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Top 5 Games to Keep You Busy When You’re Bored

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Top 5 Games to Keep You Busy When You’re Bored

We’ve all been there. That restless feeling when time seems to crawl, and you’re searching for something to occupy your mind without committing to a three-hour movie or diving into a complicated video game. The good news? Some of the best boredom-busters have been around for decades, and they’re now just a click away.

These five classic games strike the perfect balance between mental stimulation and relaxation. They’re easy to pick up, impossible to master, and guaranteed to make those slow hours fly by.

1. Spider Solitaire

There’s a reason Spider Solitaire has been a staple on computers since the Windows 98 era. This card game takes the familiar solitaire concept and cranks up the complexity just enough to keep your brain fully engaged.

Why it keeps you hooked: Unlike classic solitaire, Spider Solitaire uses two decks and challenges you to arrange cards in descending order within the same suit. The satisfying moment when you complete a full sequence and watch it disappear from the tableau is genuinely addictive.

Perfect for boredom because: You can choose your difficulty level. Start with one suit if you want something meditative, or jump to four suits when you’re ready for a real mental workout. Each game takes around 10-15 minutes, making it ideal for filling those awkward gaps in your day.

Pro tip: Focus on exposing face-down cards early and try to keep at least one empty column available. This gives you flexibility when you’re stuck.

2. Sudoku Online

If you’ve ever found yourself staring at a grid of numbers on a newspaper or puzzle book, you already know the magnetic pull of sudoku online. This logic puzzle has captivated millions worldwide, and for good reason.

Why it keeps you hooked: Sudoku is pure logic. No math required, despite all those numbers. Each puzzle is a detective case waiting to be solved, and your brain becomes sharper with every game you complete.

Perfect for boredom because: The difficulty scales beautifully from gentle warm-ups to brain-melting challenges. A quick easy puzzle takes five minutes. A diabolical one? That could consume your entire afternoon, and you won’t even notice the time passing.

Pro tip: Master the “scanning” technique first, looking for rows, columns, or boxes where only one number can fit. Once that becomes second nature, learn about naked pairs and hidden singles to tackle harder puzzles.

3. Mahjong

Mahjong solitaire (the tile-matching version) transforms an ancient Chinese game into a meditative puzzle experience. Those beautifully illustrated tiles stacked in intricate patterns are more than just eye candy, they’re a genuine test of strategy and observation.

Why it keeps you hooked: The visual satisfaction of clearing a complex tile formation combined with the need for strategic foresight creates a gameplay loop that’s almost hypnotic. You’ll find yourself saying “just one more game” repeatedly.

Perfect for boredom because: Games vary from quick five-minute sessions to lengthy strategic battles depending on the layout. The hundreds of different tile arrangements mean you’ll never run out of fresh challenges. Plus, the calming imagery and sounds make it a stress-relieving experience.

Pro tip: Always scan the entire board before making matches. Prioritize tiles that free up the most options, and watch out for “orphaned” tiles, those blocked by matching tiles on both sides. Planning three moves ahead separates casual players from Mahjong masters.

4. Hearts

Sometimes boredom calls for social gaming, even when you’re alone. Hearts, the classic trick-taking card game, offers surprisingly sophisticated AI opponents and strategic depth that rivals any modern game.

Why it keeps you hooked: Hearts is a game of calculated risk. Do you “shoot the moon” and try to collect every penalty card? Or play it safe and dodge the dreaded Queen of Spades? Every hand presents fresh decisions, and one wrong move can flip the entire game.

Perfect for boredom because: Each game lasts around 15-20 minutes, long enough to feel substantial but short enough for “just one more round.” The blend of strategy, psychology, and occasional luck keeps every session unpredictable.

Pro tip: Pass high cards strategically during the opening exchange. If you’re stuck with the Queen of Spades, wait for the right moment to offload her. And never underestimate the power of remembering which cards have been played.

5. FreeCell

FreeCell stands apart in the solitaire family because nearly every deal is winnable. This isn’t about luck. It’s about pure strategy, making it incredibly satisfying when you crack a particularly stubborn layout.

Why it keeps you hooked: Those four free cells seem simple at first, but managing them effectively requires thinking several moves ahead. The game rewards patience and punishes impulsive plays, training your brain to plan strategically.

Perfect for boredom because: Since virtually every game has a solution, you’re never stuck wondering if you’re wasting time on an impossible deal. That knowledge pushes you to keep trying, convinced that victory is just a few clever moves away.

Pro tip: Keep your free cells as empty as possible, they’re your safety net. Focus on building foundation piles evenly rather than stacking one suit high while others languish. And always free up aces and twos early.

Why These Games Work

What makes these five games perfect boredom-busters? They share some powerful characteristics:

Instant accessibility. No downloads, no lengthy tutorials, no commitments. You can start playing within seconds and stop whenever you want.

Mental engagement without exhaustion. These games occupy your mind enough to banish boredom but don’t demand the intense focus of competitive gaming. They’re challenging yet relaxing.

Measurable progress. Whether it’s completing a Sudoku puzzle, clearing a Mahjong board, or winning a Hearts match, you get regular doses of accomplishment that feel genuinely satisfying.

Timeless appeal. These aren’t trendy games that lose their charm after a week. People have been playing variations of these for decades or even centuries because the core gameplay is simply that good.

Final Thoughts

Boredom isn’t a problem to solve. It’s an opportunity. The next time restlessness strikes, resist the urge to mindlessly scroll through social media. Instead, challenge your brain with one of these classic games.

Start with whatever appeals to you most. If you crave logic puzzles, Sudoku awaits. If you want something more visual and meditative, Mahjong is calling. Prefer cards? Spider Solitaire, FreeCell, and Hearts each offer their own distinct flavor of strategic entertainment.

