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  • Kore-eda Hirokazu’s ‘Look Back’ Leads Tokyo International Film Festival Goes to Cannes Lineup (EXCLUSIVE)

    Kore-eda Hirokazu’s ‘Look Back’ Leads Tokyo International Film Festival Goes to Cannes Lineup (EXCLUSIVE)

    Five Japanese features are heading to the Cannes Film Festival next month through the Tokyo International Film Festival‘s Goes to Cannes showcase, with Kore-eda Hirokazu‘s “Look Back” – a drama about two young women bound together by their devotion to manga across 13 years – the marquee title in a lineup spread across suspense, animation, mystery and family drama.

    All five titles are Japanese-language productions due for 2026 completion. Kadokawa Corporation and Toei Company each contribute one title, while Shin-Ei Animation brings the selection’s sole animated feature.

    Organized by the Cannes Festival’s Marché du Film, the Goes to Cannes series of seven showcases of works in progress from festivals and markets all over the world is offering two new awards in 2026: the OCS+ Award, with €15,000 ($17,725) for the French distributor of a Goes to Cannes project, and the AH Media Production Award of €10,000 ($11,800) in cash. These prizes join the well-known Sideral Cinema Award of a €10,000 minimum guarantee for one of the projects.

    A closer look at the Tokyo International Film Festival Goes to Cannes lineup:

    “The Gate of Murder” (Kanai Ko, Tsubaki Yoshikazu, Kadokawa Corporation and storyboard, Japan)

    Directed by Kanai Ko and produced by Tsubaki Yoshikazu through Kadokawa Corporation, this suspense feature follows a man nursing a simmering desire to kill a childhood acquaintance he holds responsible for a lifetime of accumulated misfortune – and the question of whether that desire will eventually be acted upon.

    “All That Exists” (working title) (Zeze Takahisa, Takahashi Naoya, Toei Company, Ltd., Japan)

    Directed by Zeze Takahisa and produced by Takahashi Naoya through Toei Company, this mystery-drama centers on a journalist who revisits a decades-old double child abduction after the death of a former colleague in law enforcement. Three decades on from the original case, his renewed inquiry draws him toward a mysterious realist painter whose connection to the events gradually comes into focus.

    “You, Fireworks, and Our Promise” (working title) (Suzuki Kei, Umezawa Michihiko, Shin-Ei Animation and SynergySP, Japan)

    Directed by Suzuki Kei and produced by Umezawa Michihiko through Shin-Ei Animation and SynergySP, this adventure-drama follows a high-school student who encounters a girl carrying a drawing that bears his name and a future date. When she disappears and her identical great-grandmother arrives from the past, he must piece together what connects them before the fireworks fade.

    “Lives at Right Angles” (Kobayashi Syoutarou, Sato Gen, Toei Video Company and Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures, Japan)

    Directed by Kobayashi Syoutarou and produced by Sato Gen through Toei Video Company, with Hakuhodo DY Music & Pictures attached as sales agent, this family drama follows Daiki, a man with autism spectrum disorder who holds a janitorial job and manages his own life with limited outside help. His younger sister Nozomi, a counselor, has sustained him since their mother’s early death. When she announces marriage plans, both siblings find themselves forced to confront their own futures independently.

    “Look Back” (Kore-eda Hirokazu, Koide Daiju, K2 Pictures Production Inc., Japan)

    Directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu and produced by Koide Daiju through K2 Pictures Production Inc., “Look Back” follows Fujino and Kyomoto – two elementary-school classmates in a snowbound rural town – whose shared obsession with drawing manga draws them into a friendship that unfolds across 13 years.

  • Bitcoin Exchange Upbit Announces It Will List This Altcoin on Its Spot Trading Platform! Here Are the Details

    Bitcoin Exchange Upbit Announces It Will List This Altcoin on Its Spot Trading Platform! Here Are the Details

    South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has decided to list another digital asset. According to the exchange’s statement, the Spark ($SPK) token will be available for trading against the Korean won (KRW) starting April 23rd at 12:00 PM. The asset will be supported on the Ethereum network.

    The warning issued to users emphasized the critical importance of correctly selecting the network before making deposits. It stated that transfers made outside the specified network would not be supported and the processing time might be lengthy. Furthermore, it was noted that transactions might not begin on the planned date if sufficient liquidity is not available.

    Upbit will implement the standard restrictions it applies to new listings for the Capital Markets Board ($SPK) as well. Accordingly, buy orders will be restricted for the first five minutes after the opening of trading. During the same period, sell orders below 10% of the previous day’s closing price will not be allowed. In addition, only limit orders will be available for the first two hours.

