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On Sunday, timed to coincide with President Trump’s 80th birthday, there was a massive UFC event—including a consequential match deciding the lightweight title—staged on the south lawn of the White House. The setup to this event, UFC Freedom 250, probably didn’t escape your attention, since there was so much coverage of the complex construction project that allowed for televised, regulation combat sports competition to occur on what many American politics fans consider sacred ground. There were, for instance, 494 porta potties, I’m informed.

With the Memorandum of Understanding DocuSigned by all parties, the 108-day war prompted by Donald Trump and Israel’s unprovoked attack on the sovereign nation of Iran officially ended on June 15th. But just because the fighting has stopped, the Strait of Hormuz is once again open, and America’s coffers are down $113 billion (plus $300 billion in restitutions to come), it doesn’t mean we’re yet done being humiliated or shocked by this historic blunder. It may take months or years for the full ramifications of this globally destabilizing act of imperialism to be fully felt and analyzed.

Picture it: the world has ended in the usual inconvenient ways. Maybe it’s the towering robotic dinosaurs stomping through what used to be your neighborhood. Maybe it’s those mysteriously still-working radios that refuse to play anything but syrupy 1950s hits, on an endless loop, like the universe is punking you with a doo-wop soundtrack. Maybe it’s the nagging fear that you’ll wake up in a basement that smells like canned peaches and bad decisions, realizing—too late—that you should’ve read The Road with a little more attention.

Five days into the Trump administration’s sudden freeze on access to Anthropic’s most advanced AI models—Fable 5 and Mythos 5—and I’m still trying to figure out what, exactly, we’re meant to believe is happening here. Is this a narrowly tailored national security move? Or the opening shot in a much bigger attempt to put the entire U.S. AI sector under an export-control style leash?

The return of X-Men ’97 is almost here, and I’ll admit it: I’m both excited and slightly suspicious of my own excitement. How often does a revival manage to feel like a continuation rather than a nostalgic cash-in? In just a few weeks—on July 1—Marvel Television’s animated hit is set to come back for its second season on Disney+, picking up threads that started decades ago in X-Men: The Animated Series.

A bill to curb the use of unauthorized AI deepfakes has cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, significant movement for a top legislative priority for the entertainment industry this year.

The legislation passed the committee unanimously by voice vote on Thursday, although three Republican senators — Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Eric Schmitt — raised First Amendment concerns.

The bill is meant to address the proliferation of unauthorized “deepfakes,” as a number of performers have testified on Capitol Hill about the use of their voice and likeness.

I didn’t think I’d be saying this, but the thing that’s keeping me up at night about Spider-Man: Brand New Day isn’t a suit reveal or a multiverse rumor. It’s a few carefully chosen lines in a new synopsis—and the way they quietly suggest that Peter Parker’s next chapter might be less “friendly neighborhood” and more “how far can one kid bend before he breaks?”

Let’s be honest: we all know the type. **Sweet. A little dim. Built like a gym poster. Unreasonably handsome.** That’s the cocktail that creates a protector of the innocent, a walking fitness goal, and premium “eye candy”: the himbo. Pop culture has been flexing this archetype for years—think the lovable clumsiness of George of the Jungle or the golden-retriever confidence of Kronk. But if you’ve ever felt like the himbo hall of fame keeps looping the same few names, I’m with you.

I’ve learned to be suspicious of any tech conversation that starts with a countdown. “Two years to AGI.” “Five years until everything changes.” It’s a familiar rhythm: a little awe, a little fear, and a lot of implied inevitability. So when Amazon’s Peter DeSantis—one of the people sitting closest to the machinery of modern AI—basically says “not so fast,” I find myself leaning in.

EXCLUSIVE: Sydney Agudong (Lilo & Stitch), Henry Ian Cusick (Lost), Mahina Napoleon (The Walking Dead: Dead City), and Tori Anderson (NCIS: Hawai’i) are among leading cast in Hawai’i-set adventure comedy The Tourist Curse.

Also starring are Ta’imua, Kimee Balmilero, Jason Antoon, Mele’iwa Silva, Dionysio Basco, Rebecca Creskoff, Seana Kofoed, Celia Kenney, and Stephen Hill.

Alexander Bocchieri (Go For Broke) has signed on to direct the misadventure-comedy with a creature feature twist. Filming is due to begin this month.