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There is a moment that repeats itself throughout The Boys, though the details constantly change. A character stands before cameras, livestreams, or cheering crowds and realizes something intoxicating: being seen matters more than being good. That revelation powers nearly every major tragedy in the series.

For all its graphic violence, exploding bodies, parodies, and corporate satire, The Boys may ultimately be one of television’s best examinations of modern attention addiction. Not fame in the traditional sense, but the constant pressure to remain relevant. In the world of The Boys, attention functions as currency, validation, influence, and identity all at once. The characters admire it and rely on it as a survival tool. And increasingly, so do we.

Jasper Savage/Prime Video

According to data from the Pew Research Center, this fixation isn’t just a Hollywood pathology; it is a defining feature of contemporary American culture. In their studies on teen digital habits, 29% of teenagers reported feeling immense pressure to post content that would garner high volumes of likes or comments, while the vast majority noted that social media platforms now function as their primary ecosystem for connection and validation.

In other words, attention is no longer an asset exclusive to celebrities. For a generation of younger Americans, being seen has become fundamentally intertwined with belonging and status. Over its entire run, The Boys held up a mirror to this reality, proving that in a world governed by algorithms, the most dangerous superpower of all is the desperate need to be noticed.

Homelander Craves Attention More Than Power

No character embodies that terror more completely than Homelander (played by Antony Starr). What makes Homelander frightening is not just his powers and abilities. Popular culture is filled with violent men. What makes him disturbingly recognizable is his emotional dependence on public affirmation and his desperate, toxic desire for family approval (namely, his father Soldier Boy). His ego and mental state got so bad that he wanted to be worshiped like a god. Every smile, every chant, every camera flash functions like psychological fuel. When admiration weakens, he spirals emotionally like a little child. Homelander hungers for control but even more for validation. 

That distinction matters because The Boys understands something uncomfortable about modern life. People will often sacrifice morality in exchange for visibility. The show’s world repeatedly rewards performance over sincerity, confidence over competence, and spectacle over truth. Look no further than characters like The Deep and Firecracker, whose narrative arcs are defined by a complete lack of moral dilemmas. They are characters who willingly sacrifice their dignity and moral compass in exchange for Homelander’s approval and the public’s attention.

Prime Video

In many ways, Homelander resembles a modern influencer, media personality, or algorithm-driven celebrity more than a traditional supervillain. Researchers at Harvard Business Review have written extensively about how digital platforms reward outrage, emotional extremity, and constant visibility because engagement itself has become economically valuable. Attention is profitable even when it is destructive. Homelander operates on that same logic.

Vought Understands That Outrage Is Profitable

Vought International thrives not because people believe in heroism, but because it understands how effectively fear, aspiration, and emotional identity can be monetized through media.

The company does not sell superheroes. It sells attention. Every carefully staged apology, every choreographed rescue, every patriotic slogan and empowerment campaign reflects a culture where emotional reactions themselves become products. In one of the show’s most unsettling observations, outrage and admiration begin functioning almost identically. Both generate engagement. Both maintain visibility. Both keep audiences emotionally invested.

These ideas feel less like science fiction every year. A 2022 MIT study examining online misinformation found that emotionally provocative content consistently spreads faster than neutral information across social media ecosystems. Vought’s genius lies in recognizing that attention need not be positive to remain impactful. 

Butcher Represents a Different Kind of Attention Crisis 

Even Billy Butcher (played by Karl Urban), who positions himself as morally detached from the system, repeatedly turns conflict into a way of life. His war against superheroes gives him purpose and something to believe in. Butcher represents a different response to the attention economy than characters like Homelander. He doesn’t crave public validation. If anything, he views anyone seeking attention with suspicion and outright contempt.

Part of that feels distinctly Gen X. Unlike Gen Z, Gen X came of age before a lot of current social media platforms, when identities were formed without likes, followers, and algorithms shaping every interaction. That doesn’t mean they reject digital culture, but many approach influencer culture with some skepticism. Butcher embodies that distrust. He assumes corporations, politicians, superheroes, and institutions are all corrupt, self-serving, and beyond redemption.