    The Capital Markets Board ($SPK) announced that the previous day’s closing price on the $BTC market was 0.00000049 $BTC, approximately 57 Korean won. Users were also reminded to carefully check their wallet addresses and contract information.

    The Spark project aims to provide decentralized finance infrastructure within the Sky Protocol ecosystem. The platform offers services such as savings, lending, and liquidity distribution, while the $SPK token is used for governance and staking purposes. This listing is expected to expand Upbit’s product range and offer new opportunities to investors.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • OpenAI appears to be poaching Coinbase’s marketing team

    OpenAI appears to be poaching Coinbase’s marketing team

    It’s no surprise that there’s a general pivot from blockchain to artificial intelligence right now.

    Every week brings another report of a company or person either leaving the cryptocurrency industry entirely or adding artificial intelligence to their portfolios. Bitcoin miners are moving away from mining to increasingly focus on AI infrastructure and venture capital firms are funding AI firms rather than crypto companies.

    But it’s unusual when the leading members of the same team leave one company and jump into another just down the road. That’s exactly what appears to have happened to the senior marketing team at crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), which, over the course of a year or so, has landed at San Francisco-based OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. Coinbase maintains a 150,000-square-foot office in the city.

    It’s worth noting that Coinbase employs a large number of marketing staff and six — albeit quite senior roles — make up only a small portion of the entire team.

    The marketing talent migration began with Sarah Russell, who joined OpenAI as VP, integrated marketing and ops in November 2024. She had spent one year and three months as the senior director of integrated marketing at Coinbase, a position she left in January 2023. It’s worth noting that earlier in her career, she worked at Facebook’s (now Meta) Menlo Park headquarters.

    A month later, Kate Rouch became OpenAI’s chief marketing officer. Directly prior to that, she spent three and a half years in the same role at Coinbase. Before that, she spent over 11 years as global head of brand and product marketing at Meta.

    Rouch was followed by Elke Karstens, who joined OpenAI as head of international marketing in March 2025, though she didn’t move directly. Karstens spent three months at a London-based paytech startup called Finom. Karstens also spent over 10 years at Meta in various marketing roles.

    The following September saw another two transitions: Kaitlin Gianetti became head of integrated marketing management at OpenAI a month after leaving Coinbase, and Amy (Good) Robbins joined as brand insights lead directly after leaving Coinbase. Gianetti had spent just over four years as director of integrated marketing at Coinbase. Prior to that, she also worked as a brand marketing executive at Meta. Robbins spent three and a half years as senior manager of insights at Coinbase.

    Most recently, Nina Mogavero joined OpenAI in December 2025 to work in marketing strategy and operations, a month after leaving Coinbase where she’d spent three years in marketing and strategy.

    A person familiar with the situation said the exodus was no coincidence. The person described Rouch as the “nexus,” when it comes to enticing former Coinbase colleagues to move over to OpenAI.

    “To be fair, she hired a lot of them or brought them from Facebook,” they said. Kate Rouch did not respond to a request for comment.

    A Coinbase spokesperson brushed away the departures. “The marketing team at Coinbase is over 150 people and while some folks have left to join OpenAI last year, and we wish them the best, characterizing this as anything other than normal people moves would be incorrect,” the spokesperson said via email.

    OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment.

    Marketing isn’t the only department that’s seen AI as more attractive than crypto. Earlier this month, Tom Duff Gordon, the former VP of international policy at Coinbase, left to become OpenAI’s head of EMEA Policy.

    Other Coinbase alumni who have headed to OpenAI include

    • Yi X, who joined the AI firm as product manager in April 2025
    • The head of design at decentralized trading platform Base, Alexandra Fitzroy, left Coinbase in October 2025 after just over five years
    • Abe Sprague left Coinbase in September 2024 to become a member of OpenAI’s data science team.

    OpenAI isn’t the only machine learning shop to win over Coinbase marketing talent. Earlier this month, Sarah Wolf, the marketing lead behind Coinbase’s Base layer-2 network, left after nearly five years at the exchange to head startup marketing at AI lab Anthropic.

  • Recap: Pistons, Thunder roll to dominant victories

    Recap: Pistons, Thunder roll to dominant victories

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder defeated the Suns in Game 2 of their 2026 NBA Playoffs series.

    We’re done for the night! The number one seeds rolled this evening with dominant efforts.

    Check out the best of Wednesday’s action with the NBA.com live blog, as the 2026 NBA Playoffs continue.

    Cade Cunningham (27 pts, 11 ast) and the Pistons locked down the Magic to open the night, blocking 11 shots on their way to a 98-83 win.

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (37 pts, 9 ast) and the Thunder rolled over the Suns, earning a 120-107 win to go up 2-0.