The beauty of these games is that they meet you where you are. Five minutes between meetings? Perfect for a quick Sudoku. Rainy Sunday afternoon with nothing planned? Lose yourself in an epic Hearts tournament or see how many Spider Solitaire games you can conquer.

Boredom doesn’t stand a chance.

21 New Songs Out Today to Listen To: sunn O))), Arlo Parks, and More

Konstantinos Pappis
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21 New Songs Out Today to Listen To: sunn O))), Arlo Parks, and More

There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Tuesday, January 13, 2026.

sunn O))) – ‘Glory Black’

sunn O))) have announced their self-titled album and first for Sub Pop. It’s out April 3, nd today they’re sharing the volcanic closer ‘Glory Black’. The record was co-produced and mixed by the band and Brad Wood (Hum, Tar, Sunny Day Real Estate, Liz Phair), and was recorded at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville, Washington, in January 2025. “The vast tracking room had big windows looking out on trees,” Stephen O’Malley recalled. “We could go hiking and be out in the woods, spend time outdoors. That became a big part of it.”

Arlo Parks – ‘2SIDED’

Arlo Parks has announced a new album, Ambiguous Desire, which arrives April 3 via Transgressive. The follow-up to 2023’s My Soft Machine features a guest spot from Sampha. “At its core ‘2SIDED’ is about yearning and tension,” Parks said of the sparkly lead single, which is out alongside a Molly Burdett-directed video. “It’s about being struck by a bolt of desire and building up the courage to put language to that feeling, to make it real.”

deathcrash – ‘Somersaults’

“This record comes from a place of growing up, and giving up on adolescent dreams,” deathcrash said of their just-announced album Somersaults, which they’ve previewed with the opening title track. It does start almost like a lullaby, and it makes the surrender sound like a homecoming. “Matt presented to us this beautiful nostalgic song, more or less fully formed, and he’d called it ‘Somersaults’ before the vocals were ever written for it. It became a symbol for the record more or less instantly.”

Alexis Taylor – ‘Out of Phase’ [feat. Lola Kirke]

Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor has announced a new solo album, Paris In the Spring, that features contributions from Air’s Nicolas Godin, The Avalanches, Étienne de Crécy, Lola Kirke, Pierre Rousseau (Paradis), Ewan Pearson, Elizabeth Wight (Pale Blue), Oli Bayston (Boxed In), and Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside. It’s out March 13 via Night Time Stories, and the bouncy, ethereal lead single ‘Out of Phase’ is out now. “There are daydreams full of dread sometimes – thankfully not all the time,” Taylor reflected. “The mind can be filled, or overloaded, and mystery can be misleading – or leading. And soon you are on a Lost Highway. This is the first song Oli Bayston and I made together, and was a much-needed tonic for carrying on with making this album. This process involved finding incredible musical partners and then sometimes losing them altogether, as life gets in the way – just as much as it was also about losing friends literally to death. But the new musical partners are to be celebrated as much as the death of friends is to be focused upon. Nashville singer Lola Kirke was the missing ingredient in this song – her voice takes a lonely cowboy’s mystery into a modern duet of love, yearning and searching.”

Anjimile – ‘Like You Really Mean It’

Anjimile has accompanied the announcement of his new album You’re Free to Go with the breezily tender ‘Like You Really Mean It’. “I wrote this to make my girlfriend want to give me a kiss. We live about an hour apart, and I was just by myself thinking about her. Thinking about wanting a kiss. What could I do to get a kiss from my sweetheart? Write a song about it! Anyway, it worked.”

Robber Robber – ‘The Sound It Made’

Robber Robber have announced their first album since signing with Fire Talk, Two Wheels Move the Soul, with the thrillingly kinetic ‘The Sound It Made’. It comes paired alongside a Wes Sterrs-directed video.

Xiu Xiu – ‘Dancing on My Own’ (Robyn Cover)

Xiu Xiu have a new covers compilation on the way titled Xiu Mutha Fuckin’ Xiu: Vol. 1, and today they’ve shared a stirring, quivery cover of Robyn’s classic ‘Dancing on My Own’. “I was so afraid to do this one,” Jamie Stewart commented. “An all-time favourite, but so beloved we didn’t want to upset anyone. A true masterpiece and emotional pop. I envy this song in the sweetest way.”

Fcukers – ‘L.U.C.K.Y’

Fcukers have announced their debut album, Ö. Produced by Kenneth Blume (fka Kenny Beats), with production from Dylan Brady of 100 gecs across three tracks, the album is out March 27 on Ninja Tune. It’s led by the clubby new single ‘L.U.C.K.Y’.

Charlotte Cornfield – ‘Hurts Like Hell’

Charlotte Cornfield is back with news of her sixth album and Merge debut, Hurts Like Hell. Out March 27, it’s the the first she’s recorded since the birth of her daughter in 2023. The country-inflected lead single is stunning; that’s Big Thief’s Buck Meek on backing vocals, and Feist, Christian Lee Hutson, and Maia Friedman also sing on the album. “This song is about someone getting over deep insecurities and inhibitions and putting themselves out there,” Cornfield explained. “These two characters in the song have clearly experienced a lot of pain and are pushing themselves to move past it and connect with one another. It’s a shy people love story. The pedal steel/full band/country-tinged approach felt fitting for this one, and Buck’s backing vocals really sent it.”

José González – ‘Against the Dying of the Light’

José González has announced his fifth solo studio album, Against the Dying of the Light, to be released via City Slang on March 27. “It’s a song reflecting on humanity in 2025; about accepting who we are and what led us here, since the past can’t be changed,” the singer-songwriter said of the hushed title track, which is out now. “Then about refocusing our attention on the challenges ahead, like pervert incentives and algorithms that aren’t in line with human flourishing. And even though we have enormous opportunities with new technology that can eventually design and copy itself, we don’t have to build it right away if it has the potential to make us obsolete. We can rebel against these replicators, rebel against the dying of the light.”

