“Our innovation work at TAZO is driven by formulation science as much as exceptional flavor delivery,” says Alex White, Research & Innovation Director of North America. “These products were developed by carefully balancing ingredient functionality and taste, ensuring that added benefits, like whey protein isolate, integrate seamlessly without compromising on the experience.”

The financial angle is just as sharp. As the $7 latte becomes the $9 latte at high-end cafes, the at-home ritual is no longer a hobby; it’s a necessity. Tazo is leaning into this with organic matcha latte powders in blueberry and vanilla. The lineup also features six new Wellness Blends, fruit-heavy, caffeine-free infusions like Pineapple Lemon Chili and Honey Lemon Eucalyptus. These are targeted squarely at the functional drinker: people who want their evening tea to act as a chemical signal to the brain that it’s time to stop checking emails.

Reshma Dhati, Tazo’s VP of Marketing, puts it plainly: “The way people approach their beverage routines is evolving. Consumers today are seeking drinks that feel both elevated and effortless.” Effortless is the keyword. Effortless is key here. Tazo is betting that the modern consumer is too busy for a complicated tea ceremony but too savvy for a basic tea bag. This strategy targets the intersection of convenience and quality, catering to individuals who demand functional benefits, such as the 20 grams of whey protein found in their new latte powders, without the time-consuming preparation typically associated with high-performance nutrition.

A 1979 film telling the story of a brilliant artist pushed to the edge topped the list of the decade's best movies.

All That Jazz was co-written by choreographer extraordinaire Bob Fosse. Additionally, he choreographed all the scenes and directed the film.

The movie tells the story of Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), an overworked Broadway director and choreographer. In the film, Gideon is simultaneously trying to put on a new show, edit a film, and juggle family life, which includes an ex-wife Audrey (Leland Palmer), daughter Michelle (Erzsebeth Foldi), and mistress Katie (Ann Reinking).

He comes to realize that he is dying. In these moments, Gideon imagines a stage show that tells the story of his life and passing.

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Indie Wire ranked All That Jazz at the pinnacle of its list of the 100 Best Movies of the '70s. The honor highlights the film's bold style and enduring influence on musical filmmaking.

RELATED: 2014 Compelling Brian Wilson Biopic Ranked Among the Greatest Music Films of All Time

Indie Wire writes, "In the dying moments of the 1970s, Bob Fosse re-centered American cinema on the personal and hyper-subjective with All That Jazz, shattering the end of a decade whose movies had been fiercely preoccupied with the fractiousness of the social order. Here, in his penultimate film and greatest masterpiece, Fosse’s personal demons are on full, dazzling display, as the jazz dance legend electrifyingly fictionalized how his various addictions reached a fever pitch while editing Lenny at the same time as he tried to mount Chicago on Broadway."

It continues, "All That Jazz blends fantasy and reality — memory and delusion — to create a celluloid autobiography that remains unparalleled for its raw emotional honesty and proximity to its subject, with Scheider boldly and beautifully embodying Fosse's alter-ego Joe Gideon. The film also doubles as a sensational, shaggy backstage docudrama about the makings of Fosse’s song and dance — the script with its pierced, venomous heart co-written by Robert Alan Aurthur, with Fosse choreographing the film himself."

RELATED: Cher’s Unforgettable 1987 Rom-Com Role Celebrates 38 Years of Pure Icon Energy

In an interview with Don Shewey, Scheider said Joe Gideon was an amalgamation of himself and Fosse. The actor blended elements of both into one unforgettable on-screen figure.

He explained, "The movie started off being sixty percent Fosse, forty percent Scheider. Then it went to fifty percent Scheider, fifty percent Fosse. But after a while, it became seventy percent the character of Joe Gideon, which was a creation of both of us."

The actor concluded, "You don't want to be yourself in every film. You want to create something more interesting than yourself. Which is one of the reasons why you become an actor, right? You want to create something more interesting than what you've got."

All That Jazz was nominated for nine Oscars at the 52nd Academy Awards. It took home four trophies in the categories of Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing, and Music (Original Song Score and its Adaptation or Adaptation Score). Additionally, it was nominated for Actor in a Leading Role (Roy Scheider), Cinematography, Directing, Best Picture, and Writing.

MORE: A Chart-Topping 1972 Southern Murder Ballad Inspired a Feature Film of the Same Name

Gaten Matarazzois heading from Stranger Thingsto the stage.

The Dustin Henderson actor is set to take the lead in the upcoming revival of Rent, playing in London's West End beginning September 2026.

Matarazzo will take the role of Mark Cohen, the central character of the rock musical. Created by American playwright and composer Jonathan Larson, Rent centers on a group of young artists living in New York City’s East Village as they navigate everyday life during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Despite facing a few controversies, including reports of unauthentic portrayals of the 1990s AIDS crisis and plagiarism, Rent has received critical acclaim, earning four Tony Awards and the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The show will open at the Duke of York’s Theatre on Sept. 26, 2026, and is currently scheduled to run through Feb. 13, 2027. The London revival will be directed by Luke Sheppard, who is best known for the award-winning & Juliet, and previously brought Rent back to U.K. theaters with a socially-distanced run at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre in 2020.

“We are absolutely delighted to be bringing Rent back to the West End in this bold new production,” said producers Chris Harper and Sonia Friedman. “Jonathan Larson’s musical remains as powerful and resonant as ever, and Luke has found a way to honor its legacy while making it feel thrillingly fresh for today’s audiences. We cannot wait to share this production and all that we have planned for it. It promises to be a truly special theatrical event.”

The revival is in honor of the musical's 30th anniversary. Rent debuted on Jan. 26, 1996, with its opening preview performance taking place at the Off-Broadway New York Theatre Workshop. Shortly after, the production transferred to Broadway, opening on April 29, 1996, at the Nederlander Theatre.

The original Broadway cast included Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Jesse L. Martin. Closing on Sept. 7, 2008, Rent became one of the longest-running shows on Broadway, running for 12 years. During that time, the show grossed over $280 million.

Additional casting for the West End production is yet to be announced.

Related: Beloved 2000s Film, Which Made Oscars History, Ranked Among 'Best Movies' of All Time

Starbucks has always managed to subvert expectations when it comes to its endlessly versatile products.

In some cases, it might mean the debut of an entirely unthought-of new coffee flavor; other times, it could mean the debut of a limited-edition product line that sells out with remarkable speed.

More recently, the beloved coffee chain has once again caught fans by surprise with the debut of their new limited-edition Miffy Merchandise Collection, a lineup of products inspired by the famous Dutch bunny of the same name.

While not quite as well-known in the U.S. as he is overseas, Miffy has nevertheless acquired a steady following of fans in every corner of the globe. Originally created in 1955 by Dutch artist Dick Bruna, the adorable bunny has appeared in numerous children's books and other related media over the past seven decades, including a 2013 movie and four different TV series.