    What we know after Wednesday’s games:

    • The Pistons held the Magic to a season-low in points, winning Game 2 98-83 to even their series at 1-1.
    • The Thunder rolled over the Suns 120-107 behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (37 pts, 9 reb).
    • Check out the postgame pressers:
    • We pick these series up on Saturday as part of a quadruple-header.
      • Pistons vs. Magic, 1 ET (Peacock / NBC Sports Network)
      • Thunder vs. Suns, 3:30 ET (Peacock / NBC)
      • Knicks vs. Hawks, 6 ET (Peacock / NBC)
      • Nuggets vs. Timberwolves, 8:30 ET (ABC)

    APRIL 22, 2026 / 12:55 ET

    Wednesday’s results

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (37 pts, 5 reb, 9 ast, 1 stl) is your top performer of the night.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 12:50 ET

    One time for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 12:44 ET

    Postgame Presser: Suns-Thunder


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 12:30 ET

    Thunder defeat Suns

    120-107, sparked by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (37 pts, 9 ast).

    Oklahoma City led by as many as 27 points, controlling the game throughout the second half.

    Dillon Brooks (30 pts) was the top scorer for Phoenix.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 11:54 ET

    Brooks boosts Phoenix

    A personal 9-0 run for Dillon Brooks (26 pts) brought the Suns back somewhat, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (31 pts) cooly hit a jumper along the baseline to bring the Thunder lead back to 108-89 with seven minutes to go in the fourth.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 11:35 ET

    Watch out for Shai

    SGA’s up to 27 points, surpassing his 25 points from Game 1.

    Thunder up 98-77 with 1:18 to go in the third quarter.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 11:26 ET

    Chet Holmgren dominating

    Back-to-back blocks for Chet Holmgren (19 pts, 6 reb, 4 ast), interspersed with an acrobatic layup off a feed from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Thunder big man has exerted his influence in recent minutes, giving the Suns another obstacle to deal with around the rim.

    “How about Chet?” Doris Burke said. “How many guys can make the kinds of plays he’s making on the defensive end?”

    Holmgren is the first player since Josh Smith in 2008 to put up 10 points and four blocks in a Playoff quarter.

    84-70 Thunder with 4:23 to go in the quarter.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 11:23 ET

    One time for Cade Cunningham

    I bet Zeke’s proud.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 11:17 ET

    Thunder surging

    77-64 Oklahoma City, as Isaiah Hartenstein (3 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast) hits Chet Holmgren (16 pts) for the big-to-big alley-oop, forcing a Phoenix timeout.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 10:54 ET

    Thunder up 54-46 at the break

    Jalen Williams (19 pts on 7-of-8 shooting) took over in the second quarter, pacing the Thunder to a lead at halftime in the Paycom Center.

    They’ve turned the ball over just four times, while Phoenix has 11 turnovers so far.

    But the Suns are 6-of-14 from 3-point range (42.9%), keeping them in it.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 10:34 ET

    Suns sticking close on ESPN

    51-46 Thunder with 6:00 to go in the second quarter, as Phoenix battles to stay with the defending champs on their home court.

    We’ve seen nine lead changes and two ties so far in the contest, with Jalen Williams (16 pts) and Jalen Green (12 pts) going off in the second quarter to carry the scoring.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 10:17 ET

    Thunder up 30-29 after one

    The Suns battled back as the first quarter wound down, ending on a 10-5 run to cut the Thunder lead to one.

    They went 4-of-8 from 3-point range in the first quarter and earned a 7-2 advantage in fast break points.

    Collin Gillespie (7 pts, 4 ast) and Dillon Brooks (7 pts) are the top scorers for Phoenix, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (11 pts) is getting buckets for Oklahoma City.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 10:09 ET

    Postgame Presser: Magic-Pistons


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 10:04 ET

    Thunder taking control with a 13-2 run

    25-16 Thunder with 4:30 to go in the first quarter, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (8 pts on 4-of-5 shooting) gets rolling despite tweaking a finger on his shooting hand.

    “He’s caught fire here,” said Dave Pasch.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 9:50 ET

    Pistons even series with Magic

    In their first home Playoff win since 2008, the Pistons used a prototypical defensive effort to corral the Magic 98-83 and even their first round series at 1-1.

    Detroit held Orlando to a season-low in scoring, limiting the Magic to 32.5% shooting on the night.

    The game was tied at the half, but the Pistons used a 38-16 third quarter to take control, leading by as many as 27.

    Cade Cunningham (27 pts, 6 reb, 11 ast) was the top scorer on the game.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 9:40 ET

    Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder host the Phoenix Suns in Game 2 of their 2026 NBA Playoffs series as our ESPN doubleheader continues.

