Yemeni lawyer Ishraq al-Maqtari shares her memories of being one of the first women to take to the streets in Taiz city, which later became known as the ‘cradle of the revolution’.
Jared Leto’s latest character has a thirst for blood. Of course, we’re not referring to the serial killer he portrays in his brand new Netflix film, The Little Things. We’re talking about Morbius, the character he plays in the film of the same name, who he says was a difficult character to portray in a new interview in Variety’s Actors on Actors series.
“It’s a big, fun movie filled with action. It’s a brilliant doctor, a researcher, who starts off trying to find a cure for a disease that he has and about 1,000 other people in the world have. I was interested in the role because he goes on this journey from dying to finding a cure for this disease and becoming incredibly healthy, and then having things change in a way that he becomes monstrous. So it’s a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde, which is of course a classic role.”
Leto is best known for his character roles, like the transgender character Rayon from 2013’s Dallas Buyer’s Club, who became a flashpoint for questions about transgender representation in Hollywood. In an interview with actor John David Washington, Leto explained the challenges unique to the character and to starring in a Marvel film.
Nintendo is following Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ January update with another free content update in March. The company has shared very few details about that patch as of yet, other than confirming it will introduce some Mario content to the game, but here’s what we can generally expect.
Although Nintendo hasn’t shared much information about Animal Crossing’s March update, the company had previously announced that a line of Mario-themed furniture will be added to the game that month. We don’t know exactly how many pieces of furniture will be added or just what they’ll look like, but Mario items have been a staple of the Animal Crossing series since the beginning. Previous entries have featured wallpaper and flooring inspired by the original Super Mario Bros., as well as furniture based on the Super Mushroom, Super Star, fire bar, and other iconic Mario items. There were also Mario clothing and accessories, including the plumber’s signature cap and mustache.
Given that Nintendo has been redesigning many of Animal Crossing’s older furniture sets for New Horizons, it’s possible the developer could take the same approach with the Mario line and redesign existing items or even introduce completely new ones. In either case, it seems likely that some of the aforementioned Mario items could be added as part of March’s update (the tease at the end of the game’s latest trailer featured the Super Mushroom and Super Star, so it seems safe to say furniture based on those power-ups will at the very least be added). How players will be able to obtain them remains to be seen, however; it’s possible that Nintendo could introduce the items as part of an in-game event, or implement them as DIY recipes and have players craft the items themselves.
Activision Blizzard reached out to provide a response to today’s report claiming Vice “mischaracterized” the SEC filing made by the company’s attorneys. In this new statement, Activision Blizzard says its objections were “rooted in the fact that the AFL-CIO proposal failed to adequately consider how to apply these practices in all of the countries we operate in.”
The AFL-CIO is a federation of labor unions and is based in the United States. The organization is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation, and several affiliated unions do cross borders into Canada. IGN has asked Activision Blizzard to clarify whether the AFL-CIO specifically requested these hiring rules to be applied across all of Activision Blizzard’s international businesses, or just ones based in the United States.
Here’s Activision Blizzard’s full statement below:
Activision Blizzard is committed to inclusive hiring practices and to creating a diverse workforce; it is essential to our mission. Vice completely mischaracterized the SEC filing made by our outside attorneys. In fact, our hiring practices are rooted in ensuring diversity for all roles. We engage in this aggressively and successfully. Our objection was rooted in the fact that the AFL-CIO proposal failed to adequately consider how to apply these practices in all of the countries we operate in.
Our games have uniquely influenced popular culture and have helped to increase tolerance and inclusion through their connectivity as well as the heroes we portray and our stories that celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion in so many powerful ways.
In order to ensure that our games stay true to our mission–to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment–we require that all candidates of all backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, races and sexual orientations are considered for each and every open role. We aggressively recruit diverse candidates so the workforce provides the inspired creativity required to meet the expectations of our diverse 400 million players across 190 countries. We remain committed to increasing diversity at all levels throughout Activision Blizzard worldwide.
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Original Story: A new report has found that Activision Blizzard is resisting the adoption of a hiring practice that would require the company to interview at least one candidate who is a qualified woman or minority candidate. Activision Blizzard, via its attorneys have called this practice “unworkable.”
In a new report from VICE, the AFL-CIO, the largest labor federation in the United States, submitted a shareholder proposal to Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts (EA) requesting it adopt a hiring policy that would require each company to include women and people of color in its initial pool of potential candidates.