According to Allrecipes, the collab between Miffy and Starbucks initially arrived in 2024 on the chain's Asian market. With the widespread appeal of the diminutive Dutch bunny, Starbucks has decided to spread its Miffy-related merch to North American locations as well.

The collection specifically features a number of drink wear inspired by the iconic European character, as well as a Miffy-themed plush toy perfect for fans of the long-running book series. In particular, the lineup includes a 14-ounce ceramic mug featuring imagery referencing both Miffy and Starbucks, which also features a Miffy-centric mug topper.

The collection also includes a 18-ounce stainless steel tumbler with artwork displaying the bunny rabbit, as well as a hot pink topper. Meanwhile, the lineup also has three different transportable cups meant for cold beverages, including: a 24-ounce travel cup with a Miffy-themed straw; a 26-ounce stainless steel cold cup with a color scheme of green and pink; and a whopping 27-ounce water bottle displaying Miffy against a striped green background.

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Spring gardening is fun until tools, soil, and planters start taking over your patio. Fortunately, the Serwall Outdoor Potting Bench with Storage is the perfect solution, and it’s on sale at Walmart for just $120, down from $250, with the best deal on the single blue and gray versions. There's also a black option for $130, and if you want a two-pack, those are on sale too at varying prices. 

The potting bench measures 34.8 inches wide, 17.7 inches deep, and 45.5 inches high. It’s made from highly durable plastic with a wood-grain finish, and it’s designed to resist moisture, UV rays, cracking, rot, and fading for year-round outdoor use. It also features 3-tier shelving and five side hooks. The middle shelf supports up to 220 pounds at a 33.5-inch height, the angled-leg design adds stability, and the smooth surface is easy to wipe clean.

Courtesy of Walmart

The shelves and hooks make it a breeze to keep supplies organized, and the weatherproof material is especially appealing if you don’t want to worry about upkeep. This storage bench is perfect for people who want something that can stay outside year-round and still hold up well.

One reviewer described the potting bench as “beautiful.” Another said the "lovely" table is  "easy to assemble and sturdy without being too heavy for one person to move around,” adding that it’s “perfect for a small patio or balcony.”

Related: Walmart’s 'Sturdy' $14 Hanging Bird Feeder Is 'Easy to Fill and Clean'

The wood-grain finish offers a warmer look than a typical utility table, so it can work with planters, patio furniture, lanterns, and other garden pieces without standing out. It would also look great on a balcony, next to a raised garden bed, or against the side of a deck. And even when you’re not actively potting anything, it can still work as a useful outdoor station.

If your patio or porch could use a better setup for gardening season, the Serwall Outdoor Potting Bench with Storage can help everything feel more organized right away. Be sure to snag yours now while it’s still marked down during this Walmart flash deal.

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If your group of friends is currently debating between a beach house or a vineyard, PBS host Darley Newman has a counter-intuitive suggestion that is currently trending for all the right reasons: Seoul, South Korea. While it’s a longer flight than the Caribbean, Newman argues that for a milestone birthday or a "Solo Social" reset, Seoul is the ultimate glow-up destination. “If you love K-beauty, if you want to shop, if you want to do some R&R and you want to eat really good food, it's a definite win and it's very unique,” Newman says.

The timing for a South Korean getaway has never been better. Major carriers have significantly ramped up access for 2026, with American Airlines offering daily service from Dallas-Fort Worth, Delta adding Salt Lake City service and United set to debut the only non-stop flight from Newark later this fall. With more direct seats on the market, it's a prime moment to burn those credit card points for a business-class upgrade. Plus, the city is buzzing with a unique energy this year as K-pop royalty BTS embarks on their massive "Arirang" World Tour through late 2026, making it the perfect time to catch the "Korean Wave" at its source.

Related: I've Traveled the World for My PBS Show, and This Is the One U.S. Train Trip I Tell Everyone to Take

The heart of the Seoul experience is a deep dive into the world-famous K-beauty scene. “Everyone is talking about facials that tighten your face... I did like a red ginseng foot massage and kind of like a foot facial. It is so relaxing,” says Newman.

• The Spa Stop: Newman points to Sulwhasoo Spa Flagship Store in the Gangnam District in Seoul as a must-visit for high-end treatments. “I was there a few years ago and then I went back and now I'm seeing their products in places like Nordstrom... I know it's really continuing to get more trendy.”
• Book a K-Pop Dance Lesson: K-Pop is obviously huge, and there are places where you can learn some of the dance moves, says Newman. "At my class at Dance Joa, people were very serious, and I thought to myself, I have to pay attention. So, I actually learned the steps and by the end I thought, This is really really fun."
• The ‘Noraebang’ Night: For a girls' trip, the social centerpiece is private-room karaoke. “You can go in your own little private room in the Sinsa area... people aren't listening to you, but you can go in with your friends and it's a fun place to kind of let it all hang out. You're dancing on this trip, you're singing, you're getting your spa in.”

Related: United Launches First Non-Stop Flight to This Trendsetting Capital

Newman’s travel philosophy centers on diversity in food, and Seoul delivers both high-end luxury and must-try street food.

• The Chef’s Table: “If you want to have an amazing Michelin-star experience, I dined at Mosu Seoul. [Chef Sung Anh] is on Netflix' Culinary Class Wars show. His food blends French haute cuisine techniques with Korean ingredients and fermentations and he worked at places like the French Laundry previously. He puts together things artfully and it's delicious.”
• Must-Try Korean BBQ: "Dosan Hoikwan is in the Gangnam district. "It's amazing if you love Korean barbecue. Very, very, very good."
• The Market Hack: “There's Mangwon Market... I did a s'mores ice cream where they literally took ice cream on a stick, wrapped it in marshmallow, and lit it on fire. You've got your 'wow-worthy' and then they also have the traditional foods like Korean pancakes, deep-fried chili peppers, and Chicken five ways, which is very popular.”
• Try Hangang Ramyeon: Han River instant noodles can be found at riverside convenience stores—it's a quintessential Korean experience featured in countless K-dramas, variety shows and travel vlogs. "So good, and an inexpensive fun thing to do."

Related: Chicago Girlfriend Getaway Guide

Darley recommends a "high-low" approach to choosing your home base in the city, depending on whether your group wants neighborhood exploration or sky-high pampering.

• For the Ultimate Splurge:Signiel Seoul. Located on floors 76 to 101 of the landmark Lotte World Tower (the tallest building in Korea), it offers panoramic views above the clouds, an exceptional spa and a Michelin-starred restaurant.
• For World-Class Spa & Central Luxury:The Four Seasons Seoul. A brilliant premium choice that places you right near the historic palaces that boasts the acclaimed spa.
• For Active, Walkable Exploration:Four Points by Sheraton Josun, Seoul Myeongdong. Darley loved this neighborhood spot for its immediate accessibility. "I actually went running in the morning around that neighborhood and went to a local bakery and a local fish market." It perfectly positions your crew right next to the K-beauty shopping capital.