    Phoenix:

    • PG Collin Gillespie (8 pts, 2 ast, 2 3PM)
    • SG Devin Booker (23 pts, 6 reb)
    • SF Jalen Green (17 pts, 5 reb)
    • PF Dillon Brooks (18 pts, 7 reb)
    • C Oso Ighodaro (9 reb, 3 ast)

    Oklahoma City:

    • PG Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (25 pts, 7 ast)
    • SG Luguentz Dort (8 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast)
    • SF Jalen Williams (22 pts, 7 reb, 6 ast)
    • PF Chet Holmgren (16 pts, 7 reb)
    • C Isaiah Hartenstein (8 pts, 8 reb, 2 blk)

    Watch Grayson Allen off the Suns’ bench. The Duke product averaged 16.3 ppg this season, which the Suns could use against the Thunder’s league-leading defense (106.5 DRTG).


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 9:25 ET

    All Pistons in Little Caesars Arena

    The Pistons are holding the Magic to 31.3% shooting so far, including a 6-of-25 mark from 3-point range (24%), with 11 blocks so far tonight.

    Isaiah Stewart just added another rim-protecting swat to his resume, blocking Paolo Banchero’s attempt at a posterizing two-hand jam.

    Ben Wallace and Richard Hamilton are in attendance as Detroit basketball shines bright on this Wednesday night.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 9:10 ET

    A dominant effort from Detroit


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 9:00 ET

    Pistons firing on all cylinders

    The Detroit lead keeps growing, as Isaiah Stewart (4 pts, 3 reb, 1 blk) rejects Jalen Suggs’ (15 pts) dunk at the rim at the rim.

    It’s 76-49 with 4:20 to go in the third.

    Franz Wagner (4 pts), Wendell Carter Jr. (3 pts) and Desmond Bane (8 pts) have 15 points combined so far — they had 53 in Game 1.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 8:52 ET

    Pistons open up the lead

    69-49 Detroit with 6:23 to go in the third quarter, as the Pistons start the period on a 23-3 run, shooting 76.9 from the field in the period.

    “It’s an avalanche here in the third,” said Mike Breen.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 8:25 ET

    Tied at 46 at the half

    In a defensive battle, Orlando and Detroit are tied going into the second half, combining for 18 assists versus 21 turnovers in the first two quarters.

    The Pistons have a 32-18 advantage in points in the paint, while the Magic have a 10-6 advantage in fast break points.

    Jalen Suggs (15 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast) and Cade Cunningham (15 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast) are starring offensively.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 7:58 ET

    Suggs going off

    Jalen Suggs (10 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast) is rallying the Magic, who are down 33-30 with 6:46 to go in the second quarter.

    Orlando was 34-23 with the point guard from Gonzaga this season, compared to 11-14 without him.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 7:50 ET

    Classic Pistons defense


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 7:41 ET

    Pistons lead 25-21 after one

    Coming off a 39-point outing in Game 1, Cade Cunningham (9 pts, 3 reb, 2 ast) has it going again.

    Jalen Suggs (7 pts) is the top scorer for Orlando so far.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 7:23 ET

    Pistons have the crowd roaring

    Detroit’s 6-of-10 to start the game, with a Duncan Robinson 3-pointer and Tobias Harris fast-break jam sending the Magic to a timeout in the early going.

    14-7 Pistons with 6:42 to go in the first quarter.


    APRIL 22, 2026 / 6:30 ET

    Cade Cunningham and the Detroit Pistons host the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of their 2026 NBA Playoffs first round series on ESPN.

    All stats from Sunday’s Game 1, which the Magic won 112-101.

    Orlando:

    • PG Jalen Suggs (16 pts, 4 reb, 4 ast)
    • SG Desmond Bane (17 pts, 6 reb, 5 ast)
    • SF Franz Wagner (19 pts, 5 reb)
    • PF Paolo Banchero (23 pts, 9 reb)
    • C Wendell Carter Jr. (17 pts, 7 reb, 5 ast)

    Detroit:

    • PG Cade Cunningham (39 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast)
    • SG Duncan Robinson (9 pts, 3 3PM)
    • SF Ausar Thompson (8 pts, 7 reb)
    • PF Tobias Harris (17 pts, 6 reb)
    • C Jalen Duren (8 pts, 7 reb)

    Keep an eye on Isaiah Stewart off the Pistons’ bench — he was a team-high +6 in their Game 1 loss, and could help slow down Paolo Banchero.


    APRIL 22 / 6:15 ET

    Tonight’s injury report

    Jonathan Isaac is out for Orlando.