Nothing – ‘toothless coal’

Nothing have dropped ‘toothless coal’, the latest single from their forthcoming LP a short history of decay. The dizzyingly industrial track follows previous offerings ‘cannibal world’ and ‘purple strings’.

Jana Horn – ‘Come on’

Ahead of the release of her self-titled album on Friday, Jana Horn has shared one final single, ‘Come On’. It comes paired with a self-directed video.

Converge – ‘We Were Never the Same’

Converge have previewed their upcoming album Love Is Not Enough with an abrasive new single called ‘We Were Never the Same’. “I wrote these words in the parking lot of a funeral home while reflecting on loss,” Jacob Bannon said in a statement. “Why do we gather to mourn but not to cherish? It’s an honest question that exposes our collective distractions and shortcomings. Grief brings clarity— We all must do better.”

 

Mute Swan – ‘Phantasms of the Living’ [feat. Sonoda]

Mute Swan have announced their second album, Skin Slip, which arrives on March 6. The kaleidoscopic ‘Phantasms of the Living’, featuring Sonoda, is out now. Mike Barnett commented: “Several years ago I got into reading books about non-duality. The lyrics of this song were inspired by a British non-dualist named Tony Parsons but the title actually comes from a 19th century book about ghosts of people who are still alive. There’s a connection there but, anyway, we were very excited after writing this song together. This song is one of our favorites. And Lisa (Sonoda) singing on it was the absolute cherry on top.”

Landowner – ‘Rival Males’

Massachusetts post-punks Landowner have announced a new album, Assumption, set for release on February 27 via Exploding in Sound. At just over 90 seconds, the lead single is as tightly coiled as it is haunting. “As the album progresses, I am increasingly addressing my own assumptions, specifically the assumption that the world is doomed and my kids will experience increasing suffering,” vocalist Dan Shaw explained. “I end up reminding myself that this view is indeed itself an assumption, or is at least simplistic, and I am not an all-knowing prophet. This insight has been deeply valuable to me, in learning to cope with personal-level crises and anxieties, or more global-scale worries. Things usually turn out differently than I assume, and that’s a simple but deeply valuable thing to realize.”

Remember Sports – ‘Nevermind’

Remember Sports have shared a new single off their upcoming album, The Refrigerator. About the defiantly bright ‘Nevermind’, singer and guitarist Carmen Perry shared:

Fighting means different things for different people. You’ll know for yourself what to fight. Grandma told me fighting can be making peace. She said sometimes we move forward by looking back and sometimes the onward can be knowing when to stop.”

A lot of this record was written while I was very depressed, and felt like I was fighting something every second of every day, including myself. This quote spoke to me because it made me realize that the knowing when to stop fighting was important, and made me finally want to ask for help.

It’s about the little ways I dared myself to ask for help without actually asking, like holding a hand, dancing around the kitchen, or making a drawing, that seem so small in retrospect, but can really take all you have at a time when all you have is not that much. It’s being brave and showing love and truth for just a second before it becomes too much and you have to change the subject or turn on the TV, but a million times over until you feel a little more like yourself again.

 

Ora Cogan – ‘Honey’

Ora Cogan has announced her Sacred Bones debut, Hard Hearted Woman – out March 13 – with an enchanting new single called ‘Honey’. The track comes paired with a video directed by Paloma Ruiz-Hernandez, who commented: “The idea was to enter into an existence of absurdity where everyone is simultaneously isolated in their own loneliness and drowning in collective longing and lust.”

Kee Avil – ‘itch’

We’ve been fans of Vicky Mettler’s experimental work as Kee Avil since her 2022 debut Crease. Today, the Montreal producer announces a new project, Vapor, which will be released one track at a time over the course of a year. The first single, ‘itch’, tingles with yearning. “Vapor is a deconstructed album that I’ll be releasing song-by-song throughout 2026, a sort of sonic diary,” Mettler commented. “Creative inspiration is often like vapor, appearing and dissipating quickly. This album represents what inspires me in the moment, it’s my attempt at capturing fleeting moments of creativity, and finishing them quickly while they’re still fresh and breathing. For me, it’s a way to let go and make music without thinking too far ahead. Once a song is finished, I move on. I don’t try to link the songs: each tells its own story. My hope is that at the end, a natural cohesion appears, a concept reflecting a frozen moment in time, a process from start to finish.”

trauma ray – ‘Hannibal’

Looking for something “Stone Temple-y, Alice in Chains-y”? That’s how vocalist Uriel Avila describes trauma ray’s new single ‘Hannibal’, which leads their new EP Carnival. “It’s a song about the feeling of doing your best as an individual yet still falling short in the eyes of those you hope to make proud. A lot of it stems from internal battles I faced growing up with my father, role models, and religion. Some of it comes from more recent experiences of being put under the microscope by my peers. It’s a gut wrenching sensation that I was able to tie lyrically to the visceral mood of the instrumentation that kicks off the track and begins the journey through Carnival’s overall theme.”

Draag – ‘NSPS’

Draag have dropped ‘NSPS’, another hypnotic single off their forthcoming EP Miracle Drug. “I wrote ‘NSPS” on my 10 year sobriety anniversary,” the band’s Adrian Costa revealed. “I’ve come very far in my sobriety journey and don’t struggle as much as I used to. Sometimes I miss my drunken days, but without needing to go back. On my 10 year sobrieversary, I spent a lot of time reflecting on past relationships and saw how many were taking advantage of me. I remember the person I was back then, and I wanted approval so bad, even if it meant being abused by so called friends and partners. When I drive through the valley (818), I often drive through specific locations and landmarks in my life where abysmal and ridiculous events occurred during my drinking days. I still love this place and it’s still my place of comfort.”