• Darley notes that true restoration happens inside a historic mountain temple. Adding a Temple Stay to the itinerary (such as the historic Baekyangsa Temple, famously featured on Netflix's Chef's Table, located about three and a half hours from Seoul). It offers an overnight immersion into Buddhist meditation, tea ceremonies and authentic temple cuisine built around spiritual mindfulness. It's the ultimate soulful counterweight to the neon energy of downtown Seoul. (Remember to be respectful by removing shoes when entering a temple or someone's home.)
• Renting a Hanbok (traditional royal attire) to walk through the 14th-century Gyeongbokgung Palace during the changing of the guard. It bridges the gap between old and new—plus, travelers who wear a Hanbok get free admission to the palace grounds, making it a beautiful, immersive photo-op for a group of friends.

• The ‘Sephora’ of Seoul: “Olive Young is like the Sephora of Seoul... that one should definitely be on the list if you're looking for glow up. Myeong-dong is the neighborhood where they have a lot of these K-beauty stores and the flagship for Olive Young.”
• Take the High-Speed Rail: If you want a beach vibe to finish the trip, Newman suggests the train to Busan. “It’s two hours and 15 minutes... that’s the beach area. It’s very convenient and you can then get your beach vibes along with your Seoul city vibe.”
• Guided Introductions: “I always recommend taking a guided tour and then you won't have to worry as much. I went out with ZenKimchi... they take you to coffee shops, they’ll cater the tour. It’s such a great way to get an introduction to the city.”
• Learn a Few Words: While many people in Seoul speak English, Newman still suggests learning a few words of Korean, and relying on tech when needed. “I use Google Translate as well and I literally will dictate things and try to get responses when I need it.”
• Cultural Customs: Whenever you hand an item over to someone—whether it is your credit card at an Olive Young checkout, cash to a vendor at Mangwon Market or a business card—you should always present and receive it using both hands. And always ask before taking photos and be quiet in public spaces, like the subway, buses, etc.

To see more of Darley’s global adventures and expert travel tips, check out her latest exploration of South Korea’s hidden gems in her YouTube series here.

Related: I'm a PBS Host Who's Writing a Book on American History—Here's the One Place to Celebrate America's 250th

Geena Davis rarely hits the red carpet, but the film legend knows how to pack a punch when she does.

Davis, 70, rose to stardom in films like Beetlejuice and The Accidental Tourist, for which she won an Academy Award. She later became instantly identifiable thanks to roles in Thelma & Louise and A League of Their Own, and even tackled television with her role in Commander in Chief. Behind the scenes, Davis launched the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which works to increase the presence of female characters in media. Not one to hit the red carpet too frequently, the stunner attended the premiere of Netflix's The Boroughs + ATAS Event at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on May 18 in Los Angeles, California. Showing off her impressive height and natural beauty, the star rocked a minidress like an absolute queen.

Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer on Getty Images

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While Davis is praised for her beauty these days, she found it challenging as a child due to her height. Growing up in a small Massachusetts town, she stood out in comparison to the other girls, and her classmates made things difficult. However, she channeled her experience into her debut children’s book, The Girl Who Was Too Big for the Page.

“I was tall from minute one,” Davis said on an episode of The View back in April of 2025. “I was very self-conscious and shy, and the last thing I wanted to do was stand out, and yet, every minute, I stood out.” 

Children teased her in school, which was tough to deal with.

“So, it was really tough growing up. The boys’ nickname for me in high school was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which, you know, is so charming,” she recalled, referencing the iconic Los Angeles Lakers player.

Davis' TV turn in The Boroughs is an exciting one. The supernatural mystery, which is made by the popular Duffer Brothers, “is set in a seemingly picturesque retirement community where a group of unlikely heroes must band together to stop an otherworldly threat from stealing the one thing they don’t have… time," Deadline reported.

Check out the official trailer, which debuted a week ago!

Related: Geena Davis Shows How Stunning 70 Is in Rare Cameo for Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella

The traditional milestones of the American Dream may feel entirely out of reach for anyone who didn't buy tech stock in 2012, but a bizarre lifeline has emerged from the least likely corner of the late-nineties playground: a piece of cardboard featuring an adorable dragon.

What began as schoolyard lunch swaps has quietly hardened into a commodities market. According to new data, the financial returns on top-tier Pokémon cards are now outpacing traditional investments, transforming millennial nostalgia into liquid assets that rival real estate.

We aren't talking pocket money. One collector recently traded a fully functional Audi R8 for a single card collection valued at $140,000. While that sounds like peak internet absurdity, it represents the lower end of a fiercely competitive alternative asset. At the absolute peak of the market, the numbers turn dizzying.

The study reveals that the median value of the top 20 Pokémon card sales stands at a staggering $238,000. That's the entire purchase price of a home in some areas.

Even the lower-tier asset sales on the list outpace the average American’s savings account. The median price of a top-50 card sale sits at roughly $74,000, a sum that easily secures a healthy 20% down payment on a median-priced home across the vast majority of US metropolitan areas.

When converted to US dollars, the top nine most valuable Pokémon cards ever sold create a surreal alternative property market. Here is how the top of the leaderboard shakes out, and what that cardboard buys in the real world:

Rank

Card

Value (USD)

Real Estate Power

1

Trophy Pikachu No. 1 Trainer

$2,764,000

Buys a luxury estate outright in almost any US suburb

2

Prerelease Raichu

$507,000

Buys a premium family home outright in Atlanta or Dallas

3

Topsun Blue Back Charizard

$454,000

Buys a home outright in Phoenix or Charlotte

4

Trophy Pikachu No. 2 Trainer

$409,000

Buys a home outright in Philadelphia or San Antonio

5

First Edition Base Set Holo Charizard

$387,000

Buys a home outright in Columbus or Indianapolis

6

Presentation Blastoise

$332,000

Buys a home outright in Cleveland, Detroit, or Toledo

7

Signed Japanese First Edition Holo Charizard

$298,000

Buys a home outright in Cleveland, Detroit, or Toledo

8

Trophy Pikachu No. 3 Trainer

$298,000

Buys a home outright in Cleveland, Detroit, or Toledo

9

Pokemon Snap Contest Pikachu

$249,000

Buys a home outright in Cleveland, Detroit, or Toledo

Note: This data excludes the legendary Pikachu Illustrator card, which holds a record sale of over $16 million. All figures are converted from GBP based on historical sale valuations and real estate metrics.