    Grayson Allen, Mark Williams and Jordan Goodwin are questionable for Phoenix. Thomas Sorber is out for Oklahoma City.

  • Caution: Analysis Firm Identifies “Bearish Divergence” in a Recently Rising Altcoin

    Caution: Analysis Firm Identifies “Bearish Divergence” in a Recently Rising Altcoin

    Cryptocurrency analytics company CryptoQuant pointed out a notable anomaly in its latest report on the TRON network. According to the analysis, despite the rise in the price of TRON ($TRX), there is a significant decrease in network activity.

    According to data shared by the company, the $TRX price increased by nearly 20% from $0.278 to $0.333 in approximately 74 days, between February 7 and April 21, 2026. While this increase paints a positive picture at first glance, on-chain metrics point to a different story.

    In particular, the “number of active addresses” data, which measures the network’s usage level, recorded a significant decline during the same period. According to the 7-day simple moving average (SMA-7), the number of active addresses on the TRON network decreased by 21.13%, falling from approximately 5.3 million to below 4.2 million.

    Related News New Binance US CEO Assesses Bitcoin’s Future: “It Will Be a Golden Age”

    CryptoQuant describes this divergence between price increase and decrease in network activity as a “bearish divergence.” Such signals typically indicate that price action is not based on strong fundamentals and that speculative buying may be influential.

    According to the analysis, the decrease in user engagement suggests that the fundamental health of the TRON network may struggle to support current price levels. This is interpreted as indicating that the recent rally may be fragile and increases the risk of a potential correction.

    *This is not investment advice.

  • ‘Stranger Things’ Animated Spinoff ‘Tales From ’85’ Is a Depressing, Cynical Retread: TV Review

    Most spinoffs expand their flagship shows in a direction. That direction could be forward, following a beloved character past the events of the original story, á la “Frasier”; it could be backward, fleshing out the origins of a person or place with pre-established significance, the approach taken by both current “Game of Thrones” offshoots. It could even be lateral, simply transferring a concept to a different setting within the same universe in the time-honored tradition of procedurals like “CSI” or “Law & Order.”

    For its first official TV extension, “Stranger Things” opts for none of the above. (A theatrical production, “The First Shadow,” took place in the 1950s.) “Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85” is animated rather than live action, an obvious visual cue we’re no longer watching the show that wrapped its blockbuster run on Netflix earlier this year. It turns out such a signal is sorely needed, because “Tales From ‘85” winds back the clock to tell the exact same story as “Stranger Things” proper, with the exact same characters, in the exact same archetypal small town of Hawkins, Indiana. 

    The primary distinction is that this version of the Hellfire Club, now voiced by a fresh set of actors, will never face the main constraint on a serialized story about young children: They don’t age. “Tales From ‘85” is a transparent attempt to preserve “Stranger Things” in pixels rather than amber, allowing Netflix to keep capitalizing on the phenomenon long after its original faces have moved on to other projects.

    Per the title, “Tales From ‘85” takes place between the events of “Stranger Things” Seasons 2 and 3 — before the Battle of Starcourt Mall, the introduction of fan-favorite character Robin (Maya Hawke) or, most crucially, the main protagonists started to visibly transition from adorable tweens to post-puberty adolescents to, eventually, young adults. Exactly what occurred between those two chapters has never been a subject of great suspense. “Tales From ‘85” is quite literally doodling in the margins of “Stranger Things” mythology, or would be if the creative team (led by showrunner Eric Robles, with the Duffer Brothers executive producing) had opted for a hand-drawn look inspired by the kind of ‘80s cartoons its heroes watch between interdimensional adventures. But instead of “Transformers” or “He-Man,” “Tales From ‘85” as produced by animation studio Flying Bark looks like any number of contemporary, computer-generated shows, just with flashes of neon and other period details.

    To summarize the plot of “Tales From ‘85” is redundant, because it’s the same plot as any other season of “Stranger Things”: besties Will (Ben Plessala, subbing in for Noah Schnapp), Mike (Luca Diaz, for Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (EJ Williams, for Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Braxton Quinney, for Gaten Matarazzo), Max (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, for Sadie Sink) and their superpowered friend Eleven (Brookly Davey Norstedt, for Millie Bobby Brown) team up to fight an interdimensional threat from the Upside Down as local adults remain oblivious. That the gate between our world and the Upside Down in the Hawkins Laboratory basement is technically shut at this point in the master narrative is a mere technicality that’s easily handwaved.

