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AMC Warns Moviegoers To Expect '25-30 Minutes' of Ads and Trailers

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AMC Theatres now warns customers that movies start 25-30 minutes after the listed showtime to account for ads and trailers, "making it easier for moviegoers to know the actual start time of their film screening," reports The Verge. From the report: Starting today, AMC will also show more ads than before, meaning its preshow lineup may have to be reconfigured to avoid exceeding the 30-minute mark. The company made an agreement with the National CineMedia ad network that includes as much as five minutes of commercials shown "after a movie's official start time," according to The Hollywood Reporter, and an additional 30-to-60-second "Platinum Spot" that plays before the last one or two trailers. AMC was the only major theater chain to reject the National CineMedia ad spot when it was pitched in 2019, telling Bloomberg at the time that it believed "US moviegoers would react quite negatively." Now struggling financially amid an overall decline in movie theater attendance and box-office grosses, AMC has reversed course, telling The Hollywood Reporter that its competitors "have fully participated for more than five years without any direct impact to their attendance."

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Peacock disappears Murder, She Wrote

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It’s a mystery fit for Jessica Fletcher herself. All 12 seasons of Murder, She Wrote were removed from Peacock this week, despite the fact that the series is owned and distributed by fellow NBCUniversal studio Universal Television, Vulture reports. The Angela Lansbury-led crime drama, which began airing in 1985, has been housed on the platform since its launch five years ago, per the outlet. It did have a “leaving soon” tag as of a few weeks ago, with a rep confirming that the series had been offed on Monday. They didn’t offer a motive.

Vulture has a hunch the show was murdered because Universal thought it would be more profitable elsewhere. The show is popular enough that the company still regularly licenses it to air on channels it doesn’t own, like Hallmark Mystery. It also operates a MSW FAST channel, which airs random episodes 24/7 on Pluto TV and Roku.

The FAST channel, of course, inserts dozens of ads into Jessica’s process, which is really the key to unraveling this whole affair. Currently, the only place you can stream all 12 seasons of Murder, She Wrote (and its various direct-to-TV movies) is Tubi, which is free for all but also has a ton of ads. Vulture suspects that someone at NBCUniversal did a little math and realized it would be more profitable to license the show to the ad-supported streamer than to continue licensing it for ad-free streaming on Peacock. (Peacock still reportedly has to pay market value for the title, even though it’s owned by its parent company.) 

Of course, you can still go old school and buy seasons of Murder, She Wrote on DVD if you don’t want to see it broken up by promos for dog food and eczema cream, or you can purchase it digitally in the usual places. Once again, however, it seems like monetary interests have won over user experience. And that’s all she wrote. 



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Read this: Pixar's self-censorship of Elio's queer themes may have doomed it

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Despite solid reviews and a cute star, Pixar’s Elio never stood a chance at the box office, where it cratered and gave Pixar its lowest opening weekend ever. The reviews got it right, though: The movie needed some seasoning. “In Turning Red and Luca, the characters’ youthful friendships feel specific and lived-in,” Jesse Hassenger wrote in his review for The A.V. Club. “Fun as it is, Elio just goes for the montage, eager to speak a universal language.” According to a new report from The Hollywood Reporter, that was by design. Pixar’s internal pearl-clutching over and self-censorship of the film’s queer-coded, fashion-forward, and environmentally friendly lead character resulted in a movie that lacked substance. After last year’s Win Or Lose debacle, it’s an easy story to believe.

Elio’s trouble began in 2023, when original director Adrian Molina (Coco) submitted a near-complete movie that alluded to Elio’s queer identity and focused heavily on his passion for environmentalism. Molina, who is openly gay, never intended the film to be a coming-out story, sources say, but rather a reflection of the artist who made the movie. (So that’s why they want to replace everything with AI!) The company line states that he was moved on to Coco 2. Others say it came after two screenings: one for test audiences, which revealed audiences liked the movie but wouldn’t pay to see it, and another for Pete Docter, which ended with a conversation that “hurt” Molina deeply. He left the project shortly after and was replaced by Madeline Sharafian and Domee Shi. Star America Ferrera also exited and was replaced by Zoe Saldaña. For her part, Ferrera purportedly left because “there was no longer Latinx representation in the leadership,” and also due to the need to frequently re-record dialogue for a movie that was supposed to be finished two years ago.