The mechanics of the market come down to scarcity. The most expensive items on the ledger were never sold at a local Target or corner store. They were tournament prizes handed to a tiny group of players at Japanese events in the late 1990s, or test prints that were never meant to leave the factory floor.

Then comes the grading bottleneck. A card's value hinges entirely on its physical condition. A card designated as a PSA 10, meaning it has flawless centering, corners, and edges under magnification, can command thousands of percent more than the exact same card in standard, played condition.

While the top 25 represents the extreme edge, it gives a peek into a larger marketplace. If you have a dusty binder sitting in a parents' attic or a basement storage unit, the math suggests it is no longer a toy collection. It could be a hidden portfolio.

Tom Kane may be best known for his voice work in shows like The Powerpuff Girls, but some people may not realize that he's become a comfort at Walt Disney World Resort. Kane, who died following complications from a stroke he suffered in 2020, is the voice you hear on board Disney transportation—including the buses and the monorail.

"Though his voice may now be silent, the characters, stories, and love he gave to the world will live on forever," Kane's rep, Zach McGinnis, told TMZ in a statement. "But beyond the incredible career was an extraordinary man. Tom was a devoted husband and father who, alongside his wife, built a loving family of nine children — three biological and six welcomed through adoption and fostering."

Now, Disney World guests are reacting to the news, some just realizing that it's Kane's voice that says things like, "Our next stop is the Magic Kingdom" and "please stand clear of the doors." Many are hoping that Disney keeps Kane's voice as the narrator for the rides between the parks, the resorts, and the ticket and transportation center.

"I gotta go this weekend to the Monorail and pay respect. My kids are gonna ask 'Mommy why are you crying?'" one Disney fan wrote on Facebook.

"I hope they never change that voice!!!" someone else added.

"His voice will forver be etched in Disney history. RIP," a third comment read.

"RIP. Let’s hope we can listen to him forever," another Facebook user said.

Kane, who took over the voice work on Disney transportation in 2012, was just 64 years old.

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Swarovski crystals, both beautiful and affordable, are a wonderful alternative to real-deal diamonds. This Swarovski Una Angelic White Crystal Bracelet is a great option for anyone looking to elevate their jewelry collections with a dazzling Swarovski piece. Now's the perfect time to add it to your cart because Amazon is already rolling out early Memorial Day sales, and it's offering the bracelet for a sweet 53% off.

Originally retailing for $219, this white crystal bracelet is now just $104 — a deal you won’t want to miss. If you prefer gold tones over silver, check out the gold or rose gold versions of this Swarovski bracelet, both of which are priced under $130 right now. 

Courtesy of Amazon

The white crystal tennis bracelet has an eye-catching shimmer thanks to a rhodium-plated band lined with lustrous stones. It makes a subtle statement, but the design is timeless enough that you could wear it for years to come. This bracelet strikes the perfect balance between glamorous and simple — it’s a wonderful accessory for fancy events, yet simple enough to pair with everyday outfits.

"This bracelet is gorgeous. It not too flashy or large, but sparkles beautifully," one shopper wrote. "I am planning on wearing this for my daughter's wedding."

Scores of additional shoppers agreed that the bracelet is incredibly radiant while still offering plenty of class. The bracelet has even been mistaken for a genuine diamond piece on many occasions, according to reviewers.

The band is 6.7 inches long, but comes with an extender if you want to make it longer. Shoppers said they love that the bracelet is dainty yet not so small that it flies under the radar. They also appreciate that the clasp is easy to put on and feels secure during long, active days.

Related: Amazon’s 'Soft' $11 Lounge Set Is 'Perfect for Travel,' and It Comes in 10 Colors

If you’re not a bracelet person, Amazon has a variety of equally beautiful pieces from Swarovski’s Una Angelic collection on sale right now. The matching crystal necklace dropped from $320 to $168, while the Una Angelic stud earrings went from $85 to $60. Additionally, Swarovski’s Una Angelic drop earrings are available for as low as $73 on Amazon.

If you want your wrist to stand out and shine like never before, don’t hesitate to snag this Swarovski Una Angelic White Crystal Bracelet while it’s just $104 during Amazon's Memorial Day sale! This markdown is a rare opportunity to snag an affordable yet highly-rated accessory for yourself or the jewelry lover in your life.

Don’t miss future deals! Sign up for Parade Picks to receive our commerce team’s curated selection of discounts and sales, twice a week.

In 1983, two TV worlds collided in an episode of Alice. The diner-themed CBSsitcom starring Linda Lavin aired the episode “Mel Is Hogg-Tied” on October 2, 1983. The episode featured two guest stars from the action-adventure series The Dukes of Hazzard, another popular CBS show that taped on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank at the time.

In the crossover sitcom episode, Dukes regular Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) traveled to Mel’s Diner to trick the owner (Vic Tayback) into signing his eatery over to him so he could start a chain of "Boar's Nest West" restaurants. Dukes Deputy Sheriff Enos Strate (Sonny Shroyer) also appeared in the episode. The tie-in between the two shows was that Boss Hogg was said to be a distant cousin of Alice character Jolene Honeycutt (Celia Weston).

Rolling Stoneranked the Alice/Dukes of Hazzard episode among the “weirdest TV crossovers of all time,” on a list that included mashups of St. Elsewhere and Cheers, The Simpsonsand The X-Files, and Cougar Town and Community. (Notably missing? The tripped-out CHiPs crossover with H.R. Pufnsfuf from 1977.)

Of Alice and Dukes, Rolling Stone noted, “In 1983, it wasn’t the norm to have characters from dramas turn up on sitcoms. And this one was a particular geographic stretch, with Boss Hogg and Deputy Enos traveling all the way from Hazzard County in rural Georgia to Phoenix, Arizona, in an attempt to swindle Mel into selling his diner for $1.”

Decades after the episode first aired, many fans admitted they forgot about the improbable TV crossover. In a comment to a YouTube clip from the episode, one fan wrote, “Wait Dukes of Hazzard and Alice take place in the same universe? Mind blown watched both as a kid and never knew.”

“This is a very rare occurrence of a one-action show doing a crossover with a comedy show,” another noted.

“It's so strange seeing DUKES characters with a laugh track 😳,” a third fan chimed in.

Despite the network's attempt at ratings gold, both Alice and The Dukes of Hazzard were only renewed for one more season after the crossover. Both series ended their long runs on CBS in early 1985.

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The Pima County Sheriff's Department responded to a call on Monday, May 18, that brought them to Nancy Guthrie's home in the Catalina Foothills. However, the call had nothing to do with Guthrie's disappearance.

"Someone called the Pima County Sheriff's on us and said we are setting fires in front of Nancy Guthrie's house," YouTube livestreamer Jonathan Lee Riches a.k.a. JLR Investigates wrote on X. He also shared a photo of two police vehicles on the scene.