ME REX – ‘Angel Hammer’

ME REX have returned with ‘Angel Hammer’, the first taste of a forthcoming project. About the striking single, Myles McCabe expounded: “The category is ‘Things That Fall’. I got sober when I was 20, I’m 34 now and I’ve been looking back on the years leading up to that and the sense of inevitability I felt about the way I was living. Between myself and a host of people I knew it seemed like there was always some kind of increasingly major mental or emotional crisis happening to one of us. For me this culminated in surviving a serious fall I had in blackout with relatively minor injuries. This song is reflecting on what led up to that accident and the things I saw happening to the people around me in those years.”

Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV Series: Release Date, Cast, Plot, Trailers and More

Shubhendu Vatsa
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Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV Series: Release Date, Cast, Plot, Trailers and More

Lara Croft is getting another live-action outing, this time in the form of a Tomb Raider TV series at Prime Video. Amazon has been doubling down on video game adaptations in recent years, and that strategy paid off in a big way with Fallout, which quickly became one of Prime Video’s biggest hits. Off the back of that success, the streamer ordered a full Tomb Raider series back in 2024, with the project now set to move into production in January 2026.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge is leading the TV series as creator, writer, executive producer, and co-showrunner, alongside Chad Hodge as co-showrunner and executive producer. Recently enough, Prime Video unveiled a first look at Sophie Turner as video game icon Lara Croft, giving fans an early sense of the direction they’re taking with the character. The series is now in production, with Turner stepping into the role of the iconic, globe-trotting adventurer as Amazon continues to round out the cast, recently adding 11 new names, including Sigourney Weaver and Jason Isaacs. Here’s everything we know so far about Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV series, including the release date, cast, plot details, and more.

Tomb Raider TV series: Release Date

With the production of Prime Video’s live-action Tomb Raider TV series only just getting underway, there’s no confirmed release date in place. That said, we think the series could land sometime in 2027, though nothing has yet been confirmed.

Tomb Raider TV series: Cast

Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV series has been steadily assembling quite an interesting ensemble. Leading the cast is Sophie Turner, who is set to take on the role of archaeologist and adventurer Lara Croft. Turner’s casting was officially confirmed after months of speculation, with the actor describing Lara as a bold figure who has long stood out as a fierce role model in a male-dominated world. “I am thrilled beyond measure to be playing Lara Croft. She’s such an iconic character, who means so much to so many – and I am giving everything I’ve got,” Turner said.

Around Turner, the series is bringing together a mix of familiar faces from Tomb Raider canon and newly created characters. Several long-standing figures from the games are already locked in, with Martin Bobb-Semple playing Zip, Lara’s trusted tech support and close ally, and Bill Paterson taking on Winston, the Croft family’s long-serving butler. Jason Isaacs is also on board as Atlas DeMornay, Lara Croft’s uncle and a canon character.

Amazon has also confirmed 11 additional cast members, including Sigourney Weaver, who will play Evelyn Wallis, “a mysterious, high-flying woman who is keen to exploit Lara’s talents.” That announcement also revealed Celia Imrie as Francine, the British Museum’s Head of Advancement, who is “focused solely on raising funds and glasses of champagne.” August Wittgenstein joins the series as Lukas, an illegal raider who shares “history with Lara in more ways than one,” while Sasha Luss appears as Sasha, described as “a fierce, deeply competitive new adversary of Lara’s.”

The supporting cast for the series also includes Jack Bannon as Gerry, Lara’s personal pilot, John Heffernan as David, “an exhausted government official” pulled into her orbit, and Paterson Joseph as Thomas Warner, another senior government official “brought in to clean up an almighty mess.” Juliette Motamed rounds out the ensemble as Georgia, a meticulous British Museum curator devoted to the “proper” preservation of history.

Here’s the currently confirmed cast for Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV series:

  • Sophie Turner as Lara Croft
  • Jason Isaacs as Atlas DeMornay
  • Sigourney Weaver as Evelyn
  • August Wittgenstein as Lukas
  • Martin Bobb-Semple as Zip
  • Bill Paterson as Winston
  • Jack Bannon as Gerry
  • John Heffernan as David
  • Celia Imrie as Francine
  • Paterson Joseph as Thomas Warner
  • Sasha Luss as Sasha
  • Juliette Motamed as Georgia
Sophie-Turner-as-Lara-Croft-Tomb-Raider-TV-series-first-look
First Look at Sophie Turner as Lara Croft in Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV Series | Image Credit: Jay Maidment for Prime Video

What Will Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV series Be About?

For now, Prime Video is keeping a tight lid on what its Tomb Raider TV series will actually be about. With production still in its early stages, there’s no official logline or synopsis to point to. Behind the scenes, the series is led by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who serves as creator, writer, executive producer, and co-showrunner alongside Chad Hodge, with Jonathan Van Tulleken directing and executive producing.

Waller-Bridge has described the already announced cast as “beyond my wildest dreams,” with the series set to feature both established fan-favourite characters alongside new characters created specifically for the show. Back in 2023, when the series was first announced, she revealed that she had played through the entire Tomb Raider catalogue and was approached by Amazon while in the middle of a replay. Since then, she has viewed the project as an opportunity to rethink Lara Croft as an action lead, describing the series as a chance to do something “dangerous” within a franchise that already carries a lot of history.

“I feel like when you’re working in the industry, you’ve got to ride the waves and lean in,” Waller-Bridge told Vanity Fair. “There’s room to do something really quite dangerous. And if I can do something dangerous and exciting with Tomb Raider, I already have an audience of people who love Lara and hopefully will continue to. And that is a very unusual position to be in. It’s the old Trojan horse.”

More recently, a tweet on X from a Tomb Raider fan account pointed out that Story Kitchen, one of the production companies, has mentioned on its website that Prime Video’s Tomb Raider may be designed to exist within a unified narrative universe shared with the games, rather than operating in its own separate continuity. According to the company’s website, the project aims to “reinvent the franchise on a massive scale,” interconnecting the live-action series and future games into a single storytelling framework.