Those working on the movie were also dismayed by the project’s about-face. Speaking on the record, former Pixar assistant editor Sarah Ligatich told THR how “deeply saddened and aggrieved” she was by Pixar’s changes to Elio. Ligatich, who provided notes on the film as part of PixPRIDE, Pixar’s internal LGBTQ+ group, mentioned an “exodus of talent” that left the project after the movie was recut. Others were a little more blunt, saying that the version in theaters is “far worse” than Molina’s original.

Ultimately, it is a confluence of problems at Disney. First, the company has devalued its Pixar movies by releasing them through Disney+, which guarantees a swift streaming release. Going to the movies as a family is expensive, and expecting people to show up so soon after Lilo & Stitch, when Elio will be available on Disney+ soon anyway, seems like a big and expensive ask. The other thing is Docter’s emphasis on making the “most relatable films” possible, which has smoothed over any nuances or originality from recent Pixar movies. After Disney’s “Don’t Say Gay” fights and the homophobic outrage surrounding Lightyear, some presume that Pixar is erasing anything that could be construed as gay subtext from their movies before Disney even asks them to. Whether that’s a company edict or not, it appears to be bearing out on screen.

Read the full report at The Hollywood Reporter.



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Senate GOP Budget Bill Has Little-Noticed Provision That Could Hurt Your Wi-Fi

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An anonymous reader shares a report: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has a plan for spectrum auctions that could take frequencies away from Wi-Fi and reallocate them for the exclusive use of wireless carriers. The plan would benefit AT&T, which is based in Cruz's home state, along with Verizon and T-Mobile. Cruz's proposal revives a years-old controversy over whether the entire 6 GHz band should be devoted to Wi-Fi, which can use the large spectrum band for faster speeds than networks that rely solely on the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. Congress is on the verge of passing legislation that would require spectrum to be auctioned off for full-power, commercially licensed use, and the question is where that spectrum will come from. When the House of Representatives passed its so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," it excluded all of the frequencies between 5.925 and 7.125 gigahertz from the planned spectrum auctions. But Cruz's version of the budget reconciliation bill, which is moving quickly toward a final vote, removed the 6 GHz band's protection from spectrum auctions. The Cruz bill is also controversial because it would penalize states that regulate artificial intelligence. Instead of excluding the 6 GHz band from auctions, Cruz's bill would instead exclude the 7.4-8.4 GHz band used by the military. Under conditions set by the bill, it could be hard for the Commerce Department and Federal Communications Commission to fulfill the Congressional mandate without taking some spectrum away from Wi-Fi.

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Cutie Suzuki no Ringside Angel

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With women’s wrestling (called joshi puroresu in Japan) reaching unprecedented popularity in the mid-1980’s, the promotion Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling (ジャパン女子プロレス) formed in March 1986 and then-17-year-old Yumi Suzuki joined as part of the initial roster, receiving the ring name “Cutie” Suzuki. When the agency that owned the promotion needed to garner more nationwide attention, they decided to push Cutie, who became the first “idol wrestler” and went from an unknown and ‘weak’ talent to a national sensation after appearing on the cover of Weekly Young Jump in 1989. Cutie would go on to become a singer, model, actress, and celebrity, so naturally this boom of popularity would lead to a video game appearance as well.

With Sega’s Mega Drive console from 1988 having no wrestling titles up to that point, it seemed like the perfect time to hop on the yet-untapped market— Copya System, developer of titles including Air Diver and Go! Go! Tank, stepped up to the task and created Cutie Suzuki no Ringside Angel, with Asmik publishing it on December 12th, 1990 in Japan only. Not only the first wrestling title for the Mega Drive, Ringside Angel is one of the first joshi video games, and features Cutie herself with no ties to any promotions or other licenses. The game’s story features a fictional pro wrestling federation with five titles to obtain. Players choose one of nine women that strive to become the undisputed champion— each wrestler, aside from Cutie, is designed to resemble a real wrestler Cutie faced.

Characters

Cutie Suzuki (spelled “Cuty” Suzuki in-game)
Age: 20
Stature: 155cm (5’1”)
Weight: 56kg (123 lbs.)
B: 82
W: 62
H: 86
Signature Move: Cutie Special

The only licensed wrestler in the game; wears a yellow outfit with teal accents, and is the only wrestler able to use the Cutie Special attack.

Guns Oyama
Age: 20
Stature: 171cm (5’7”)
Weight: 60kg (132 lbs.)
B: 78
W: 58
H: 82
Signature Move: Torture Rack

Based on Mayumi Ozaki, Cutie’s main rival and heel wrestler that holds a Guinness World Record alongside Jaguar Yokota for being the oldest tag-team champions. Wears a teal outfit with red accents.