Someone called the Pima County Sheriff's on us and said we are setting fires in front of Nancy Guthrie's house. pic.twitter.com/jsszvpIaRI

Things have been relatively quiet outside of Guthrie's home in recent weeks, especially after the media packed things up and left the area. Some YouTubers have returned in an effort to keep attention on the case, which some fear is on the brink of going cold.

“There’s frustration because people want to know [what happened],” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told People magazine earlier this month. "But this is just like any other case. Sometimes you solve them within hours or days. Sometimes it takes a long time."

Guthrie, 84, has been missing since Feb. 1. Authorities say she was abducted from her home in the middle of the night. Despite thousands of tips and several leads, Guthrie's whereabouts are still unknown.

“We still get calls, we still get tips," Nanos told People. “Even if the tip is from last night, 102 days later, because it might be somebody calling saying, ‘Somebody in this neighborhood doesn’t look right.’ We tell our folks here in Pima County: if you see something suspicious to you, call us."

Anyone with information pertaining to the case is asked to call the FBI (1-800-CALL-FBI).

READ NEXT: Sheriff Warns There Could Be a ‘Problem’ as Nancy Guthrie Investigation Continues

In 2002, a critically acclaimed movie sparked cultural buzz after Eminem made his big screen debut.

8 Mile, which was loosely based on the hip-hop icon’s life, continues to earn cult status and recognition as one of cinema’s most celebrated films.

Helmed by award-winning filmmaker Curtis Hanson, the musical drama film now stands among the “greatest rock and roll movies” ever made, as cited by USA Today.

Along with notable music-inspired films such as the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Rob Reiner's 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap and Prince's 1984 romantic rock musical drama film Purple Rain, among others, 8 Mile created a cultural impact and influence on music and pop culture, accompanied by iconic performances and a memorable soundtrack.

Apart from its star-studded cast lineup of Eminem, Brittany Murphy, Kim Basinger and Mekhi Phifer in leading roles, the movie is celebrated for delivering a stellar soundtrack, most of which features new and original tracks.

“Lose Yourself,” the iconic anthem of the movie, was written by the award-winning rapper himself and co-produced alongside his longtime collaborator Jeff Bass.

Now considered a defining song of hip-hop music, Eminem wrote the verses on set while immersed in his role as the protagonist, Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith Jr.

The “Mockingbird” hitmaker recalled the experience, describing it as “fun, but it wasn't.”

To capture the raw energy of his character, he transformed his trailer into a makeshift studio where he could record and write songs.

“It was like being a f---g hamster and you’re just going from one cage, one wheel to the next,” he told Apple Music in an interview. “It was a trailer where I gotta learn the lines. You know, learning the scenes and writing and trying to record and get a little workout in here and there.”

Despite the challenging responsibility of acting and creating a soundtrack, Eminem revealed how important the movie was for him.

“I guess if there was no ‘8 Mile’ there would be no 'Lose Yourself’ because I needed that movie,” the rapper shared. “It was good because doing that movie kinda put me right back. It made me, for some reason, feel hungry again. Like the whole battle rap scene…that movie gave me a little different .. a slight edge of inspiration that I don't think I had back at a particular time.”

Eminem’s hard work really paid off after the film became a box office blockbuster, pulling an impressive $51.2 million in its first three days and debuting at No. 1 at the US box office.

In addition, 8 Mile also scored major wins, including a historic recognition at the 2003 Academy Awards for taking home the Best Original Song award for “Lose Yourself,” making it the first hip-hop song to win an Oscar.

Related: 1983 Hit Film, With Soft Rock Theme Song, Still Holds a Perfect Rating

Alan Moore has donned many different hats since his career began in the late 1970s. Over the past several decades, the 72-year-old artist has pursued careers in literature, music, art, poetry and (perhaps most famously) comics.

Often regarded as one of the most popular and influential writers in the entire comics medium, Moore forever changed the nature of comic book storytelling with his work on such critically acclaimed series as Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing and so many more.

Nowadays, the iconic British author has set his sights on other creative endeavors, formally retiring from the comics industry to focus on his full-time career as a novelist. Following in the wake of his well-received 1,000-page fantasy novelJerusalem, Moore has been overseeing the regular installments of his planned five-part Long London novel series.

A rip-roaring, swashbuckling, often hilarious exploration of a dreamlike version of London that manifests itself to a select few unlucky denizens (including the series' hapless and memorably named hero, Dennis Knuckleyard), the first installment of the Long London series earned warm reviews from critics and readers alike, with Los Angeles Review of Bookscalling it "an act of literary alchemy."

As readers look ahead to the series' newest installment, I Hear a New World, we sat down for a Zoom conversation with Moore discussing his latest book, his frustrations with the comics industry and his overall hopes for the future of mass culture.

Upon first glance, it’s easy to draw some parallels between the Long London series and Jerusalem, namely the exploration of a distinct setting across a wide margin of history, myth, and overlapping genres. Were you trying to paint a similar portrait of London both as a place, but also as this sentient character as you had with Northampton in Jerusalem?

Well, yes. Doing Jerusalem, I learned a lot of things. That was an enormous novel that took me 10 years to complete, and I learned a lot of techniques. I learned a lot about what you have to do to sustain a plot over that length where readers will be forgetting how it started. So I learned a lot of techniques during Jerusalem and yes, I'm certainly applying them to Long London but it's mainly to do with my feelings about place and the importance of place in writing, whatever place you're talking about.

I think that what you have to do – and this is something that I've probably learned from Iain Sinclair – what you have to do is to look at the totality of a place, you have to look at its history, all of the little strands of history that feed into it and play out of it. You have to look at the people who informed that place and were informed by it, and you have to look at the “dream time” of that space. I mean, when you're looking at somewhere like London, there's very little but dream time. If we think about Victorian London, we are inevitably thinking about the fiction of Charles Dickens. We have all of these fictions of London as fed into our idea of it and that symbolic, imaginary reality seems to me to be more substantial than the bricks and mortar that are on top of it. And I think that in many ways you could say that our entire world is actually standing upon this substantial world of symbols and ideas that we could not exist without.

S you have to consider all of those things. You have to consider the physical reality of the city in the present day, all of its history, all of its dream time, the lives of all the people in it, and then you will actually be coming close to approaching the actual spirit of the city, if you like, as a living creature. It has its autobiography, it has its birth, it has all of its traumas and all of its delights. It is – yeah, I mean, it is a personality. It is certainly a character in these books. It is probably the most important character.

On that note, I remember reading Alan Moore’s Writing for Comics and hearing about how important it is to to develop things like settings and character and the overall universe they populate from the earliest stages possible. How much did you know about the dreamlike version of London depicted in the series going into the project? 