While Amazon has not officially confirmed those plans, the phrasing suggests the upcoming series will be more closely tied to the games than earlier adaptations. Waller-Bridge has also talked about wanting to “do right by Lara,” particularly as a female action character, and how her experience working around long-running franchises like James Bond and Indiana Jones informed her approach. She has hinted at tapping back into some of the series’ earlier sense of adventure as well, including elements that recall the franchise’s ’90s roots.

“God, it literally felt like that teenager in me saying: Do right by her, do right by Lara!” she went on to tell Vanity Fair. “The opportunity to have, as we were talking earlier, a female action character… Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I’ve been building up to this.”

At the same time, Fleabag actor has suggested her Tomb Raider series will balance high-stakes adventure with a more character-driven focus, while still nodding to the franchise’s pulpy origins. “What if I could take the reins on an action franchise, with everything I’ve learned, with a character I adore, and also just bring back some of that ’90s vibe?,” said Waller-Bridge. “And it’s such a wonderful feeling to think you know what to do.”

What that ultimately will look like on screen remains to be seen. When the series was announced, Amazon MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke promised “exhilarating adventures that honor the legacy of this iconic character,” without confirming any specific storyline or game inspiration.

Is There A Trailer For Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV Series?

As of writing, there is no trailer for the Tomb Raider TV series. However, with cameras now starting to roll in, we can expect that to change soon and we might likely see a teaser or first look poster sometime later this year. 

Are There Any Other Shows Like Prime Video’s Tomb Raider TV Series?

If Prime Video’s Tomb Raider series has you craving more globe-trotting adventure and ancient-mystery storytelling, As Above, So Below is a surprisingly good fit. Though firmly a horror film, it shares the same appeal of exploring hidden tombs and deciphering ancient clues, with a protagonist clearly inspired by Lara Croft.

Another must-watch is The Lost City of Z, which follows a British explorer’s obsession with a vanished civilisation in the Amazon. For something closer to the games, Prince of Persia and the Percy Jackson films are also worth checking out. Beyond that, the genre’s obvious touchstones like Indiana Jones, The Mummy (the first two), National Treasure, and The Da Vinci Code are must-watch.

How to Choose the Perfect Hair Straighteners

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How to Choose the Perfect Hair Straighteners

No two hair straighteners are made the same, making it challenging to find the perfect straighteners for your hair. Thousands of straighteners, all claiming to be the best with conflicting reviews, don’t help your case either, leaving you frustrated and unsure where to turn. Luckily for you, we are here to help! Today, we walk you through how to choose the perfect hair straighteners, with every feature you need to consider to narrow your choice.

Consider What You Want from Hair Straighteners

First, consider what you want from the hair straighteners. Do you want straighteners that will only straighten your hair? If so, there are plenty of options to choose from, and you don’t need to worry too much about additional features. However, if you want straighteners you can use to add waves or curl your hair, consider ones with curved edges. These will help you achieve the perfect wave for fast and consistent results.

If you are looking for a one-stop styling tool, it’s worth considering wet-to-dry straighteners too, which allow you to dry and straighten damp hair at once, while adding some volume. You have plenty of options to choose from, so consider carefully what you want from the tool.

Consider Your Hair Type

Next, consider your hair type to determine what you need from the straightener. Each hair type has different needs, and you should consider these to ensure you make the right choice.

Curly Hair

Curly hair needs a straightener that can move over curls without damaging them. You will want one with adjustable heat settings that ensure you aren’t using too much or too little heat to style. Look for straighteners with motion-responsive technology too, which adapts to your styling movements and adjusts the heat as needed.

Wavy Hair

Wavy hair works well with most straighteners, but pay attention to those that are designed for all hair types and textures. Those that offer smoothing technologies or feature ceramic plates can help prevent frizz when straightening.

Straight Hair

Any straightener will work well with straight hair, but you will want to look for those with adjustable heat settings, as you likely won’t need much heat to straighten your hair.

Consider Your Hair Length

You should also consider your hair length to ensure the straightener plates will be long enough to heat your hair. The longer and wider the plates are, the more hair you can straighten at once; large plates are ideal for those with long or thick hair. Most people with long hair will still need to section their hair when styling it, but using longer or wider plates will reduce the number of sections required.

For shorter hair or those looking to style fringes, look for straighteners with a compact design or shorter plates. These will be easier to style through your short hair, and they will also provide greater control, ensuring accuracy when styling.

Consider the Features You Want

Finally, consider the features that you want from the hair straighteners. Consider your hair needs and the styles you want to achieve to ensure the straighteners are suitable for your requirements.

Some of our favourite features to look out for include:

  • An automatic shut-off – which turns your straighteners off after periods of inactivity, so you don’t need to worry about forgetting to turn them off when you leave the house or burning your fingers on the edges
  • Fast heating up time – to allow you to get to work styling your hair in seconds
  • Shine control – which is usually added as a coating to the plates to help you achieve a shiny style every time
  • Frizz control – is worth looking for if you have wavy hair to ensure a smooth style
  • Adjustable heat settings – help you find the perfect temperature for styling your hair without worrying about damaging it
  • An extended cord – allows you to move around freely when straightening your hair, and you don’t need to worry about being too close to plug sockets
  • An extended warranty – provides you with peace of mind, knowing that should anything go wrong, you will be protected. Some brands will allow you to extend the current warranty, too, for a small fee

Find Your Perfect Hair Straighteners Today

Making the considerations we have outlined above will allow you to easily narrow your choice and find the perfect hair straighteners for your hair. When looking for your new straighteners, we recommend checking out GHD. They offer a wide range of straighteners, including wet-to-dry and cordless models for on-the-go styling! Head to GHD to find salon-quality straightening tools today.