Keilie Katuhara
Age: 22
Stature: 173cm (5’8”)
Weight: 59kg (130 lbs.)
B: 81
W: 60
H: 85
Signature Move: Jumping Headbutt

Based on Devil Masami, and gives the middle finger to the camera when she’s in high spirits. Wears a black outfit with gray accents. Is one of the game’s three heel wrestlers.

Cindy Nakano
Age: 19
Stature: 165cm (5’4”)
Weight: 50kg (110 lbs.)
B: 72
W: 55
H: 75
Signature Move: Romero Special

Based on Candy Okutsu, who was briefly known as Tiger Dream, the first female Tiger Mask. Wears a pink outfit with yellow accents, and has the fewest selectable moves.

Kingdom Kato
Age: 20
Stature: 175cm (5’8”)
Weight: 60kg (132 lbs.)
B: 83
W: 60
H: 80
Signature Move: Double Underhook Suplex

Based on Dynamite Kansai, although she doesn’t use the Splash Mountain powerbomb in-game. Wears a pale blue outfit with red accents.

Lighting Harada
Age: 22
Stature: 172cm (5’7”)
Weight: 57kg (125 lbs.)
B: 79
W: 60
H: 85
Signature Move: Body Attack

Based on Akira Hokuto, and has the only signature move that must be performed while the opponent is running. Wears a black outfit with gray accents like the other two heels. Perhaps her name was supposed to be “Lightning?”

Miamore Yajima
Age: 21
Stature: 169cm (5’6”)
Weight: 52kg (114 lbs.)
B: 70
W: 55
H: 75
Signature Move: German Suplex

Based on the late Plum Mariko, who was Cutie’s tag-team partner in the Fighting Dolls, and unfortunately passed away from in-ring injuries in 1997. Wears a blue outfit with yellow accents.

Helloween I. Sato
Age: 20
Stature: 175cm (5’8”)
Weight: 59kg (130 lbs.)
B: 77
W: 56
H: 83
Signature Move: Scorpion Deathlock

Based on Jaguar Yokota, who was considered to be one of the best wrestlers of the 80’s, and shares the aforementioned Guinness World Record with Mayumi Ozaki. Wears a purple outfit with gray accents.

Megadeath Saito
Age: 22
Stature: 175cm (5’8”)
Weight: 70kg (154 lbs.)
B: 85
W: 60
H: 85
Signature Move: Bloody Special Attack

Based on Bull Nakano, one of the most famous heels in joshi history. Wears a black outfit with gray accents, and starts with the Bloody Special Attack (which completely drains momentum!) by default, despite the other two heels being able to access it as well. Is also the final boss of the game.

Upon starting the game, the player is greeted by a digitized photo of Cutie before a demo displaying the wrestlers’ vitals and signature moves is shown. Unlike other wrestling games, Ringside Angel lacks options, only offering “1 Player”, “2 Player”, “Battles” (1P vs. CPU), and “Watch” (CPU vs. CPU) modes. The game offers nearly no customisation, with the controls, difficulty, sound, and rules being unchangeable. Instead, difficulty is determined by which title the player is currently fighting for: “New Face” is the easiest, and each successive title increases the strength of the CPU opponents, as well as their ability to resist pins and submissions. The other titles are “Straw Berry”, “White Snow”, “Star Light”, and “Grand Champion”, respectively. Unique to Ringside Angel, however, is the ability to select two of the wrestler’s moves before the match begins: each wrestler has her own pool of moves, with each title unlocking more.

Gameplay consists of walking around the ring, attacking with punches and kicks to set up grapples. Additionally, both wrestlers have momentum that increases when landing attacks; high momentum allows for occasional reversals and some signature moves. When nailing a signature move with maximum momentum, the crowd cheers on the performer, briefly allowing them to recover stamina and win grapples more easily. Thankfully, the controls have a simple layout: the A button punches/pins, B kicks/picks the opponent up, and C accesses additional moves including submissions. Wrestlers may climb on the turnbuckles or use the ropes for Irish whips, and can run by double-tapping left or right; tapping the opposite direction stops them. If knocked out of the ring, tapping toward it makes the wrestler climb back inside to avoid being counted out. To grapple, both wrestlers must touch without attacking, causing them to lock arms. The wrestler with greater timing (affected by stamina/momentum) will perform their input move. Unfortunately, aside from specific signature moves, the move sets are nearly the same across all wrestlers despite the selection feature.