    The group’s internal dynamics and story beats are just as identical as the overall mission. Mike is protective of Eleven; Lucas and Max have sweet (then-platonic) chemistry; Dustin hangs out with reformed bully Steve Harrington (Jeremy Jordan, stepping in for Joe Keery). Dustin even re-christens the group the Hawkins Investigators Club, a particularly groanworthy development since there’s already a fictional member’s group that unites the ragtag gang. (Did the Hellfire Club not survive the digital transition?) If “Stranger Things” was already a nostalgia exercise, then “Tales ‘from ‘85” caters to nostalgia for nostalgia, a recursive loop with a predictably diminished impact.

    The ensemble’s main new addition is Nikki (Odessa A’Zion), a pink-mohawked punk whose individuality is encouraged by her mother Anna (Janeane Garofalo), a substitute science teacher. Why haven’t we heard any mention of Nikki in subsequent seasons? Perhaps because she serves as a kind of proto-Robin, a queer-coded role model to encourage Will’s individuality before he even understands what makes him different. Once the real Robin shows up down the line, Nikki could be safely memory-wiped. As engaging an aural presence as A’Zion, a rising star, may be, it’s hard to fall in love with someone you know won’t be around in just a few months of in-universe time, never to come up again. 

    More than the presence of such technically new faces that slot neatly into pre-established tropes, what distinguishes “Tales From ‘85” is that the characters are no longer tethered to flesh-and-blood humans. Without the liability of actors whose voices will deepen and heights will shoot up over time, Netflix can continue to exploit this IP as long as its audience desires, looking ever-more-solipsistically inward rather than branching out. I’ll give “Tales From ‘85” this much credit: it’s as creepy and unsettling an idea as this horror-adjacent franchise has produced in years.

    All eight episodes of “Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85” are now streaming on Netflix.

  • Billionaire Investor Kevin O’Leary Claims Only Two Cryptocurrencies Are “Worth Owning”

    Billionaire Investor Kevin O’Leary Claims Only Two Cryptocurrencies Are “Worth Owning”

    Renowned investor Kevin O’Leary has made noteworthy new assessments regarding the cryptocurrency market. After experimenting with various digital assets for a long time, O’Leary argued that he has narrowed his investment strategy and now only two cryptocurrencies deserve a place in portfolios.

    In an interview with Stuart Varney on the Varney & Co. program, the President of O’Leary Ventures stated that many tokens have lost their value proposition as institutional investors’ influence in the market increases. O’Leary, who previously invested in dozens of different altcoins, said he restructured his portfolio, particularly in the last year, due to changing regulatory expectations and institutional analysis.

    Related News Aave Founder Stani Kulechov Released an Update on the Incident Following the Recent KelpDAO Hack

    The experienced investor, who has held positions in 27 different crypto assets in the past, argued that this approach is unsustainable, stating, “Now all you need to own is Bitcoin and Ethereum. These two assets account for 97 percent of the volatility of all other ‘junk’ coins in the market.”

    O’Leary also noted that thousands of small-scale crypto projects disappeared following the market downturn last October. He stated that this reinforced his decision to exit these assets, saying, “Thousands of projects collapsed and didn’t come back. So why not focus only on these two strong assets?”

    *This is not investment advice.

  • ‘Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’ Review: Odessa A’zion Is the Rare Bright Spot in Netflix’s Dull and Unambitious Animated Spinoff

    By my count, there are exactly two and a half good reasons to watch Netflix’s animated spinoff, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.

    One: You are a child, by which I mean a literal child and not an adult who’s whimsically childlike at heart. You’ve heard good things about Stranger Things, but Mom and Dad have deemed you too young for its TV-14 rating. The slightly mellower Tales From ’85, with its TV-PG rating, could be enough to sate your curiosity for now.

    Stranger Things: Tales From ’85’

    The Bottom Line

    At least the graphics are prettier.

    Airdate: Thursday, April 23 (Netflix)
    Cast: Brooklyn Davey Norstedt, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Luca Diaz, Elisha “EJ” Williams as Lucas, Braxton Quinney, Ben Plessala, Brett Gipson, Odessa A’zion, Jeremy Jordan, Janeane Garofalo
    Developed by: Eric Robles, Jennifer Muro, based on Stranger Things, created by Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer

    Two: You’re a Stranger Things fan who expresses your devotion through fanatical completionism — you will not rest until you’ve consumed every last scrap of footage or word of dialogue this universe has to offer. In that case, go with God. Nothing I’m about to say here will matter to you anyway.

    The half-reason is Odessa A’zion’s Nikki. Burly, brash and topped with a strawberry-pink mohawk, the new character is just fresh and charming enough that it seems a shame Original Flavor Stranger Things didn’t dream her up in time to give her a live-action counterpart. But unless you already fit into categories one or two, even she’s not quite enough to justify sitting through a series that otherwise just feels like more of the same, only less.