Jasper Savage/Prime Video

Yet his cynicism becomes its own kind of trap. It is a worldview shaped by decades of scandals, broken promises, and growing distrust of authority. The Boys suggests that cynicism can become just as consuming as narcissism. Homelander needs constant validation from an audience. Butcher needs constant confirmation that the world is as broken as he believes it is. He spends so much time exposing others’ hypocrisy that he struggles to imagine a future beyond fighting it.

Soldier Boy Represents the Last Era Before Attention Became Permanent

Unlike Homelander, Soldier Boy (played by Jensen Ackles) comes from a version of America where fame still had limits. He belongs to what historians and demographers define as the Greatest Generation, the cohort born between 1901 and 1927 that came of age during the hardships of the Great Depression and went on to fight in World War II. Researchers who study generational trends often describe this era as one shaped by personal humility, emotional stoicism, and a clear separation between public duty and private life.

Soldier Boy was built for mid-century television appearances, military propaganda, and old-school celebrity culture, but not for the endless surveillance of the digital age. He expected the kind of admiration that came with walking into a room and instantly commanding respect, along with the privileges he believed came with it. What he never anticipated, however, was the modern demand for minute-by-minute emotional validation from millions of strangers online, or even from his own adult son.

Prime Video

Soldier Boy embodies an older, deeply flawed version of American masculinity that’s emotionally shut down, violent, and obsessed with dominance, but he still carries himself like someone shaped by a world where a public image could eventually switch off. A television interview ended. A commercial stopped airing. A newspaper cycle moved on.

He belongs to a pre-algorithmic era, which makes his arrival in the 2020s feel like a complete system shock. More than anything, Soldier Boy wants respect and to be left alone. With The Boys spin-off Vought Rising arriving next year, we’ll have an opportunity to see the world that he knew and was impacted by. 

Why We See Ourselves in The Boys

The lasting appeal of The Boys may be that its central characters are not simply superheroes and villains. They are generational responses to the same cultural problem. Most viewers probably recognize themselves somewhere within that spectrum. 

Some miss the privacy Soldier Boy took for granted. Others share Butcher’s distrust of institutions and public figures. And many understand, even if they rarely admit it, the desire to be seen, validated, and remembered that drives Homelander is what drives them, too.

Jasper Savage/Prime Video

That is what makes The Boys feel so contemporary, because it’s a story about Americans trying to navigate a culture where attention has become one of our most valuable resources.

The true horror of The Boys isn’t that a drug can give someone godlike abilities. It’s that the show understands how easily modern culture can transform attention into power and how difficult it has become to imagine ourselves without it. 

The post THE BOYS and America’s Unhealthy Relationship With Attention appeared first on Nerdist.

Okay, we were obsessed with “Butterscotch Bitch.” That crooning sultry bop from The Vampire Lestat gave us everything we needed. But now, a new song from Lestat has arrived, and it’s HAUNTING. Yes, we’re talking about “Your Biggest Fan.” On the surface, it’s a soft, guitar ballad, maybe even romantic… But once we get into the lyrics, which we’ve shared with you below in full… Yup, it’s a dark doozy. The Vampire Lestat wasn’t available for comment on this one, but his great fans, the fledglings, are out there already speculating about the meaning behind the tale of obsession and fandom that “Your Biggest Fan” spins. You can listen to “Your Biggest Fan” below, or find it wherever you usually stream The Vampire Lestat‘s music.

Of course, long-time readers of Anne Rice will pick up some of the context clues embedded in this The Vampire Lestat song, which delves into yet another aspect of the complex vampire. For instance, the phrase “Wolf Killer” harkens back to a time in Lestat’s mortal life when he single-handedly killed eight wolves menacing his childhood home, a feat that shouldn’t have been possible for a mere human. As to who the biggest fan is, we couldn’t possibly say for sure. If you want to give yourself a better idea, might we suggest picking up Rice’s The Vampire Lestat book before the season arrives? But, in the meantime, we’ll leave you with some thoughts from The Vampire Lestat’s fans themselves. After all, who could know Lestat’s biggest fan better than all his other fans?