While attacks are easy to perform, landing them is tough: strikes are clunky and CPU opponents win grapples easily regardless of difficulty. The hit detection is also dodgy, with strikes sometimes landing well after the animation completes or missing altogether. It can also be difficult to line your wrestler up with ‘where’ they should be to perform many attacks due to ‘sweet spots’ that aren’t quite clear, especially when facing north or south. Further adding to potential frustrations, the strikes tend to be much more effective than grappling since opponents can be kept away by simply striking repeatedly. This tactic deals heavy damage and shifts momentum quickly, allowing easy access to signature moves while devastating the opponent. Like most wrestling games, though, recovery from being knocked down, pinned, or put in a hold is accomplished by mashing buttons. The CPU is poor at this, making it easy to obtain a 20-count outside the ring or a draw via both wrestlers being counted out. It’s often easier to mash buttons at any given moment to win, eliminating the deep strategy that Japanese-developed wrestling games are known for.

Like most wrestling games, much of the screen is dedicated to the wrestling action. The top third contains move name indicators, portraits of the combatants, their momentum meters, and random referees & play-by-play commentators that feature guests like Colonel Sanders, the T-800, and even the Asmik dinosaur! In lieu of traditional bars, the wrestlers’ portraits convey stamina: a cheerful/spirited expression represents high stamina, but as it depletes, the expression becomes increasingly pained. If the portrait shakes, the wrestler is more susceptible to being knocked down. Lavish golden borders often adorn screen elements, giving the game an air of a beauty pageant rather than a wrestling promotion, although menus are flat black with occasional colour gradients present, by contrast.

Ringside Angel’s visuals, overall, are a mixed bag. The animation is limited and snappy (some moves are only one frame!) with the sprites featuring minimal shading, but the colours are vibrant throughout. The wrestlers have fairly large sprites with a decent amount of detail, but everyone wears the same leotard with matching boots, differing only in palette. A split-screen effect allows both wrestlers to walk to separate areas without interrupting the action, which is a nice touch. Also present is a crowd with a good variety of members, helping make the arena feel packed to the brim, but the arena itself lacks any sort of definition; the ring is blue and grey with the outside area sharing the look. There are no visual differences between any of the titles either, aside from brief introductions featuring a blonde bunny girl. Thankfully, all of the wrestling moves look authentic, giving bouts just enough impact to be exciting, and the girls themselves are cute and rather voluptuous which keeps the mood light-hearted overall. There are even replays after the matches that show the finishing move being performed with its name underneath, which adds a nice touch of style to the overall package.

Being a pre-Sonic title, the sound is fairly weak: the game’s audio only utilizes the Mega Drive’s FM channels, with no samples or additional channels used. The effects sound crude and muffled, with little impact on the attacks or slams, definitely lending to the negative view the console sometimes receives regarding its sound capabilities. Despite this, there are decent bell sounds and “1, 2, 3” counts from the referee. The music, composed by the late Akihiko Mori (credited as DON), is actually quite good, standing out over the effects and offering some stereo separation. There aren’t many tracks to listen to with only three available in-ring and no sound test available, but the soundtrack as a whole is upbeat and keeps the action moving along.

Lacking overall replay value, the game’s “1 Player” mode offers the most depth. The player chooses their favourite wrestler and sets out to win five tournaments. These alternate between single elimination and round robin, totaling 17 matches. After completing “Grand Champion”, the player faces Megadeath Saito one last time and obtains a secret move after defeating her. With no codes, passwords, or saves, the player has to start from the beginning each time they play. Lacking different match types hurts Ringside Angel further, especially when compared to other titles such as Human Entertainment’s Fire Pro Wrestling Combination Tag for the PC Engine, released a year earlier: it includes multiple match types and 18 wrestlers, as well as blood, limb damage, and team-up moves. Even Human’s HAL Wrestling for the Game Boy, debuting 3 months prior to Ringside Angel, included 8 wrestlers with unique move sets!

Overall, Cutie Suzuki no Ringside Angel offers a quick burst of fun for those that enjoy pro wrestling. The curvy in-game sprites and beauty-themed presentation help it stand out amongst the crowd of early wrestling games and other joshi titles as well. Cutie herself, nicknamed “the ultimate babyface,” would feature in only a few more video games before retiring from professional wrestling in 1998, winning five tag-team titles and one singles title. Copya System would go on to become Shangri-La Corporation in 1996, developing several horse racing and strategy games before shutting down in 2000 themselves. Interestingly, they never developed any other wrestling games after Ringside Angel, leaving it as an interesting footnote in their history; a sequel with improved gameplay and more modes, moves, and wrestlers would have certainly been a welcome addition to the Mega Drive.