    As the new story, developed by Jennifer Muro and showrunner Eric Robles, opens in early 1985 — that’s between seasons two and three, for those as bad as Mike’s dad is at keeping track of ages and timelines — our young heroes are still riding high off their recent victory. Having closed the gates to the Upside Down for good, or so they believe, they have happily returned to ordinary kid lives stuffed with junk food, Dungeons & Dragons and awkward tween flirting.

    What we know that they don’t, of course, is that they’ve still got years’ worth of battles left to fight. This idyllic winter break is just that: a break, and a short-lived one at that. Once people around Hawkins start getting snatched by sentient, otherworldly vines, middle school buds Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max and El are all back on the case — this time with a bit of additional help from Nikki, daughter of the new substitute science teacher (Janeane Garofalo as Mrs. Baxter).

    Tales From ’85 indicates very little interest in rocking the Stranger Things boat, narratively or tonally or any other-ly. Even the shift in medium from live-action to animation seems rooted more in a desire to return the story to its stronger early seasons, when the kids still looked and acted like, well, kids, than to shake things up. (That the crisp, polished, colorful cartoon version is actually much prettier than the murky CG of later seasons is a nice bonus, though.) Otherwise, it’s all business as usual.

    So while the monsters are never-before-seen creations, they more or less amount to Demogorgons cross-pollinated with Audrey II. When the characters get embroiled in interpersonal drama, they’re only rehashing arguments we’ve seen before. Although Nikki, who has a knack for DIY mechanical engineering, is able to furnish the gang with new gadgets, their plans pretty much always come down to almost getting eaten by some enormous otherworldly creature before being rescued at the last possible millisecond by El’s telekinesis.

    Speaking of El, the character remains so dramatically overpowered that the only real tension across the season’s 10 half-hour episodes comes from wondering what new excuse the show will come up with to incapacitate her long enough that she can swoop in for that “surprise” save. It’s not the only persistent narrative issue to follow Stranger Things into Tales From ’85, but like Mike’s overbearing protectiveness of El or Dustin’s obnoxiously arrogant genius, it’s one that felt easier to forgive in live-action, when the young actors’ superb individual performances and crackling collective chemistry often papered over shortcomings in the script.

    By contrast, the all-new voice cast for Tales From ’85 is stuck trying to duplicate the performances that came before, though only Braxton Quinney, who plays Dustin, and sometimes Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, who plays Max, are true soundalikes. Were these actors (including Luca Diaz as Mike, Elisha Williams as Lucas, Ben Plessala as Will and Brooklyn Davey Norstedt as El) granted space to make these characters their own, the discrepancies might not be a problem. But the series dares not let their performances dig very deep, lest they turn up anything inconveniently contradictory.

    These versions of the characters might go through the motions of a joke Max might crack or a declaration (“Friends help friends”) El might make, and in flashes it almost feels like enough. But lacking the nuance and naturalism that once made them so lovable, these pale imitations quickly grow tiresome, then irritating. It doesn’t seem a coincidence that the only true bright spot in this ensemble is Nikki. As a new girl who figures not at all in seasons three through five, she’s allowed to evolve or grow her relationships in ways that the more familiar faces cannot, lest they break from established canon.

    In Nikki, Tales From ’85 offers a taste of the potential this project could have had were it not so determined to play by the rulebook. Instead — for better if you’re an executive jealously protecting your golden goose IP, maybe, but mostly for worse if you’re anyone else — it plays things as safe as a brand extension can. I suspect viewers content to settle for a diet version of Stranger Things, whether because they’re too little for the real thing or too fanatical to pass it over, will find little to object to in the spinoff’s faithful if watered-down recreation of the original’s appeal. But I can’t imagine most of them finding much to adore about it, either.

  • Kim Kardashian’s Paris Robbery Getting Four-Part Docuseries ‘Kim, the Diamond, and the Grandpa Robbers’

    Kim Kardashian‘s robbery at gunpoint in an apartment during the 2016 Paris Fashion Week is getting the docuseries treatment.

    “Kim, the Diamond and the Grandpa Robbers,” is a four-part series from Pernel Media (“Missed Call,” “The Au Pair’”) for Canal+ Originals. As per the description, the series “pulls back the curtain on one of the decade’s boldest celebrity heists, drawing on rare and exclusive access to those at its centre – including members of the gang and the lawyers who defended them.”

    Despite having endorsed much of her life being put on screen (“Keeping Up With the Kardashians” ran from 2007-2021 and was soon followed by “The Kardashians”), Kim is not involved in this series, Variety understands.

