🎮 Woosah

Meditate like the Iceman, geek out on film cameras, and much more.

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Jul 12, 2023

Mornin’. We need your help, readers.

This was the year of the sequel. Four were up for Academy Awards and recent releases include new additions to the Creed, Spider-verse, and Mission: Impossible franchises.

Which got us thinking: Which movie sequels totally outshined the original?

The usual suspects: Godfather 2, Terminator 2, Aliens, even The Empire Strikes Back. Marques is split between Bad Boys II and Rocky III. (We’re not limiting to seconds.) Andrew stans The Dark Knight. Eric goes to bat for Blade 2.

Oh, and please welcome our newest editor Tim Leong, a comic book and magazine veteran who shocked us all with…Paddington 2. (Shook.)

What’s your take? Reply to this email and let us know. And just maybe we’ll make a list in a future edition.

—Marques Edge, Tim Leong, Eric Alt, Andrew Nusca

Buffed/Nerfed

What’s up and down in the world rn.

Buffed: Pitt stops. Brad Pitt drove a Formula 1 racing car at the actual British Grand Prix to film scenes for his upcoming Apple TV movie Apex. The film is directed by the same person who did Top Gun: Maverick but we doubt Pitt went the full Tom Cruise with his stunts.

Nerfed: ‘Cauldrons of caffeine.’ A senator asked the FDA to investigate the Prime energy drink from YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI over the amount of caffeine it contains as it rises in popularity among children. Not quite ready for primetime, we guess.

Buffed: Auroral activity. The Northern Lights will be on spectacular display for numerous U.S. states this week. They’re normally visible in Alaska and parts of Canada as well as several Scandinavian countries including Iceland and Norway.

Nerfed: Baby sharks (doo doo doo doo doo doo). Several dozen drones are set to patrol New York beaches after a recent spike in shark encounters. Just in time for Shark Week.

Buffed: Window shopping. You may need an appointment to purchase Apple's $3,500 Vision Pro. The headset will be available in retail stores in the U.S. early next year. A new meaning to “vision quest” if you ask us. —ME

Cheat Code: The meditation technique that helps fight gaming fatigue

Change the game.

What do you think of when you hear the word mediation? People in a circle crossing their legs? A state of Zen, perhaps?

Now what do you think of when you think of the word gaming? Probably something a little more heart-racing, eh?

Turns out a little bit of the former can really help the latter.

Wim Hof is nicknamed "The Iceman" for his world-record accomplishments in sub-zero temperatures. His meditation method aims to help people connect more deeply with their bodies…and might just do the trick in helping gamers fight fatigue.

Contributing writer Dustin Green lays out Hof’s three pillars approach and how to incorporate it in your daily routine.

Dive in.

Speed Run: Bellamy Hunt wants to put film cameras back in your hands

Two-minute talks with today’s movers and shakers.

No matter what you’re into, one of the best things about a hobby is not just the practice itself, but the cool gear you get to buy and obsess over.

Photography enthusiasts probably already know the name Bellamy Hunt, and they definitely know his alter ego, Japan Camera Hunter. His love of physical cameras and his adherence to the purity of film (even though he, too, still has to make a few digital concessions) have made him a guru for camera lovers worldwide.

Contributing writer Christine Champagne sat down with Bellamy to find out how it all started, and which cameras remain his coveted Holy Grails.

Read the story.

Wayback Wednesday

"Shall we play a game?"

The words uttered in WarGames made me fall in love with computers.

The 1983 film stars Matthew Broderick, who had yet to make his star turn in Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), as a young hacker who accesses a U.S. military supercomputer and thinks he is just playing a game.

Narrator: It was not a game. (Not even practice.) He ends up starting a nuclear war with Russia.

In a frantic race against time, Broderick’s character helps the Pentagon to persuade the computer to stop playing the “game.” In the end, it comes down to a game of Tic Tac Toe.

Saving the world with computers? I thought I had found my calling…until "Johnny" in computer science class got suspended for a month for hacking into the school district's computer system during lab time.

On to cool dude with a car phone, then. —ME