Me, at first thinking Your Biggest Fan was about Nicki and Louis: awww

Me hearing “I know I’m hard to look at sometimes”: wait….

Me hearing “wolf killer”: pic.twitter.com/uw1GwaOvZc

— 𝒮𝒶𝓇𝒶 🍒🍉🔞 (@MissSariie) May 28, 2026

how it feels listening to your biggest fan by the vampire lestat pic.twitter.com/ITDgPwtZkx

— sam reid’s emmy campaign manager (@sampunzels) May 28, 2026

This is NOT what I was expecting and I’m floored. Do you understand how insane this is. I need everyone to really sit down and listen and get how good this is. All releases have been very very well done but this is by far the best song they’ve put out omg pic.twitter.com/pIQ5zC1bgz

— m (@rockstatgf) May 28, 2026

curious that your biggest fan is the second song in a row where we have lestat talk about himself from an outside pov. first, a small “lestat is a hag”, but now a full song referring to himself in 2nd person. hinting at the depersonalisation he felt after the wolves and magnus? pic.twitter.com/vRsa5adyHa

— natalie 🩷 (@chikchikchirkun) May 29, 2026

ive been mulling over some of the your biggest fan lyrics and i think they are referencing lestat’s fear of death by saying if he drinks up, he will dance around the fire not be burned by it right and this goes back to the witches place pic.twitter.com/q5yB5U0MLm

— micky⁷ (@dionyjinsus) May 29, 2026

Just listened to Your Biggest Fan on over the ear headphones instead of my shitty earbuds and noticed the violins coming in at 2:28 in the pre-chorus for the first time pic.twitter.com/keWui2ghoV

— grace 💜 (@_griffonage_) May 28, 2026

#thevampirelestat your biggest fan pic.twitter.com/kPzC7bSca5

— tabslodge media (@tabslodgemedia) May 29, 2026

Well, The Vampire Lestat’s “Your Biggest Fan” certainly has his true fans in an uproar. And with a beautiful, multilayered emotional song like this one, it’s not hard to see why The Vampire Lestat is winning hearts and minds all over the world. You can watch his who story unfold when The Vampire Lestat releases on AMC and AMC+ on June 7.

The Vampire Lestat’s “Your Biggest Fan” Full LyricsAMC

[Verse 1]
You really caught my eye
I think you’re somethin’ special, babe
I wanna take you out tonight
I think we got real potential, babe

I got a bottle of wine
And yeah, that’s me at your window, babe
We’re gonna have such a God damn good time
I wanna be your crescendo, babe

[Pre-Chorus]
Don’t let me catch you cryin’
Don’t tell me the spell is breakin’
You’re so perfect in the ragin’ light
I know I’m hard to look at sometimes
But I’m here for the takin’

[Chorus]
I wanna give you everythin’ I got
I know you’re stubborn, but you have to ask for it
I can tell you’re everythin’ I’m not
Yeah, I’m a dog and you’re my brave little wolf killer
Yeah, I’m a dog and you’re my brave little wolf killer

[Verse 2]
Yeah, I’m your biggest fan
I came to see you every night this week
Yeah, you remind me of a man or two, or a few
I need you to need me
I got a bottle of wine
And that’s me watching as you sleep at night
And that’s me laughing in the darkness as you dream
All of the desperate desires of your life

[Pre-Chorus]
Don’t let me catch you cryin’
Don’t tell me the spell is breakin’
You’re so perfect in the ragin’ light
I know I’m hard to look at sometimes
But I’m here for the takin’