Well, very little to start with. I've got a general idea of what sort of place it might be. But I have, at this stage in my career, I've become rather enamored of something which William Burroughs called the “word vine,” where you write a word and that will suggest what the next word should be, and so on until you've got a sentence. And that will kind of suggest what the next sentence should maybe be, and it's like planting a vine and then just letting it grow.

Now, as long as you've got a rough trellis work for your volume to progress along, as long as you know roughly where it's going, I find that I prefer to let it be a surprise, because that will excite me. If it's something that is a fresh idea, something that I've had while actually sitting at the keyboard, then I think that if it excites me, it will probably excite the audience more. 

So I've been progressing into Long London at much the same pace as Dennis Knuckleyard. I decided that the best place to enter would perhaps be Soho, and then I thought, “I bet that wouldn't be very nice.” And then I started to imagine what Soho Entire might be like, and from there, imagining the streets paved with gold, as symbolically, and in phraseology, they are the streets of London. 

And just it all came to me as I was writing it. [I was doing] lots of research and reference and looking through my encyclopedias and all the rest of it to get the detail, but it's pretty much all grown from there. Once it reaches a point of critical mass, the concept just seems to keep growing on its own. And perhaps this is a delusion that's common to all writers or it might be uniquely my own, but there comes a point where you start to feel that, “Is this true in some way? Is this delirious, outrageous fantasy that I'm writing, that I'm making up, that I know to be an invention of my own, is this true in some symbolic way?” You get to a certain level of authenticity, where you're letting the characters to some degree dictate to you what they're going to do and what they're not going to do.

In this second book, I Hear a New World, one of the slight problems that I had at the beginning of it was that I realized that Dennis Knuckleyard really, really doesn't like being the central character in a frightening fantasy series [laughs]. He would do anything to keep away from all this stuff. It was only after a couple of chapters that I get him back into the Great When because he's been trying to avoid it, and that just seemed to me to be natural. I thought, “What would Dennis think about all this? Would he be eager for further adventures in this wonderful place?” No, of course not. So it tends to grow like that. You have to let the characters tell you what they want to do because it's probably a better idea than the ones that you had.

You’ve dedicated the book to Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and “anti-fascists everywhere.” As someone who has long been an outspoken opponent of fascism, how grave is the threat of fascism across the globe right now, especially when compared to the time you wrote some of your earlier work, like V for Vendetta?

Oh yes. The thing is that, you know, you do a comic in the 1980s about environmentalism, you do a comic in the 1980s about the threat of incipient fascism, and it's a bit like what the great British comedian Peter Cook [said]. I saw him interviewed once by another comedian, and the other comedian was saying, “Peter, you started the Establishment club in the early ‘60s, the beginnings of the boom in satire. What was that like?” And Peter Cook said, “Well I remember that we modeled ourselves upon the Weimar cabaret of Berlin, which had done so much to prevent the rise of Hitler.”

That's the way that I kind of feel about it. That, yes, what has happened recently – particularly over this last 10 years – is an incredibly aggressive push by the right wing, by which I pretty clearly mean fascist at the moment. Because I don't think that the soft right seems to exist anymore. There seems to be just unbridled, unapologetic fascism. And I can't help but feel that this wouldn't be so aggressive if it wasn't fueled by fear. 

I mean, fascism never works. It can do terrible, terrible things while it's thrashing around. But it's too simple-minded to deal with a world even as complex as the world that we had in the 1940s. It is certainly too simple-minded to deal with a world as complex as the world we have today. I think that anybody who's thought about this realizes that we simply cannot continue in our present state.

In human history, there have been these massive paradigm shifts that have defined how we evolved as a species. The first one was the shift from hunter-gathering to agriculture which changed everything, then, we finally had this shift from agriculture to industry sometime in the 15th century. And then I think in the 1960s there came a point where white collar workers in America outnumbered blue collar workers, so this is the beginnings of a shift towards something else which I suspect is where we are now, that the industrial age is dying. The Earth's resources are obviously not infinite, and we are seeing the results of our pillaging of the Earth's resources, and that is only going to get worse.

Even if we finally decide to do something about this climate mess today, we're still going to have decades of horrifying weather, but that's the best we can hope for, because for decades people have been ignoring what is as plain as the nose is on their face. So it has got to be a different world or it will be no world at all.

A topic you regularly return to is the idea of a cultural degradation we’ve experienced over the past few decades, something all too prevalent with the ongoing reign of Marvel and DC movies everywhere. What do you think interests mainstream viewers about superhero movies and TV series all these years later?

It can only be, in my opinion, a nostalgic retreat to childhood, but with enough grown up veneer to make it acceptable. But it's now allowable for you to stay in your childhood because your modern life is perhaps unbearable. The present is perhaps becoming more painful and more incomprehensible to more and more people. And I think it's a fairly simple reaction. It's a [sense of], “Let me go back to the womb, to the nursery. I want to be infantilized so that I don't understand any of this and so that I don't have to think about it.” And that is a precursor to fascism as well. I genuinely believe that all of those superhero movies – and I am of course speaking as somebody who's never seen any of them because I do prefer to criticize things from a position of ignorance – I would say that all of those movie superheroes are kind of fascism's spandex cheerleaders. Because the message that they're giving is pretty much the basic message of fascism: the superior man, the superior woman should be in charge of everything.

This is the message of fascism, that there are a breed of people who are just genetically superior to us and we should just see sense and let them organize everything and be in control of everything. That seems to me to be an inherent message of superheroes also, that might is right. Morality doesn't matter as long as you win the fight.

These are the things that comic books have programmed us with. I don't think they were always like that. I think that when they were announced, working-class creators like Jack Kirby, like Steve Ditko, or over here like Ken Reid or Leo Baxendale or Frank Bellamy, they were working-class people who were discovering their imaginations and how wonderful they were.

People like [Jerry] Siegel and [Joe] Shuster, who created Superman, were two teenage boys from Cleveland who were science fiction fans, and who'd got this wonderful idea of a working-class character like themselves who could leap over the streets that most of their contemporaries were having to shuffle down looking for work; who'd got bright primary colors on his costume where they were having to make do with brown and gray. 

So it was a working-class dream that soon became comfortably middle class. It's like the anarchic early Mickey Mouse who was a spiky and quite demonic character, but then given enough time and he's out in suburbia with his nephews. Back then, popular culture was in the hands of popular people. The Beatles, for example, were mostly working-class lads from Liverpool who completely changed music. They would never have been allowed in before the ‘60s. I myself would never have been allowed to become a writer. I simply wouldn't have been able to afford to become a writer, unless, like most writers of previous years, I had got some family money. 

Comics weren't always as toxic as they are now. They were originally meant to just explore the imagination and they were great for children. I can remember reading these things from the age of five or six and they were wonderful. They expanded my imagination into all sorts of areas. They weren't all about winning the fight or about who was the toughest guy. I think that the agendas of culture at the moment have become probably affected by the agendas of society, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. I think that probably the comics industry will have to completely collapse before you can get any growth. 