The AFL-CIO is a shareholder in both Activision Blizzard and EA, and the letter request was sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The proposal is modeled after the Rooney Rule in the National Football League. Adopted in 2003, the rule required NFL teams to interview at least one non-white candidate for a coaching job. VICE reports that the rule was later expanded to include women and other marginalized candidates.
Activision, a company of over 9,000 employees and the makers of some of the biggest games like Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War and World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, has reportedly chafed at this proposal. It has taken measures to exempt itself by claiming that these guidelines are excluded from the SEC’s guidelines for shareholder proposals.
Furthermore, a letter by Activision, obtained by Motherboard claims, “While the Company has implemented a Rooney Rule policy as envisioned [for director and CEO nominees], implementing a policy that would extend such an approach to all hiring decisions amounts to an unworkable encroachment on the Company’s ability to run its business and compete for talent in a highly competitive, fast-moving market.”
Activision claims that this proposal violates SEC guidance as a way for a shareholder to “micromanage” the company. In a statement to VICE, EA says it will “consider the stockholder proposal” with its Board of Directors.
It should be noted that these proposals are legally non-binding. What they end up doing, however, is to highlight issues and pave a way forward for a company to address them. But Activision appears to get ahead of having these discussions altogether.
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Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter @LawofTD.
An animated Game of Thrones series is in very early stages of production at HBO Max, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
No deal has been inked as of yet, so it’s entirely possible the series will never materialize, but THR reports that HBO is meeting with writers for the potential project. The animated series will reportedly follow in the same mature tone of the original TV franchise.
Representatives for HBO Max declined to comment. It’s unclear if the animated series would follow the events of the original series or follow different events in the Thrones universe.
Chalk it up to the growing list of Game of Thrones spinoffs that HBO is eagerly pursuing following the end of the original series. There’s the adaptation of the “Tales of Dunk and Egg” novellas that explores the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and Aegon Targaryen. House of the Dragon, a prequel series focused on the Targaryen family, has recently hired on Doctor Who’s Matt Smith and The Witcher series director Geeta Patel and expected to premier in 2022.
This won’t be HBO Max’s first original animated series. Close Enough, the next series from Regular Show creator J.G. Quintel, premiered in 2020. IGN gave it a seven out of 10, calling it a “effective and entertaining.” HBO Max has also produced a number of original animated miniseries based on properties like Looney Tunes and Adventure Time.
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Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/animated fella for IGN.
In what promises to be the biggest cinematic throwdown since Batman v Superman, Godzilla and King Kong are finally rekindling their age-old rivalry in the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong. When a gigantic lizard monster and an oversized monkey get into an old-fashioned donnybrook, there can be only one victor.
Or can there? If we’ve learned anything from Batman v Superman and the many other hero vs. hero crossovers in pop culture, it’s that these stories usually culminate with the two combatants putting aside their differences to battle a common foe. In this case, will Godzilla and King Kong team up to take on Mechagodzilla or Mecha-King Ghidorah? That’s a popular theory among fans, and there’s plenty of evidence to support it, including a tantalizing couple of moments in the trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong. Here’s why Godzilla and King Kong’s big brawl may be just an appetizer for the true fight to come.
Could this red-eyed monstrosity in the Godzilla vs. Kong trailer actually be Mechagodzilla?
Legendary’s Godzilla MonsterVerse: The Story So Far
Godzilla vs. Kong is actually the fourth film in a shared cinematic universe that began with 2014’s Godzilla reboot. Dubbed “The MonsterVerse,” this series also includes 2017’s Kong: Skull Island and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. In this universe, humanity is under constant threat from gigantic monsters called Titans or MUTOs (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms), who are attracted to humanity’s nuclear technology. Godzilla himself is basically nature’s immune system. He wakes up every so often to fight off these Titans and prevent the world from being completely overrun.
While there are a handful of characters who appear in multiple movies (Millie Bobby Brown’s Madison Russell, Kyle Chandler’s Mark Russell, Ken Watanabe’s Dr. Ishirō Serizawa), it’s really the scientific organization Monarch which ties the larger universe together. Monarch is formed after World War II to study the Titans and attempt to hide their existence from the general public. It’s this group that sets the events of Kong: Skull Island in motion, and they’re the ones tasked with dealing with a new wave of Titans in Godzilla and Godzilla: King of the Monsters. The organization will continue to play a major role in Godzilla vs. Kong and, in fact, they may be the ones responsible for setting the final battle in motion.
