Discovering and latching on to pieces of art that touch you in profound, formative ways is a beautiful part of growing up in a world that’s so thoroughly saturated with mass media. In their first film, We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, writer / director Jane Schoenbrun turned that facet of childhood into an intimate coming-of-age horror about creating one’s identity on the internet.
Technology
I Saw the TV Glow is a tribute to the transformative power of fandom
But with their second feature, A24’s I Saw the TV Glow, Schoenbrun cultivates that idea into an even more unsettling, moving narrative by framing obsessive fandom as both a blessing and a curse. Whereas We’re All Going to the World’s Fair was a snapshot of life in the age of modern social media, I Saw the TV Glow is an exploration of what it felt like to be an outcast teenager in the ’90s — a time when young fans of sci-fi and fantasy often had to find each other by chance.
Though there are flashes of vibrant color in seventh grader Owen’s (Ian Foreman) memories from his younger years, his world has become a landscape of suburban beige and muted neons as I Saw the TV Glow introduces him in 1996 on the night of an election. With his school transformed into a polling place and filled with unfamiliar faces, it’s the last place he wants to be, especially with his mother, Brenda (Danielle Deadwyler), hovering over his shoulder. But as Owen wanders away to see what the halls of Void High look like at night when the dimmed lighting makes the building feel almost otherworldly, he unexpectedly comes across Maddy (Brigette Lundy-Paine), a moody ninth grader with her face buried in a book.
Despite them both being loners in search of social connections, at first, the two awkward teens don’t seem like they’ll get along or share many common interests. But when Owen catches a glimpse of what Maddy’s reading — an episode guide for a YA horror / fantasy series called The Pink Opaque — his curiosity about the TV show sparks her passion for talking about it, and the two begin an unlikely, complicated friendship.
With We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Schoenbrun created an unsettling and intense atmosphere of dread by situating its story largely in a single dark room and repeatedly cutting away to videos of people participating in the film’s mysterious, creepypasta-inspired web game. I Saw the TV Glow explores much more of the “real” world that a slightly older Owen (Justice Smith) and Maddy exist in outside of their bedrooms and the basement, where they’re able to covertly watch The Pink Opaque together for the first time.
But as the teens begin opening up about their everyday struggles — his father (Fred Durst) is emotionally abusive, and she isn’t safe in her own home — I Saw the TV Glow also dips into The Pink Opaque’s monster-of-the-week reality in a way that illustrates things about Owen and Maddy that neither of them are fully able to articulate. Though I Saw the TV Glow leads with a lo-fi ’90s aesthetic evocative of coming-of-age dramas like My So-Called Life and Freaks and Geeks, it’s through the Buffy the Vampire Slayer-like beats of The Pink Opaque that the film comes into its own as a story about queer people finding themselves in the age of pre-internet genre fandoms.
To everyone else, The Pink Opaque is just a cheesy show about two girls who meet at summer camp, discover they share a powerful psychic connection, and then use their bond to routinely defeat the forces of evil after going back home to their families on opposite sides of the county. But to Owen and Maddy, the show’s heroines Isabel (Helena Howard) and Tara (Lindsey Jordan) provide a much-needed escape from the monotony of their ordinary lives. The Pink Opaque resonates with the kids so profoundly that, with time, they start to question whether they might actually have a supernatural connection to it.
While there are initially distinct delineations between I Saw the TV Glow’s lo-fi reality and the phosphorescent world of The Pink Opaque, Schoenbrun blurs those boundaries to David Lynchian effect as the film follows Owen and Maddy through years of a secret friendship. As time pulls the two in different directions, the listlessness that dominates their lives takes on an unnerving, sinister quality. In fact, the two feel every bit as imperiled as Isabel and Tara do in the buildup to The Pink Opaque’s season five cliffhanger finale. And when Maddy’s house is engulfed in flames and she mysteriously disappears the same week The Pink Opaque is canceled, Owen can’t help but wonder whether there might be something to their suspicions about the show being much more than just a TV series.
In contrast to the film’s rich sonic palette that surges as musicians like Phoebe Bridgers and Haley Dahl make appearances as themselves, I Saw the TV Glow’s leads deliver restrained performances that show rather than tell you who Owen and Maddy are. They’re fans of a show that, at least to Owen, seems to become simpler in tone and something that’s really meant for children as the years go by. But they are also two people grappling with an existential dysphoria that The Pink Opaque helps them better understand. Even though the show can’t fix their problems, it gives them a framework of queer identity to project themselves into and a language to express the deep-seated emotions that make them feel so different from other people.
The more the film shifts into its psychological fantasy thriller mode, the harder it becomes to tell how firm a grasp Owen and Maddy have on what is real and what isn’t. But rather than making either character’s story feel like a puzzle you’re meant to solve, each instance of The Pink Opaque bleeding into reality instead illustrates what it can feel like to long for something that you think only exists in fiction on TV.
Even with its handful of distracting, fourth wall-breaking exposition dumps, I Saw the TV Glow is a spellbinding watch as a standalone movie that’s trying to capture the essence of being one of the weirdos. What’s most promising about the film, though, is how clearly it speaks to the ways in which Schoenbrun’s larger vision for their “Screen Trilogy” — which began with We’re All Going to the World’s Fair — has grown. The evolution of a filmmaker’s voice is not always reason enough to be intrigued by the prospect of what they might create next. But Schoenbrun seems to have the heat, and I Saw the TV Glow is a strong sign of even greater things to come.
I Saw the TV Glow also stars Amber Benson, Emma Portner, Kristina Esfandiari, Connor O’Malley, and Danny Tamberelli. The movie debuts in select theaters on May 3rd, and will have a wider theatrical release on May 17th.