You know, one of the reasons [the industry is failing now is] because it was suddenly decided in the 1980s that, “Oh, these dark gritty comics – that is the future. Let's do everything like that.”  Which meant that for younger and entry-level readers, there was nothing. And so that's led to the fact that most comic fans these days are in their 40s, their 50s, their 60s. And so why would young people want to bother picking up a comic when they can go to the movies and see it all realized [for them]. As with a lot of things, for comics, it's going to have to get worse before it gets better.

Is there any way our collective culture might be able to reverse course? 

Well, just speaking from my own experience, we could try to generate some culture of our own. One of the things that made me the writer that I am and the artist that I am was my involvement as a teenager in the Northampton Arts Lab, which was a bunch of people getting together and deciding that they were going to be artists or writers or singer-songwriters, and that they could meet up once a week and discuss what they were doing, maybe help each other with their projects and perhaps put together a poetry magazine or some live performances. And this was what shaped me. 

We started an Arts Lab in 2016 and it's still going strong today. It was probably bigger and more diverse than the original Arts Lab was. And it's so easy to do. We've produced some wonderful things. They're culture. And it's also a community thing. It's born of the place where you are, where you're standing. It's a thing which actually shows up the fabric of the community around you and helps it. And I think that that is one of the things that we are going to have to do in the future, however this world turns out.

I think we're going to have to come to a conclusion that we are all both local and global, that if we can actually cohere as communities and look after each other, we will be much better equipped to fight against whatever this fascist populism is trying to impose upon us. And in the course of it, we might discover a new way, to actually live and to relate to culture by being involved in it, to be involved in a way that is more than just complaining on the internet. To be actually doing something and to be putting your work out there to be ridiculed or voided as it might be. That's just what every artist has to go through. And we could all be artists. We could all be so much more than we are allowed to be at present. And we could have communities that are real communities. The community that I remember growing up in, down in the Boroughs in Northampton, was a very, very impoverished community, but its coherence emotionally was tremendous. Everybody that I know who came from that area talks about it with an incredible fondness; just how nice the people were when they had nothing.

I think that sociologists have said that when people's physical situations get absolutely unbearable, that is when they start to cohere. That is when they start to connect with each other and start to look after each other because they realize the value of looking after other people because you might need them to look after you. This is my hope, that we can remember our own power that we have given away in the form of votes, we have given away in our political power, we have given away in our agency, in all of these things, and we should reclaim it. We should remember what human beings can be and what human communities can be. Because I think that is something that we need now more than ever.

One thing I was particularly relieved to hear you say in your BBC Maestro course was that reading tends to ebb and flow in popularity over each subsequent century, but it always manages to survive. Has that perspective changed at all since the advent of AI?

Well, no. The advent of AI is going to cost a lot of people their jobs, and it's already resulting in a drop in quality in culture. I mean, there are apparently AI novels or AI-assisted novels that are out there at the moment. I don't think any of them sound like the sort of things that I'll be investigating and I think the only problem with our AI is that if we have had such crappy culture mashed down our throats that we can no longer distinguish between good writing, good music, or AI-generated writing or music.

I continue to believe that all art, writing, music, painting, everything, it's inscribed outside of time. It's there forever and for people of the future – if we have people in the future – those people can look at that stuff and can connect with it and it can speak to them in whatever time that they're living in. That is a conviction that has only deepened. So no, we needn't worry about SkyNet. A pocket calculator is not going to have a Cartesian epiphany any time in the near future.

I was revisiting a prior interview where you described yourself as a perpetual optimist. With so many problems in the world – be it the environmental crisis, increasingly partisan politics, the ongoing decline in interest for our culture and humanities – how do you continue to remain hopeful about the future?

One of the things that I, during the last century, became very aware of was that for a lot of people, the future is not really to be considered because you've got people on the right wing who think, “Well, the future is going to be exactly like the present, but with smaller radios.” And on the left wing, you've got people thinking, “Well, there isn't going to be a future. There's just going to be this mushroom cloud explanation mark and that'll be the end of everything.” So, in neither instance have you got anybody planning for a future. Which seems to me to be a pretty sure way of saying that either you won't get a future or you'll get a completely chaotic future that nobody has thought about.

In some ways the whole of the Long London series is about just that. It’s about where we are now, how did we get here, what is our problem, what underlying disaster has caused us to be in this condition, and what could we possibly do about it. Hopefully, I can manage to get this across in a series that ends in 1999 before this century starts, but I'm hoping to take a broader look at the picture and to recast our dilemma.

I think that it will probably seem very pessimistic with the ending that I’ve got planned, but I promise you, that that is not how it is intended. It is the most optimistic that I can be about our current situation, which is that, yes, our world is ending, but I believe it has to. I always forget the name of the person who said this – I'm borrowing it from Slavoj Žižek, who had repeated it – “The new world cannot be born because the old world refuses to die.” I think that that, in a nutshell, is our dilemma. And hopefully if readers stick with me to the end of this unlikely and sometimes sordid London fantasy, then I hope that that is the message [they can take away from the books]. It is about the death of an old world and the possible beginnings of a new one. But… no spoilers. They'll have to wait until they've read the fifth book.

Moore's latest addition to his Long London series, I Hear a New World, debuts on May 26, 2026 wherever books are sold.

For pasta lovers, few grocery store finds inspire the kind of loyalty that Rao's Homemade does. What started as a beloved Italian restaurant sauce recipe has evolved into a full-blown pantry staple, with fans swearing by its rich flavor, simple ingredients and homemade taste reputation.

In a world crowded with jarred sauces, Rao's has managed to carve out cult-favorite status, earning prime real estate in kitchens everywhere from busy family homes to foodie apartments stocked with imported olive oil and fancy pasta shapes.

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What many love is that Rao's doesn't try too hard. The sauces lean classic and comforting, focusing on slow-simmered tomatoes and traditional Italian-inspired flavors rather than trendy gimmicks. That formula has clearly worked, and now the brand is building on its momentum with an even creamier twist.

After the successful debut of its Creamy Marinara last year, Rao's is expanding the lineup with two new indulgent additions designed to make weeknight pasta feel even more restaurant-worthy.

Courtesy Rao's Homemade

The bold newcomers include Creamy Roasted Garlic and Creamy Peppered Parmesan. Both sauces start with the same foundation that made the original creamy version a hit—Italian tomatoes simmered low and slow, blended with mascarpone cheese for a silky texture and rich finish. Mascarpone, the dreamy, ultra-smooth Italian cheese, adds luxurious body without overwhelming the sauce, making the resulting dish velvety rather than heavy.