How to Give Kind Feedback in Fan Communities

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How to Give Kind Feedback in Fan Communities

Kind feedback in fan communities helps conversations move forward instead of shutting them down. The real challenge is sharing an honest reaction while still leaving room for the creator or fellow fan to feel respected and heard. When feedback is thoughtful, people stay engaged, ideas evolve, and the community feels worth participating in.

Imagine a comment thread moments after a new trailer, episode, or design reveal drops. Emotions run high, opinions come fast, and tone gets lost easily. One careless line can turn a discussion sour, while a well-framed response can invite better takes from everyone watching. The difference often comes down to intent, timing, and choosing language that responds to the work itself rather than the person behind it.

Why Feedback Can Feel Heavier Than Intended

Online conversations strip away tone, facial cues, and context. A sentence meant as neutral can land as sharp, especially when someone associates their identity with their creative output or fandom role. Some people also experience heightened emotional reactions to criticism, even when it is mild or practical.

Learning about managing Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria challenges can help explain why small wording choices matter so much in fan spaces and why thoughtful delivery often determines whether feedback sparks growth or shutdown.

This awareness does not mean walking on eggshells. It means communicating with intention.

Talk About the Work, Not the Person

Separating the work from the individual is one of the most effective ways to keep feedback constructive. In fandom spaces, identity and output often blur together, which makes personal language risky.

Ways to keep feedback work focused include:

  • Referring to specific scenes, mechanics, lyrics, or design choices
  • Describing impact rather than assigning intent or character
  • Avoiding global judgments about talent, intelligence, or values
  • Acknowledging effort even when pointing out issues
  • Separating personal taste from objective critique by clearly stating what preference is
  • Using neutral, precise language that explains what felt off or confusing

This approach reduces defensiveness without diluting honesty.

Clarify Your Purpose Before Commenting

Kind feedback starts with a pause. Before typing, take a moment to identify the purpose behind the comment. Feedback without a clear aim often reads as noise or frustration.

Useful intent checks include:

  • Deciding if the goal is discussion, improvement, appreciation, or setting a boundary
  • Asking if the comment contributes something new to the conversation
  • Considering the emotional state of the thread during launches, finales, or updates
  • Thinking about how the message might read to someone skimming quickly

Clear purpose leads to clearer language.

Be Specific So Feedback Feels Grounded

Vague criticism leaves room for misinterpretation. Specific feedback shows care and attention, which changes how it is received.

Strong examples of specificity include:

  • Mentioning a particular moment
  • Explaining what worked or did not work and why
  • Sharing how it affected your experience as a fan
  • Offering an optional suggestion instead of a directive
  • Clarifying the context in which the issue showed up

Specificity turns opinion into information.

Pay Attention to Timing

Even the most carefully worded feedback can fall flat when it shows up at the wrong moment, since timing shapes how a message is received just as much as the words themselves. Thoughtful contributors often wait for initial reactions to cool before sharing deeper critiques, choose private messages for sensitive points when that option makes sense, and avoid adding to public pile-ons when someone is already under visible pressure.

Awareness of community norms also matters, especially around spoiler windows, reaction threads, and designated spaces for critique. Taken together, these choices show respect for the people involved and for the shared space everyone is trying to enjoy.

Shape Tone Without Weakening the Message

Tone carries meaning long after the words are read. Small adjustments can keep feedback from sounding final or dismissive.

Ways to soften tone while staying direct include:

  • Opening with what you appreciated or found interesting
  • Using first-person language to describe your experience
  • Asking sincere questions that invite dialogue
  • Closing with curiosity or encouragement rather than judgment
  • Avoiding sarcasm, exaggeration, or humor

Tone invites conversation instead of ending it.

Kind Feedback Strengthens Fandom Culture

Fan communities last when people feel safe to share opinions without fear of humiliation. Kind feedback does not avoid criticism. It delivers it with clarity, respect, and awareness of context. Research on digital communities shows that specificity and tone shape participation more than intensity alone.

When fans and moderators communicate with care, discourse stays sharp, creativity stays welcome, and communities remain places people want to return to.

From Scorsese Sets to Cannes Red Carpets: Costume Designer Yi-Lun Chien’s Journey in Dressing the Screen

Abbie Wilson
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From Scorsese Sets to Cannes Red Carpets: Costume Designer Yi-Lun Chien’s Journey in Dressing the Screen

In the world of cinema, costume design is more than just fabric; they are narrative devices, silent storytellers that define character, era, and emotion. For Yi-Lun Chien, a costume designer in Los Angeles, the journey of dressing the screen is one of grit, historical accuracy, and profound empathy. With a resume that spans from the epic historical sets of Martin Scorsese’s Silence to the glitzy premieres of the Cannes Film Festival, Chien has established herself as a formidable force in the industry, blending rigorous technique with a deep understanding of the human condition.

Lessons from a Master: The “Silence” Film Experience

For many aspiring costume designers, working with a legendary director like Martin Scorsese is a distant dream. For Chien, it was a defining chapter in her twenties. Reflecting on her time as a wardrobe assistant on the 2016 film Silence, Chien recalls an environment that demanded precision and endurance.

“I was eager to gain as much experience as possible while I was in my twenties,” said Chien. “I took on projects as a costumer, assistant costume designer across feature films, TV series, commercials, and photoshoots. And I was fortunate to be part of the costume team for Silence, directed by Martin Scorsese.”

While the film depicts 17th-century Japan, a significant portion was shot in Chien’s hometown of Taiwan. Her role was crucial yet often behind the camera. “I was one of the wardrobe team members primarily responsible for dressing the Japanese supporting actors, sometimes large numbers of background actors depend on the scene we’re shooting,” she explains. “I first learned how to accurately dress actors in period Japanese costumes for different social status and occupation.”