The post-credits scene in King of the Monsters certainly hints at this outcome. That movie ends with a glimpse of Charles Dance’s character, ecoterrorist Alan Jonah, approaching the slain corpse of King Ghidorah, heavily implying his group has plans to study and even weaponize the remains of Godzilla’s powerful nemesis. That certainly seems like a seed that’ll bear fruit in Godzilla vs. Kong.
The Godzilla franchise has seen many incarnations over the years, but one thing is constant. Inevitably, the king of the monsters starts battling giant robots. Godzilla’s feud with Mechagodzilla dates all the way back to 1974’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. In that movie, Mechagodzilla is portrayed as an alien weapon constructed of “space titanium” (which is clearly far superior to regular titanium) sent to conquer Earth for its creators. However, in most of its later appearances, Mechagodzilla is instead depicted as a terrestrial robot charged with protecting humanity from Godzilla. Ironic, considering Godzilla is just trying to save us from ourselves.
Whatever its current origin story, with its vast armory and armored shell, Mechagodzilla usually puts up a pretty good fight. But in the end, it’s only ever a matter of time before Mechagodzilla winds up decapitated and explodes.
Similarly, Mecha-King Ghidorah has a long history duking it out with Godzilla, starting with 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. In that movie, humans from the future use their technology to revive King Ghidorah and give him a technological upgrade. For once, Godzilla’s nemesis is shown fighting in defense of humanity rather than trying to destroy it.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla vs. Kong?
As much as we’re all pumped to see Godzilla and King Kong pummel each other, we highly doubt the new movie will show them at each other’s throats the entire time. Both characters are really the heroes, at the end of the day, even if Kong’s story tends to end in tragedy. Kong only cares about protecting whatever comely human lass has caught his eye lately, while Godzilla is basically the MonsterVerse’s version of Galactus – a great destroyer who maintains balance in the universe.
Eventually, these two monsters will realize they shouldn’t be fighting each other. That’s probably where the movie’s true villain comes in. As we covered already, the post-credits teaser in King of the Monsters hints that Monarch is using the remains of King Ghidorah to build a terrible new weapon. And we might even see a glimpse of that weapon in the first trailer for Godzilla vs. Kong. If you pause at the three- to four-second mark, those glowing red eyes sure seem like they’d belong to a mecha-giant monster of some kind, don’t they?
The old-school Mechagodzilla.
The trailer also shows a computer screen that seems to display the schematics for a mechanized Titan. Heck, it could even be that Mechagodzilla is running around wrecking cities in a Godzilla skin suit, and that’s why everyone is so mad at Godzilla!
Or maybe it’s just that, having endured several giant monster rampages in the last few years, Monarch’s scientists are obsessed with building a weapon that can stop Godzilla and all other Titans in their tracks. Using a combination of King Ghidorah’s carcass and the finest tech 2021 has to offer, Monarch will unleash a greater threat than anything it’s been trying to stop. Whether that threat turns out to be Mechagodzilla or Mecha-King Ghidorah (or both), the end result is the same.
It’s an understandable, if misguided, mission. Nobody wants to live n constant fear of an enormous reptile stomping through their apartment complex. But as is so often the case in science fiction, mankind may be guilty of underestimating its own creation. We know from King of the Monsters that Ghidorah is an ancient alien trying to terraform the planet. What if Mecha-King Ghidorah retains its memories, causing what should be a defensive measure for humanity to become a greater threat than Godzilla or King Kong could ever be? Godzilla and King’s wrestling match could be the least of our problems.
And then there’s also these Funko POP figures for the film, which feature variations on Godzilla and Kong… including a Kong with RED eyes. Maybe he just needs some visine… or could we be looking at a Mecha Kong as well here? There is a precedent for that, and he’s called… Mechani-Kong!
On this week’s episode of IGN’s PlayStation show, Podcast Beyond!, host Jonathon Dornbush is joined by Brian Altano, Lucy O’Brien, and Max Scoville to discuss the Resident Evil Village Maiden demo, exclusively available on PS5, as well as why we’re loving Hitman 3, Cyber Shadow, and more.
Plus, we miss the PlayStation Plus games announcements but make our guess for the lineup, answers some listener questions, and more!