The new Creamy Roasted Garlic flavor is aimed squarely at garlic lovers. It combines roasted garlic with the tomato and mascarpone base for a savory sauce that feels cozy and deeply flavorful. It sounds like the kind of jar you open when plain spaghetti suddenly needs an extra bit of personality.

Related: 7 Classic Grocery Brands That Quietly Disappeared—Do You Remember Them?

Meanwhile, the Creamy Peppered Parmesan variety takes a bolder route. Along with mascarpone and tomatoes, it features real Parmigiano Reggiano and cracked black pepper for a sharper, more savory finish. Imagine a cross between a creamy tomato sauce and a peppery cacio e pepe-inspired comfort dish.

Of course, the fan-favorite Creamy Marinara isn’t going anywhere. That sauce blends tomatoes, cream and mascarpone into a smooth, crowd-pleasing option that works just as well on penne as it does layered into baked pasta dishes.

Rao's says the sauces are designed to work beyond basic spaghetti night, and it's easy to picture them starring in viral baked pasta recipes, spooned over chicken cutlets or used as a shortcut for a richer homemade-style lasagna.

Starting this month, the expanded creamy sauce lineup will roll out online and at retailers nationwide—giving devoted Rao's fans yet another reason to hang out near the pasta aisle.

Related: The Italian Way To Make Pasta Salad 10x Better

Others unconsciously gravitate toward you because you exude a rare, ethereal, siren-like energy or aura thanks to your birth month. Some might immediately pick up on your energy from the way you dress and carry yourself. You might feel inspired to dress more mysterious yet whimsical, which gives you an otherworldly appeal. People might even remark that you have this specific vibe based on your looks. But your siren-like energy goes beyond your exterior. No matter how hard someone tries, they will inevitably be sucked into your orbit. There’s something unusually beautiful and mythical about you that nobody can put their finger on. 

Your birth month plays a significant role in your aura and energy. The cosmic energy of these four birth months gives them an ethereal, siren-like energy. Each birth month is home to two zodiac signs that come together to create a magnetizing allure. People born during these four birth months share a mysterious yet seductive quality only sirens embody. Read on to discover if your birth month has ethereal, siren-like energy. 

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Check for the month you were born for pro insights.

Most wouldn’t think that February has siren-like qualities, but this birth month does. Having a February birthday means embodying the uniqueness of Aquarius and the fantasticalness of Pisces, which means no two February birthdays are alike. Each person born during this month is singular. From how they look to how they act, all February-born are highly individualistic. Their uniqueness gives them a mystical aura that everyone else will be intrigued by. Nobody can look away from a February-born, because they have magnetic personalities and an exemplary style. It’s no secret that February knows how to lure someone in thanks to their ethereal vibes. 

READ: What Kind of Fairy You Are, Based on Birth Date

July’s ethereal, siren-like energy comes across a bit differently from the other birth months. Those born in July are a mix of luminous Cancer and solar Leo, so they’re known for having an outstanding presence. Nobody can look away from July, because they’re radiant. July’s siren-like aura comes across as warm and exciting. Their confidence is awe-inspiring. Everyone cannot help but to watch for July’s next move, because people born during this month are incredibly self-assured. Aside from their obvious brilliance, July still exudes a quiet intuitive power that makes everyone else feel like they’re in the presence of a mythical being. 

Sirens are born in October. People with this birth month are a combination of Venusian Libra and seductive Scorpio, making them undeniable. October babies can thank their Venusian energy for making them so captivating. It’s not unlikely that people born during this month even look like sirens. Their appearance evokes temptation. Everyone else cannot help but fall in love with October for their siren-like beauty. Not only are October birthdays alluring, they’re also enigmatic. People with this birth month don’t readily open up, so there’s an ethereal air of mystery surrounding them. Only sirens like October-born can get away with being inscrutable. 

November-borns share a bewitching energy. Individuals born during this month play upon Scorpio’s mysteriousness and Sagittarius’ brilliance, so they’re known for having a gravitational pull. Everyone is immediately sucked in. November comes across as someone that everyone has to know. They have an otherworldly allure that appears well-versed and deep. People born during this month have gone everywhere and experienced everything, or so it seems. Their wealth of knowledge is profound, but they don’t share it often. November can be hard to pin down. Their mysterious yet magical aura will keep you sucked in, even if you never get to truly know them.

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Solo travel is having a massive moment. The U.S. solo travel market is officially a whopping $94.9 billion industry, proving that more travelers than ever are trading the headache of group coordination for the ultimate freedom of an independent itinerary.

But heading out on your own always brings up one major question: Where can I go and feel completely secure?

To find out, the data experts at Squaremouth, the nation’s largest travel insurance marketplace, analyzed crime rates, local health systems, and infrastructure to release their 2026 Solo Travel Risk Index. While bucket-list hubs like Switzerland and Singapore made the top 10, the hands-down safest spot in the world is a tiny European microstate you’ve likely skipped right past on the map.

Related: This European Country Was Just Named the Safest Destination for Solo Female Travelers in 2026—and It Isn't Switzerland

Earning a nearly flawless danger score of just 0.78 out of 10, the microstate of San Marino clinches the number-one spot. Completely landlocked by Italy and dramatically perched on the slopes of Mount Titano, this historic hidden gem offers medieval castles, tax-free shopping and zero crowds.

It’s a dream for a slow-travel lovers who wants European charm without the pickpocket anxieties of bigger hubs. According to Squaremouth, a staggering 90% of local residents report feeling entirely safe walking alone at night, backed by low environmental risks and flawless local healthcare.

Related: The One Thing You Should Never, Ever Do at Hotel Check-In

If San Marino isn't on your radar yet, the runner-up spots offer a mix of mountain escapes and pristine cityscapes:

• Andorra (Risk Score: 1.33/10): Tucked high in the Pyreneesmountains between France and Spain, fewer than 14% of locals worry about personal safety here, making it a dream for independent hikers and skiers.
• Singapore (Risk Score: 1.56/10): For those looking to cross the Pacific, Singapore combines world-class tech, ultra-reliable transit, and exceptional healthcare. Over 75% of locals feel completely secure wandering the night markets alone.

Rounding out the top five safest spots for 2026 are Austria (1.74) and the Czech Republic (1.77).

"Keeping up to date with local news and official government travel advice is key for solo travel. Official advisories can be updated at any time based on new information and changing circumstances, so we recommend checking before and during your trip," said Chrissy Valdez, Senior Director of Operations at Squaremouth.

Whether you’re booking a quick medieval getaway or a long-haul Asian trek, packing light and choosing destinations that prioritize public safety means you can spend less time worrying about your wallet and more time enjoying the open road.

Related: The Rise of the ‘Solo Social’ Trip: 5 Best Getaways for Travelers Who Want to Go Alone—But Not Stay Alone