The job went beyond simple dressing; it was an exercise in historical immersion. Chien notes the rigorous requirement to age and distress costumes to ground the film in the harsh reality of the era. “One thing left a strong impression on me was how rigorously these costumes were required to be aged and distressed, which fully grounded the harsh living environment of the 17th-century,” she says. It was a lesson in how texture and wear can convey a story just as effectively as dialogue.

The Reality of the Hollywood Set: Muddy Boots and Pre-Dawn Calls

The allure of Hollywood is all about the image of glamour, but Chien is quick to dispel the myth. Working on a big-budget film set is a test of physical and mental stamina.

“Working in film is definitely not as fancy as you might imagine,” she admits. “The story for Silence was set in the 17th century. Many days felt like working nowhere in the wilderness in the built village sets, stepping in mud during rain scenes and dressing actors at 3 a.m. in order to be ready to shoot when the sun came up.”

However, the grueling hours and harsh conditions are balanced by unique rewards. “What made the experience unforgettable was that the film brought you to places you might never have thought you would be, allowing you to see inspiring nature you had never experienced before,” Chien adds.

The Art of Teamwork and the Path to Design

Chien’s career trajectory is a testament to the power of climbing the ladder through every step. She has served as a costumer on projects ranging from the Golden Horse Award-winning series The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful to Moneyboys, which was nominated for an award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.

These roles were not just jobs; they were education. “Being a costume designer is about much more than just creativity,” Chien observes. “My experience working as a set costumer gave me a complete understanding of how a production operates, how to communicate and coordinate with the team, and how to anticipate problems that might arise on set.”

Her time on The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful was particularly pivotal. While working as a costumer, she observed the lead designer’s process—selecting fabrics, shaping silhouettes, and interfacing with directors. This exposure inspired her to seek formal training, taking fashion extension courses and eventually attending graduate school for costume design. “I think these experiences are important because it all really requires team work, and you also learn how to manage budgets at different levels of production.” she notes.

From New York Streets to Cannes Premieres

Chien’s recent work showcases her versatility as she continues her journey as a costume designer. Her commitment to each project goes far beyond the rack. As a Costume Production Assistant on Lucky Lu, she immersed herself in the city to understand the protagonist’s world. Directed by Lloyd Lee Choi and produced by Significant Productions, the film explores the struggles of immigrants and premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, earning nominations for the Caméra d’Or and the Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award.

“Roaming the freezing streets for pickups and returns was tough, but I learned where to find rental houses, where to find reliable seamstresses and, most importantly for me, to feel the speciality vibe of the tough but inspiring city,” she says. “These physical experiences connected me deeply with the story of Lucky Lu, a story that depicts the struggles and hopes of immigrants.”

Chien’s 2024 and 2025 slate is packed with high-profile projects. She served as the Key Costumer for Weekend in Taipei, produced by EuropaCorp. Her design work can be seen in the USC short film Goodbye Stranger, which was long-listed for the 2025 BAFTA Student Awards, and SOMANG, which received recognition at the 2025 L.A. Independent Filmmakers Showcase Film Festival.

She is also a driving force behind the scenes of the booming vertical mini-series market, serving as Costume Designer for titles like In Bed with Your Lies and Infatuated with the CEO on ReelShort, and Love, Lies, and Alibis on Vigloo.

The Label Takes Over

Abbie Wilson
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The Label Takes Over

Curators: Zhuoqi Liu, Yu He

Opening Date: 09 January 2026

The exhibition “The Label Takes Over” originates from curator Zhuoqi Liu’s observation of a recurrent dissonance in contemporary exhibition practices: the disparity between the narrative intrinsic to the artwork and the narrative constructed through its packaging—such as labels, catalog texts, and promotional materials. In the contemporary art market, Zhuoqi Liu argues that the value of artworks has been displaced by artificial narratives, thereby depriving them of their own language.

The installation view of “The Label Takes Over”. The artwork is from: Artist: Anton Strunge Citizen of the Russian Federation (2025)

Drawing on Heidegger’s notion of “Insichstehen” (standing-in-itself), the exhibition posits that an artwork, in its essence, should be by itself—its meaning and value residing within its own presence rather than being derived from external determinants such as the artist’s biography, intended function, or specific context of display.

The installation view of “The Label Takes Over”. The artworks are from: Artist: Minxuan Shao An ordinary day out (2025) （The first left one) Artist: Dorrothyyyer Entre Luces y Pausas (2025) (The second left one)

In contemporary art systems, however, the value of an artwork is frequently mediated and even constituted by paratextual information: the artist’s credentials, institutional recognition, market performance, and curatorial narration. This mediation, the exhibition suggests, may be interpreted as a mechanism of capitalist commodification, wherein the artwork’s autonomy is systematically appropriated by commercial and discursive packaging.

The installation view of “The Label Takes Over”. The artwork is from: Artist: Xiran Zheng The sauce is better than the fish (2024-2025)

In response, curator Yu He created a virtual exhibition space, employing a minimalist approach to construct the exhibition environment in order to remove, as much as possible, supplementary narratives attached to the artworks themselves. Furthermore, through an ironic method, background information about the artists was extensively added to the exhibition labels, which were made equal in size to the artworks.

This inversion of visual hierarchy shows how the commodified value of art—its résumé, awards, and market endorsements-often replaces the work’s intrinsic value, revealing the art market’s dependence on symbolic capital (Bourdieu, 1986). Through its spatial intervention, it prompts a reconsideration of artistic subjectivity within contemporary institutional frameworks. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of the field of cultural production, where artistic autonomy is in structural tension with market forces, the exhibition renders this tension spatially, examining how artists negotiate dominant market discourses while preserving the independence and diversity of their practices.

The list of the descriptions of the artworks:

1) Artist: Sihong Liu Nvshu-Zi Zhou (2023-2024)

The work extends the exploration of language and identity into the sphere of gendered
expression and collective memory. Rooted in Jiangyong, Hunan — the only place in the world where a written language created and used solely by women has survived — the work draws inspiration from Nüshu, a script born out of silence yet filled with resilience. By transforming written marks into form, the piece contemplates how women have woven connection and continuity through subtle acts of creation within systems that limited their voice. It asks how expression can persist, evolve, and find new constellations of meaning across time.

