This image released by Peacock shows Natasha Lyonne in a scene from "Poker Face." (Sara Shatz/Peacock via AP)
Poker Face - Peacock
Picked by Growth Associate Keara O’Driscoll
If you're still riding the high of Glass Onion, the newest work from its creator Rian Johnson is a 10-episode "case-of-the-week" starring Natasha Lyonne. In the words of Cheddar News’ own Digital Editor Mike Nam, “So it's Columbo with Natasha Lyonne — why did it take so long for us to figure out that we needed this?” I’ll leave it at that.
National Geographic Investigates: LSD and Psychedelics - Hulu
Picked by Newsletter Writer Graison Dangor
The use of psychedelic drugs is still heavily restricted by federal law, but that is bound to change as more states decriminalize psilocybin, ketamine, and ayahuasca and more investors are willing to write big checks to companies that provide them as mental health treatments. Nat Geo's new documentary looks like a good primer on the criminalized history (and present) of these substances, and the growing list of benefits that researchers are ascribing to them.
The Legend of Vox Machina cast at New York Comic Con 2022.
The Legend of Vox Machina - Prime Video
Picked by Digital Editor Mike Nam
The vulgar misfits who became heroes of the realm are back! The animated Amazon Prime series was adapted from the popular role-playing adventures of Critical Role, a group of professional voice actors hanging out and playing Dungeons & Dragons. In its second season, Vox Machina ups the stakes with a cataclysmic dragon attack that sends the heroes reeling and looking for a means to save the entire continent, possibly the world, from being destroyed. The fortunes of the Critical Role team have risen meteorically since they started recording their games together, including another animated show and a long-term, first-look development deal with Prime.
The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker - Netflix
Picked by Reporter Lawrence Banton
This one is a wild ride and sort of sad. It's the story of Kai McGillvary's rise to stardom and near immediate fall into disgrace. McGillvary rose to viral fame in 2013 after he saved a man from being killed by a white supremacist in Fresno, California, by whacking him in the head with a hatchet in 2013. He became a media darling, had offers for his own reality show, and even appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Then, it all went downhill just three months later when McGillvary admitted to murdering a New Jersey attorney. It's a rollercoaster ride that ends tragically.
M3GAN - Amazon Prime Video
Picked by Reporter Alex Vuocolo
M3GAN is the perfect January release. While cinephiles rush to their local arthouse theaters to catch up on all the Oscar-nominated films, the hoi polloi head to the multiplex to see what studios have dumped there for our winter-viewing pleasure. In this case, we were rewarded for our commitment to keeping up on the latest second-tier releases with a lightly satiric riff on the killer doll genre. Unlike Chucky, the doll in M3GAN is a robot, and the movie has a lot of fun skewering the tech industry. It's also well-paced and consistently surprising. See it with a crowd, if you can, but if you feel like staying home this weekend just look it up on Amazon Prime Video.
Last Night in Soho - HBO Max
Picked by Sr. News Editor Dina Ross
After watching Anya Taylor-Joy's darkly funny performance in The Menu, I turned on her 2021 flick Last Night in Soho. The psychological thriller jumps between present-day and 1960's London where Taylor-Joy, a bombshell of a different era, splits screentime with actress Thomasin McKenzie, a modern fashion student trying to find her way in the big city. Their lives cross paths in terrifying ways, even though they lived decades apart, but the bright and colorful directing is captivating. McKenzie just hit the silver screen with Anne Hathaway in Eileen during the Sundance Film Festival — I'll be looking forward to that one as well.
Jet Tila, Food Network star and author of '101 Thai Dishes You Need to Cook Before You Die,' joins Cheddar News to talk about his new cookbook that's helping people cook authentic Thai recipes.
Over the years we have heard a number of ways people can invest. However, have you thought about how you could invest in sneakers? Well, one platform says you can do that and more.RARE is an investment platform for sneakers that allows users to easily invest in the sneaker culture by giving them the opportunity to buy and trade shares of rare shoes and letting users own some of the most sought-after kicks at a fractional level. Rare says the goal is to empower the communities who made sneakers what they are today and give everyone a piece of the pie. CEO of RARES, Gerome Sapp, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
In 2022, the FAA has received 323 reports of unruly passengers so far. Soon, flying could soon be limited to cooperative passengers only. Delta Airlines has asked the Department of Justice to put unruly travelers on a 'no-fly' list. Bryan Del Monte, president of the Aviation Agency, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
New York City’s tourism industry has seen a bumpy recovery from the pandemic, as the omicron surge delivers yet another blow to one of the world’s top tourist destinations. The arts and entertainment sector has been one of the hardest hit, with Broadway shows canceling performances once again after an industry-wide shutdown. Chris Heywood, executive vice president of global communications at NYC & Company, joined Cheddar's Fast Forward to talk about why he's confident the theater district - and the rest of the city - will eventually return to its pre-pandemic glory.
More than 70 religious leaders have come together to sign a letter to urge Mark Zuckerberg and Meta to halt plans for Instagram for Kids. The signers claim that this new platform, currently on pause, could cause spiritual harm to young people. Lucy Kidwell, the screen-free week coordinator for the nonprofit that organized the letter, Fairplay, joined Cheddar News to discuss the issue on Safer Internet Day. "It's not necessarily the content, even, that's on these platforms, but more the structure of the app itself," she said. "It's all focused on comparison, promoting yourself, putting forward this image of perfection and this beautiful life that's really harmful to kids who can't really separate what's real and what's fake and who may not be emotionally mature enough to handle something so complicated."
Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama are set to begin voting to unionize for a second time after workers at the facility in the town of Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against forming a union during an election early last year; but in November, the National Labor Relations Board overturned the vote, upholding a union challenge of the results which argued that Amazon undermined the conditions for a fair election. Another round of ballots will now be mailed out to works at the warehouse for a so-called re-run election. Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University John Logan and National Field Director for Our Revolution Mike Oles joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
David Daley, author of the book 'Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy,' joins Cheddar News to discuss redistricting battles taking place across the U.S.
Neil Young urged Spotify employees to leave their jobs in his latest salvo against the platform and its CEO Daniel Ek for hosting "The Joe Rogan Experience." The call for resignations also came after a video compilation of Rogan using the n-word on his podcast was made public.