Technology
Replacing the OLED iPad Pro’s battery is easier than ever
Apple’s newest iPad Pro is remarkably rigid for how thin it is, and apparently also a step forward when it comes to repairability. iFixit shows during its teardown of the tablet that the iPad Pro’s 38.99Wh battery, which will inevitably wear down and need replacement, is actually easy to get to. It’s a change iFixit’s Shahram Mokhtari says during the video “could save hours in repair time” compared to past iPad Pro models.
Getting to it still requires removing the glued-in tandem OLED screen, which iFixit notes in the video and its accompanying blog isn’t two panels smashed together, but a single OLED board with more electroluminescence layers per OLED diode. With the screen out of the way, iFixit was essentially able to pull the battery almost immediately (after removing the camera assembly and dealing with an aluminum lip beneath that, which made some of the tabs hard to get to). For previous models, he notes, you have to pull out “every major component.”
After that, though, the thinness proves to be an issue for iFixit, as many of the parts are glued in, including the tablet’s logic board. In the blog, the site goes into more detail here, mentioning that the glue means removing the speakers destroys them, and the tablet’s daughter board is very easy to accidentally bend.
The site also found that the 256GB model uses only one NAND storage chip, meaning it’s technically slower than dual-chip storage. As some Verge readers may recall, that’s also the case for M2 MacBook Air’s entry-level storage tier. But as we noted then (and as iFixit says in its blog), that’s not something people who aren’t pushing the device will notice, and those who are may want more storage, regardless.
But you can’t say the same for Apple’s new $129 Apple Pencil Pro, which shouldn’t shock anyone. Mokhtari was forced to cut into the pencil using an ultrasonic cutter, a moment he presented as “the world’s worst ASMR video.” (That happens just after the five-minute mark, in case you want to mute the video right there to avoid the ear-piercing squeal of the tool.) Unlike the iPad Pro itself, the Pencil Pro’s battery was the last thing he could get to.
By the time Mokhtari is done, the pencil is utterly destroyed, of course. He says the site will have a full chip ID soon that will include images of the MEMS sensor that drives the pencil’s barrel roll feature that lets you twist the pencil to adjust the rotation of on-screen art tools.
Technology
Blue Origin’s first crewed launch since 2022: Where to watch
It’s been over a year and a half since Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket failed mid-flight, and more than two since its last crewed flight. Now, the company is go to launch six human beings into space. The company’s launch window begins at 6:30AM PT / 9:30AM ET, but will start streaming 40 minutes ahead of time on its website.
Blue Origin also normally streams its launches live on its YouTube channel, so it’s a pretty safe bet it will do so for its NS-25 mission tomorrow. Assuming the launch goes as planned, it will carry six passengers aboard, including the 90-year-old Ed Dwight, who was America’s first Black astronaut candidate but has never been to space. The other passengers are Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and Gopi Thotakura.
The Federal Aviation Administration closed its investigation of the mishap in September last year, requiring Blue Origin to carry out 21 corrective actions that included redesigning the engine and nozzle components to prevent future failures. In December, Blue Origin launched 33 science payloads from NASA and other institutions into space. The capsule and booster were successfully recovered afterwards.
Technology
Fox News AI Newsletter: How artificial intelligence is reshaping modern warfare
Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– How artificial intelligence is reshaping modern warfare
– Sebastian Maniscalco admits AI makes a guy who writes like ‘Rocky Balboa’ sound like he ‘went to Yale’
– Researchers create AI-powered sarcasm detector
NEXT-GEN BATTLE: Modern warfare is changing rapidly, and harnessing artificial intelligence is key to staying ahead of America’s adversaries.
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING: Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco isn’t sure what to make of artificial intelligence in the industry.
FUNNY BOT: A team of university researchers in the Netherlands says they’ve developed an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that can recognize sarcasm, according to a new report.
‘OUTCOMPETE CHINA’: A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Wednesday joined in a call to boost American funding of artificial intelligence research.
‘MACHINE LEARNING’: The widespread use of artificial intelligence tools has many workers concerned that the rapidly-evolving technology will eventually result in them losing their job, and one expert says that is a real concern — but not in the way some might expect.
AI AT WAR: The world may end up breaking into tech alliances as a guiding political issue in the years to come, according to a retired American serviceman-turned-novelist as detailed in his new book.
Subscribe now to get the Fox News Artificial Intelligence Newsletter in your inbox.
FOLLOW FOX NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitter
LinkedIn
SIGN UP FOR OUR OTHER NEWSLETTERS
Fox News First
Fox News Opinion
Fox News Lifestyle
Fox News Health
DOWNLOAD OUR APPS
Fox News
Fox Business
Fox Weather
Fox Sports
Tubi
WATCH FOX NEWS ONLINE
Fox News Go
STREAM FOX NATION
Fox Nation
Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here.
-
Finance1 week ago
Spring Finance Forum 2024: CRE Financiers Eye Signs of Recovery
-
World1 week ago
India Lok Sabha election 2024 Phase 4: Who votes and what’s at stake?
-
News1 week ago
The Major Supreme Court Cases of 2024
-
Politics1 week ago
Tales from the trail: The blue states Trump eyes to turn red in November
-
World1 week ago
Borrell: Spain, Ireland and others could recognise Palestine on 21 May
-
Politics1 week ago
Fox News Politics: No calm after the Stormy
-
World1 week ago
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy fires head of state guard over assassination plot
-
Politics1 week ago
US Border Patrol agents come under fire in 'use of force' while working southern border