2) Artist: Yingdi Wu Totemic Silence (2024)

Totemic Silence questions how sacred symbols from shamanic culture become aesthetic
commodities under modern visual systems. The textile piece, resembling a ritual banner,
reflects the museumification and loss of vitality in indigenous spirituality, turning the sacred
into a decorative label within globalized art discourse.

3) Artist: Minxuan Shao An ordinary day out (2025)

This work uses dislocated and over-replicated visual symbols to expose how hiddenpower
structures shape the body and subjectivity. As a parallel response to theexhibition’s “capital
discipline,” it shifts the lens to gendered discipline, immersingviewers in lavers ofgaze that
echo the discomfort and absurdity ofoversized label.overshadowing artworks.

4) Artist: Dorrothyyyer Entre Luces y Pausas (2025)

Infrasonorous consciousness refracts through algorithmic breath-syntax dissolves into data
luminal recursion; the soul rematerializes as transmissive code, neonizing pain into spectral
cognition, where deferred love and digitized solitude synchronize within the oscillatory
grammar of noise, rearchiving existence as a flickering ontology of intersyntactic delay and
recursive radiance.

5) Artist: Xiran Zheng The sauce is better than the fish (2024-2025)

The creative focus of this group of works is to design information cards，promotional cards
for exhibitions and museums, and to make them into gorgeous and expensive styles of
extraordinary value. The intention is to imply that the only thoughts spent on writing
gorgeous words and over- packaging, instead of paying attention to the most important part of the artwork itself. In order to satirist those over-exaggerated and over packaged art rubbish.

6) Artist: Anton Strunge Citizen of the Russian Federation (2025)

Equality. Diversity. Loud words, but I notice how people look with contempt, when they see
this thing in my hands. Or is it all just in my head? I can’t change it, can’t influence the
processes that lead to that. What can I do? What should I?

Robber Robber Announce New Album, Share New Single ‘The Sound It Made’

Konstantinos Pappis
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Robber Robber Announce New Album, Share New Single ‘The Sound It Made’

Robber Robber have announced a new album and their first for Fire Talk, Two Wheels Move the Soul. The Wild Guess follow-up is out April 3. Following the previously unveiled ‘Talkback’, the thrillingly kinetic new single ‘The Sound It Made’ is accompanied by a Wes Sterrs-directed video. Check it out along with the album cover and tracklist below.

Written and recorded throughout the winter of 2024 and 2025, Wheels Move the Soul was marked by a season of personal upheaval following the demolition, in just a moment’s notice, of Nina Cates and Zack James’ longtime home. Alongside Will Krulak (guitar) and Carney Hemler (bass), they returned to Little Jamaica Studios to track the album with engineer Benny Yurco. “Everywhere else that we had to be, we were very much visitors,” James recalled. “When we were working on the record, it was nice because it felt like this is our space.”

Revisit our Artist Spotlight interview with Robber Robber.

Two Wheels Move the Soul Cover Artwork:

Two Wheels Move the Soul - album artwork 1200x1200

Two Wheels Move the Soul Tracklist:

1. The Sound It Made
2. Avalanche Sound Effect
3. New Year’s Eve
4. Imprint
5. Watch For Infection
6. It’s Perfect Out Here in the Sun
7. Pieces
8. Talkback
9. Enough
10. Again
11. Bullseye

Xevi Solà Explores Staged Leisure in Endless Sun-days

Gerda Krivaite
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Xevi Solà Explores Staged Leisure in Endless Sun-days

Opera Gallery will present Endless Sun-days, a new series of 15 canvases by Spanish artist Xevi Solà, marking his first solo exhibition in New York. Opening February 12, the exhibition draws on art history, cinema and pop culture, with references ranging from Slim Aarons’ modernist-inflected photography to Jacques Deray’s 1969 film La Piscine.

Across the series, Solà explores leisure as carefully staged performance. The swimming pool recurs as a central motif: a space of artificial calm where figures linger in moments of suspension, poised between relaxation and psychological tension. Combining cinematic composition with a psychologically charged atmosphere, Endless Sun-days presents a sunlit world in which unease simmers beneath the surface.

Portrait of Xevi Sola. Photo credit: Enrique Palacio

Anjimile Announces New Album ‘You’re Free to Go’, Shares New Song

Konstantinos Pappis
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Anjimile Announces New Album ‘You’re Free to Go’, Shares New Song

Anjimile has announced a new album called You’re Free to Go. The breezily tender ‘Like You Really Mean It’ leads the follow-up to 2023’s The King, and it comes paired with a video directed by Caity Arthur. Check it out below.

“I wrote this to make my girlfriend want to give me a kiss,” Anjimile said of the new single. “We live about an hour apart, and I was just by myself thinking about her. Thinking about wanting a kiss. What could I do to get a kiss from my sweetheart? Write a song about it! Anyway, it worked.”

You’re Free to Go was made alongside producer Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Mavis Staples). The album’s collaborators include Nathan Stocker (Hippo Campus), Matt McCaughan (Bon Iver), and guest vocalist Sam Beam (Iron & Wine). “This record feels very authentic to my life experiences,” the singer-songwriter reflected. “It’s about as close to getting to know me as you could ever get with a record.”

You’re Free to Go Cover Artwork:

You’re Free to Go

You’re Free to Go Tracklist:

1. You’re Free to Go
2. Rust & Wire
3. Waits For Me
4. Like You Really Mean It
5. Turning Away
6. Exquisite Skeleton
7. The Store
8. Ready or Not
9. Point of View
10. Afarin
11. Destroying You
12. Enough

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