[Chorus]
I wanna give you everythin’ I got
I know you’re stubborn, but you have to ask for it
I can tell you’re everythin’ I’m not
So I pray that your love won’t last for it
I wanna give you everythin’ I got
I know you’re stubborn, but you have to ask for it
I can tell you’re everythin’ I’m not
Yeah, I’m a dog and you’re my brave little wolf killer
Yeah, I’m a dog and you’re my brave little wolf killer
Yeah, I’m a dog and you’re my brave little wolf killer, oh

[Bridge]
Oh, wolf killer
Wolf killer
My little wolf killer
Drink up and dance around the fire tonight
Wolf killer
Wolf killer
Brave little wolf killer
Drink up and dance around the fire tonight
Wolf killer
Wolf killer
My little wolf killer
La da-da-da da-da-da da-da
Wolf killer
Wolf killer
My little wolf killer
La da-da-da da-da-da da-da

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The post ‘Your Biggest Fan’: THE VAMPIRE LESTAT’s Most Haunting Song appeared first on Nerdist.

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The era of the reboot, revival, and reimagining continues with Baywatch. Yes, the infamous lifeguard ‘90s series that made Pam Anderson and Carmen Electra stars will return to TV with a new cast soon. Fox Entertainment and Fremantle will produce the Baywatch reboot, which already has a 12-episode order and will air during the 2026-2027 broadcast season.Peacock/Daniel Poplawsky

According to Deadline, Jessica Belkin has a starring role in the new Baywatch TV series as Charlie Vale. She’s the daughter of Hobie Buchannon (Stephen Amell), who never knew about her. Charlie leaves Galveston and shows up at her father’s place with the goal of becoming a Baywatch lifeguard. She’s said to be “fearless, passionate, and occasionally reckless.”

Mary McDonnell will portray Charlie’s grandmother Gayle, whom Variety describes as a “sophisticated woman with a wryly funny presence.”

“She cares deeply for her family and is there for them even when they’re not sure they want her help,” according to the character description. “Gayle and Hobie have a long, complicated history, but no matter how much time or distance gets between them, family always seems to find its way back together. She’s learned a thing or two about second chances over the years, and she shares that wisdom with humor and grace.”

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David Chokachi will reprise his original role of Cody Madison, who now runs the bar-and-grill spot called The Shoreline. And he even puts on the red trunks to save lives occasionally in-between mentoring young lifeguards.

Additionally, Pretty Little Liars alum Shay Mitchell will also join the cast of Baywatch as Trina, a former lawyer who left her firm to become a full-time lifeguard. I guess she doesn’t like having money…

Livvy Dunne is also joining the Baywatch reboot cast in a recurring role as Grace, a junior lifeguard. Dunne, a former LSU gymnast, has 15 million people following her across her social platforms, so surely her fans will tune in.

Filming is set to start this Spring, so we will probably get this series later this year. And the cast is already giving their IG followers some first looks at them donning red swimsuits and swimming trunks as they film Baywatch.

Livvy Dunne/Instagram

Matt Nix will be the Baywatch reboot showrunner. A press release notes says that “fans can expect all the adrenaline-fueled rescues, tangled relationships, complicated chemistry and beachside heroics that defined the original—now with an entirely new cast, contemporary trappings, tensions and challenges, and a renewed mission to protect Southern California’s shoreline.”

The Baywatch reboot series will honor the original show’s legacy while bringing some fresh scripted drama to TV. Honestly, I will take that over all these reality shows. 

“Baywatch has always been a treasured asset in Fremantle’s portfolio and remains one of the most iconic series in television history globally. We have found the perfect partners in FOX to help us maintain this legacy. With Matt Nix at the helm, we are in great hands, as he excels at telling engaging and entertaining stories,” said Christian Vesper, CEO Global Drama, Fremantle. “Our goal is to reconnect with existing fans while also introducing a new generation to the world of these famous lifeguards.” 

Originally published on September 24, 2025.

The post BAYWATCH Reboot Adds Mary McDonnell to Cast appeared first on Nerdist.