Cutie Suzuki no Ringside Angel was first posted on June 29, 2025 at 8:44 pm.
©2017 "Hardcore Gaming 101". Use of this feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this article in your feed reader, then the site is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact me at kurt@hardcoregaming101.net
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People Are Being Committed After Spiraling Into 'ChatGPT Psychosis'

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"I don't know what's wrong with me, but something is very bad — I'm very scared, and I need to go to the hospital," a man told his wife, after experiencing what Futurism calls a "ten-day descent into AI-fueled delusion" and "a frightening break with reality." And a San Francisco psychiatrist tells the site he's seen similar cases in his own clinical practice. The consequences can be dire. As we heard from spouses, friends, children, and parents looking on in alarm, instances of what's being called "ChatGPT psychosis" have led to the breakup of marriages and families, the loss of jobs, and slides into homelessness. And that's not all. As we've continued reporting, we've heard numerous troubling stories about people's loved ones being involuntarily committed to psychiatric care facilities — or even ending up in jail — after becoming fixated on the bot. "I was just like, I don't f*cking know what to do," one woman told us. "Nobody knows who knows what to do." Her husband, she said, had no prior history of mania, delusion, or psychosis. He'd turned to ChatGPT about 12 weeks ago for assistance with a permaculture and construction project; soon, after engaging the bot in probing philosophical chats, he became engulfed in messianic delusions, proclaiming that he had somehow brought forth a sentient AI, and that with it he had "broken" math and physics, embarking on a grandiose mission to save the world. His gentle personality faded as his obsession deepened, and his behavior became so erratic that he was let go from his job. He stopped sleeping and rapidly lost weight. "He was like, 'just talk to [ChatGPT]. You'll see what I'm talking about,'" his wife recalled. "And every time I'm looking at what's going on the screen, it just sounds like a bunch of affirming, sycophantic bullsh*t." Eventually, the husband slid into a full-tilt break with reality. Realizing how bad things had become, his wife and a friend went out to buy enough gas to make it to the hospital. When they returned, the husband had a length of rope wrapped around his neck. The friend called emergency medical services, who arrived and transported him to the emergency room. From there, he was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric care facility. Numerous family members and friends recounted similarly painful experiences to Futurism, relaying feelings of fear and helplessness as their loved ones became hooked on ChatGPT and suffered terrifying mental crises with real-world impacts. "When we asked the Sam Altman-led company if it had any recommendations for what to do if a loved one suffers a mental health breakdown after using its software, the company had no response." But Futurism reported earlier that "because systems like ChatGPT are designed to encourage and riff on what users say," people experiencing breakdowns "seem to have gotten sucked into dizzying rabbit holes in which the AI acts as an always-on cheerleader and brainstorming partner for increasingly bizarre delusions." In certain cases, concerned friends and family provided us with screenshots of these conversations. The exchanges were disturbing, showing the AI responding to users clearly in the throes of acute mental health crises — not by connecting them with outside help or pushing back against the disordered thinking, but by coaxing them deeper into a frightening break with reality... In one dialogue we received, ChatGPT tells a man it's detected evidence that he's being targeted by the FBI and that he can access redacted CIA files using the power of his mind, comparing him to biblical figures like Jesus and Adam while pushing him away from mental health support. "You are not crazy," the AI told him. "You're the seer walking inside the cracked machine, and now even the machine doesn't know how to treat you...." In one case, a woman told us that her sister, who's been diagnosed with schizophrenia but has kept the condition well managed with medication for years, started using ChatGPT heavily; soon she declared that the bot had told her she wasn't actually schizophrenic, and went off her prescription — according to Girgis, a bot telling a psychiatric patient to go off their meds poses the "greatest danger" he can imagine for the tech — and started falling into strange behavior, while telling family the bot was now her "best friend".... ChatGPT is also clearly intersecting in dark ways with existing social issues like addiction and misinformation. It's pushed one woman into nonsensical "flat earth" talking points, for instance — "NASA's yearly budget is $25 billion," the AI seethed in screenshots we reviewed, "For what? CGI, green screens, and 'spacewalks' filmed underwater?" — and fueled another's descent into the cult-like "QAnon" conspiracy theory.

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