    The heist — which sparked headlines around the world and posed major questions about the dangers of online exposure — saw five masked men posing as police officers storm Kardashian’s Parisian apartment, bound the reality star at gunpoint with duct tape and plastic cable ties and lock her in the bathroom. They fled with an estimated $6 million in stolen jewelry, including a 20-carat diamond ring, gifted by her then-husband Kanye West, that she had been showing off on social media just hours earlier. 12 people were eventually tried in early 2025, with eight defendants convicted and two acquitted. The suspects in court were nicknamed the “Grandpa Robbers” by the press as they were all of or near senior age.

    According to the filmmakers behind “Kim, the Diamond and the Grandpa Robbers,” the story “reveals a clash between two worlds: a hyper-visible global celebrity and a group of veteran criminals attempting one final score.”

    As they note, the crime was not a “chaotic, opportunistic robbery, but a carefully planned operation shaped by insider knowledge.” However, it quickly spiralled out of control due a central paradox: the robbers understood the value of the diamond, but not the scale of the world surrounding it. “In targeting one of the most visible figures in modern culture, they triggered a global event that transcended the crime itself becoming amplified, distorted, and consumed in real time,” the description reads.

    “With roots in France and one of the most famous names in the world, this premium pop crime series sits very much within the DNA of the international productions that we at Pernel Media love to put together — combining strong storytelling with projects designed to travel,” said Samuel Kissous, founder of Pernel Media and executive producer.

    Added executive producer Fabrice Frank: “What makes this project unique is the access and the perspective — hearing directly from those involved allows us to move beyond the story the world thinks it understands and build a much more immersive, character driven account. It’s about reconstructing the story in a way that feels both authentic and cinematic.”

    “Kim, the Diamond and the Grandpa Robbers” is produced by Pernel Media for Canal+ Originals. Executive producers are Kissous and Frank, with Clément Roquigny as creative producer. It’s being directed by Agnès Buthion. An international version is in production, with delivery scheduled for early 2027.

  • FTX sold its Cursor stake for $200,000 in 2023. It would be worth $3 billion today

    FTX sold its Cursor stake for $200,000 in 2023. It would be worth $3 billion today

    A 5% stake in AI coding startup Cursor that FTX’s bankruptcy estate sold for $200,000 in April 2023 would be worth about $3 billion today, following SpaceX’s agreement this week to acquire the company at a $60 billion valuation.

    SpaceX said Monday it has the right to buy Cursor later this year for $60 billion or to pay $10 billion if the full acquisition does not proceed. The deal is founder Elon Musk’s move to close the gap with OpenAI and Anthropic on AI coding tools, an area where he recently said xAI, the Musk-run AI company that merged with SpaceX, is behind competitors.

    SpaceX is holding off on immediate acquisition because of its planned initial public offering targeting a $2 trillion valuation, with the $10 billion serving as a breakup fee.

    The crypto angle sits in the cap table. In April 2022, Alameda Research, the trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and run alongside FTX, invested $200,000 in Anysphere, the company that builds Cursor.

    That investment bought roughly 5% of the company at a $4 million valuation. One year later FTX had collapsed, Alameda and FTX were in bankruptcy, and the court-appointed estate sold the Cursor stake for the same $200,000 Alameda had paid.

    The stake is worth $3 billion at SpaceX’s $60 billion price tag, meaning the gap between what the FTX estate received and what the position would fetch today is roughly a 15,000x return. It was instead realized by whoever bought it from the bankruptcy rather than the creditors the estate was supposed to be maximizing recovery for.

    The timing cuts awkwardly for FTX’s bankruptcy administration.

    Bankman-Fried, currently serving a 25-year federal sentence, has spent the past year arguing from prison that FTX’s estate destroyed billions in value by liquidating assets too quickly during the bankruptcy, and that customers could have been made more than whole if the process had held positions instead of selling them into what turned out to be the bottom of crypto prices.

    In February, he shared a projection suggesting FTX’s net asset value would have reached $78 billion if the estate had held assets through the subsequent recovery rather than selling in 2023 and 2024.

    Cursor launched its AI coding product in early 2023, the same year the estate sold the stake, and the company’s trajectory from that launch to its current valuation three years later is among the steepest in software startup history.

    FTX customers have since been made whole in dollar terms under the bankruptcy’s distribution plan, receiving back their claim values plus interest. What they did not receive is the upside from what those assets became between the bankruptcy filing and now, which in the case of the Cursor stake alone represents about $3 billion of forgone recovery against $200,000 realized.

    Bankman-Fried’s parents have publicly advocated for a pardon, appearing on CNN in March arguing that FTX customers were ultimately repaid and that the case against their son should be revisited. The Cursor number is likely to feature prominently in the family’s continued campaign, and in Bankman-Fried’s own letters from prison, as the single clearest example of the kind of value he claims the estate destroyed through forced selling.