In 2024, George R.R. Martin teased an upcoming stage play in London about one of the most momentous events in the history of Westeros. It promised to let A Song of Ice and Fire fans finally see what really the happened at the infamous Tourney of Harrenhal. That’s where Rhaegar Targaryen met Lyanna Stark, a romance that forever changed the Realm. That play was expected to premiere some time in 2025. It obviously didn’t. But don’t worry, this is not another The Winds of Winter situation. It’s really happening. Soon. Martin and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Game of Thrones: The Mad King will arrive in London on July 20, with shows through September 5. HBOWhat Story Does the Game of Thrones: The Mad King Play Tell?

Game of Thrones: The Mad King, a prequel set more than ten years before the events of HBO’s show/Martin’s first novel in the series, will showcase Westeros in a different manner – on a live stage. Tickets are already on sale at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s website.

The stage show, from playwright Duncan Macmillan and directed by Dominic Cooke, will tell a story that has always been at the heart of A Song of Ice and Fire. It’s when Jon Snow’s parents met. That set off a war that changed the Realm forever. It also might have saved the world from the dead.

But as the title of the play suggest, that romance is only one part of this tale. It’s named after King Aerys II, the man who nearly destroyed his entire house forever. The Mad King, long a recluse, was in attendance because he suspected the tourney was really cover for something else. In a statement, Macmillan and Cooke teased the conspiracy that made the Tourney at Harrenhal dangerous even before an unlikely love bloomed. From the show’s official announcement:

A long winter has started to thaw and, for the first time in years, all the great houses come together for a tournament – destined to be the greatest of the age. It feels like a new dawn, full of hope and opportunity. But tournaments always have a darker purpose.

HBO

In his own statement, Martin said, “Duncan’s masterful script honours the world completely, and I am so excited for both fans of the series, and perhaps people who have never picked up one of my books, to experience this new story in a theatre.”

Who Will Star in Game of Thrones: The Mad King?

And now we know who will bring this legendary event to life. The RSC has announced the play will have a 36-person cast. Because whether on the page, on the screen, or on a stage, Westeros is a really big place with a whole lot of people.

The Royal Shakespeare Company additionally revealed the names of the 36 stars of its show. (Which we first heard about at Variety.) Among the most notable casting announcements are Michael Shaeffer playing the Mad King, Aerys II. Michael Abubakar stars as Eddard Stark. Noah Ritter joins him as Rhaegar Targaryen, the Prince who fell in love with Harmony Rose-Bremner’s Lyanna Stark. She was the betrothed of Callum Woodhouse’s Robert Baratheon, the sister of both Luke Brady’s Brandon Stark and Miles Barrow’s Benjen Stark, and the daughter of Alexander Newland’s Lord Rickard Stark.

Maxim Ays will also play Ser Jaime Lannister. Daisy Franks stars as his twin sister and lover, Cersei Lannister. Marty Breen will play Catelyn Stark, Tanisha Spring stars as Ashara Dayne, and Islam Bouakkaz as Howland Reed.

Learn More About Game of Thrones’ Mad King

And those are just a fraction of the famous characters who will join the stage. Why are so many notorious figures from Game of Thrones involved? Not sure what to expect from this play? We have you covered. Read our pieces about The Mad King, Rhaeghar Targaryen, and his relationship with Lyanna Stark. Soon we’ll all find out together what has always been myth and what really happened. This play might have been delayed, but unlike some other projects in Westeros it really is coming soon.

Originally published February 18, 2026.

The post GAME OF THRONES Prequel Play THE MAD KING Announces 36-Person Cast appeared first on Nerdist.

More than four decades after Sylvester Stallone introduced us to the action hero known as Rambo, we are getting a prequel film in this universe. According to Deadline, John Rambo will go back to the character’s days during the Vietnam War. It’s pretty clear that those events are a major part of what shaped this gun-toting protagonist, so we can’t wait to see what happens. This Rambo prequel film will star Noah Centineo, who is certainly an actor on an upward streak. He will also play Ken Masters in Legendary’s live-action Street Fighter movie. 

Joining him is Yao, Jason Tobin, Quincy Isaiah, Jefferson White (Yellowstone), and Tayme Thapthimthong. We can assume that they are soldiers during the war who interact with Rambo.

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Lionsgate is behind this film and production took place in Thailand. Jalmari Helander is set to direct the Rambo prequel film with Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani penning the script. Helander himself confirmed John Rambo’s active production status.

JOHN RAMBO — Now in Production. pic.twitter.com/UlnVY4kICe

— John Rambo Film (@JohnRamboFilm) January 29, 2026

We now have a release date for John Rambo, which is June 4, 2027. It’s a smart time to hit theaters before things become hyper competitive with movies like Star Wars: Starfighter and Beyond the Spider-Verse.

Sylvester Stallone is behind the scenes as an executive producer. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t want to return to the role in some capacity. According to Deadline, Stallone revealed on The Playlist‘s Bingeworthy podcast that he once pitched an AI de-aged version of himself as a teenage Rambo. “Everyone thought I was crazy,” said Stallone. “AI is sophisticated enough to go through Saigon to see him at 18 years old and basically use the same image. So it isn’t as big a stretch.”

Instagram/Orion Pictures

Well, that’s certainly an idea that we are glad stayed an idea. We will keep our eyes out for more information as it surfaces.

Originally published August 11, 2025.

The post JOHN RAMBO Prequel Film Sets 2027 Release Date appeared first on Nerdist.

Curry Barker’s Obsession film left fans shaken and stirred with its bloody and dark ending. I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t watched it yet in this opening paragraph, but let’s just say that Bear and Nikki do NOT have a happy ending. It leaves some questions about what could possibly happen next, and it turns out that we will get answers to a degree in this director’s next horror foray. According to Deadline, Barker himself revealed during an Obsession Q&A that his upcoming movie Anything But Ghosts is set in the same universe. 

Now, onto the spoilery talk! As we know, Obsession was about Bear, a guy who harbored a major crush on his co-worker Nikki, who didn’t seem to be into him romantically. Bear uses a One Wish Willow to essentially cast a love spell that will make her love him more than anyone in the world. Well, it goes as you’d expect it would with Nikki becoming disturbingly obsessive over him.

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The film ends violently with Nikki starting to kill people in the name of her love for Bear. And the only way for Bear to break this spell is for him to die. He takes a bunch of pills to die by suicide and the film ends with Nikki crying over all the horrors that have taken place. I truly feel so, so sorry for her because she’s truly the real victim. The movie ends with the credits rolling on a fuzzy TV screen as we hear her sobs. But we don’t get any information about what she does next nor how she moves on. 

Focus Features/Universal Pictures

Barker says that Anything But Ghosts, which is about two con artists who pretend to be ghost hunters and end up meeting an actual dark entity, will address Nikki’s fate. “There’s like a news article thing on the next movie where you hear a news anchor talking about a triple homicide [by] a woman,” Barker told an audience during a recent post-screening Q&A.

Poor Nikki. We assume that means she either went to jail or is a suspect on the run. Personally, I hoped she would get Ian’s money and run away to live her best life, but oh well. S**t ain’t sweet when you’re in a horror story. There’s no indication that Barker wants to make an Obsession sequel nor continue Nikki’s story, but it is interesting that he’s building a universe of terror.

The post Curry Barker’s Next Horror Film Is Set in OBSESSION Universe appeared first on Nerdist.

If you're looking for a fun way to connect with nature while collecting bird species on an app like Pokémon, give this smart feeder a try.

South Korean chip startup Xcena is betting that AI's real bottleneck is not compute, but memory.

The explosion is likely a major setback for Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company, and its attempt to compete with SpaceX.

The enterprise AI search startup tripled its annual revenue even as tech giants entered the category.

A new law and AV tracker tool gives the clearest accounting yet of how many robotaxis and self-driving trucks are in Texas.

When Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in 1987, it was a huge tonal shift from the original Trek 20 years earlier. In the show’s chronology, 78 years passed between Kirk’s era and Picard’s. But within the show itself, there was next to no explanation as to why the more militarized Starfleet of Kirk’s Enterprise gave way to the “hotel in space with nice carpeting” of the Enterprise-D. In 2007, a novel was written by author Christopher L. Bennett called The Buried Age, explaining the origin story of the TNG era. Now, YouTubers Spacedock and Rowan J. Coleman have collaborated on a video that details how this obscure novel explained the genesis of an iconic Star Trek era. You can watch the video in full below:

Not only does the video explain the in-universe tonal shift, but it also explains many unexplained mysteries about the Enterprise-D crew the show never answered. Why did Jean-Luc Picard go nine years without a command after the loss of his previous ship, the Stargazer? How did he first meet future crew members like Data and Deanna Troi? And what was Picard’s relationship with future Voyager Captain, Kathryn Janeway? We know the two knew each other, but how? The Buried Age explains a lot of this. Yes, it’s all from a non-canonical novel, technically. But the video explains exactly why it should absolutely be canon to Star Trek lore.

Paramount

Right now, Star Trek as a franchise is in limbo. Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy are all ending, burning off the finale episodes next year. No new series is in production. But when it eventually returns (and it always does), it wouldn’t hurt Paramount to look at some of these novels as a source for inspiration. Even if it’s all produced in animated form, fans will eat it up. And with Star Trek: The Next Generation turning forty next year, now is the perfect time.

The post Video Details the Origin Story of the STAR TREK: TNG Era appeared first on Nerdist.

As AI agents move from experiments to production, AWS, Cloudflare, and others are redesigning cloud infrastructure for a future dominated by machine-generated internet traffic instead of human users.

Asana will incorporate Stack AI into its growing suite of AI workflow tools.

In its latest update, Bluesky is getting into long-form content.

A new hacking campaign is trying to trick Signal users to give up their secret recovery key, which can be used to access online backups containing past messages.

Apparently, someone out there had the thought, “There’s really not enough see-through food.” And no, ice doesn’t count as food. (Well, maybe on the hottest summer days it does.) But finally, someone has invented transparent chicken wings, and yes, they are entirely edible. No, before you ask, they don’t come from transparent chickens. Sadly. Via Food Beast, we’ve learned about an “unorthodox food blogger” and YouTuber named Cai Nan, who has figured out a way to create transparent meals. In a video that recently went viral, he gives a step-by-step process for making transparent crispy chicken wings. You can watch Nan’s video, titled “I want to make the fried chicken transparent, but the result is strange,” down below. Oh, and we must say, great title for a video. No notes.

To replicate the bones, Nan created a mixture of bone marrow, collagen, and cold gel. He then put it into bone-shaped molds to set. Turning the meat transparent became a more complex procedure, achieved with a contraption that extracts liquid from food. Nan then used a technique in “molecular gastronomy” that changes liquids into a moldable gel to recreate the muscle fiber structure. The meat then went into its own meat-shaped mold to set. The hardest part was figuring out how to make the crispy skin transparent as well. You can see how Cai Nan managed to make that all happen in the video above.

YouTube/Cai Nan

The final result looks more like an art project than actual food, but Nan maintains that it is all entirely edible. It looks less like something one eats, and more like those Kryptonian information crystals in Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. The funny thing is, this is not the only transparent food experiment on Nan’s YouTube channel. A few months back, he posted a video on how to make a transparent burger, too. So, pretty soon, you can have your own transparent dinner party. We thought the future would have flying cars on Mars colonies. Somehow, we never predicted transparent food items. What a world.

The post Viral Video Shows How to Make Transparent Chicken Wings appeared first on Nerdist.

Anthropic has closed a $65 billion Series H round at a $965 billion post-money valuation, marking what could be the AI startup's final private fundraise before a highly anticipated IPO.