Mike Bedard

Hearing that some companies are evil is like hearing that some bands with "Imagine" in their name make bland rock music. Just look at Nestle stealing spring water from indigenous lands, or Pizza Hut continuing to advertise their food to people even…

We all like to think we'd do anything for our beloved calicos, goldendoodles, and cockatoos (okay, maybe not the cockatoos). But when the kitty litter hits the fan, there are probably only a very few pet owners who would really come through in the…

We assume that because something has been a part of our lives for as long as we can remember, it must have been around since time immemorial. To everyone under the age of 40, for example, Star Wars has literally always existed. Of course, even the…

Just five minutes of scrolling through any social media feed is enough to send you back to bed, but that's because happiness doesn't get those sweet, sweet clicks. The truth is that for all the terrible things going on in the world, there are good…

Although it's probably shocking, it's not exactly news. Since crime peaked in the early 1990s, it's been dropping year after year. From 1993 to 2017, for example, violent crime dropped 49%, according to the FBI numbers -- 74% according to the Bureau…

You see ads everywhere you go, and video games are no exception. But they have a long way to go before they master the fine art of subtle, tasteful placement, unlike Willy Blippo, #1 real estate agent on the East Side. (If you called him, you'd be…

To many, the life of a star athlete sure looks like an endless parade of glamorous parties, gold medals, and sick ab selfies. Yeah, it also requires a lot of hard work, but it's the kind of work that turns you into Greek demigod at the peak of…

NFL teams take their scouting very seriously. Overly so, one might say. In some cases the teams will hire private detectives (sometimes retired federal agents) to go to potential draftees' hometowns and grill the locals to figure out who their…

Hollywood has its fair share of myths and legends, from a stuntman being killed in Ben-Hur to audiences ceaselessly demanding four more Avatar movies. The stories we tell about movies are as important as the movies themselves. So what does it say…

Whenever somebody like a musician, or a comedian, or a junior sales associate at Staples gets cast in a Hollywood movie, we always respond like they're a dog who can play basketball. WHY? WHAT? HOW? SURELY THIS IS AGAINST THE RULES. But what's far…

Whenever somebody like a musician, or a comedian, or a junior sales associate at Staples gets cast in a Hollywood movie, we always respond like they're a dog who can play basketball. WHY? WHAT? HOW? SURELY THIS IS AGAINST THE RULES. But what's far…

Coming up with an original idea for a movie is hard, but coming up with 200 more ideas just to fill in all the scenes is even harder. That's why Hollywood writers sometimes end up on autopilot and accidentally rip off the entire plot of some other…

Then there's the famous gravity-defying hotel hallway fight from Inception, which is kinda reminiscent of a recurring hotel hallway dream in Paprika. Oh, and the title character herself briefly runs on a hallway wall, Joseph Gordon-Levitt style. The…

It's hard enough to keep track of your own life, so trying to understand how humanity is doing in general is borderline impossible. On average, would you say the world is getting smarter or dumber? Would you guess the collective suicide rate is…

It's hard enough to keep track of your own life, so trying to understand how humanity is doing in general is borderline impossible. On average, would you say the world is getting smarter or dumber? Would you guess the collective suicide rate is…

In theory, every line of movie dialogue should serve a purpose, whether that's advancing the plot, revealing something about a character's personality, or making the audience laugh at Steven Seagal. But sometimes a single, seemingly insignificant…

On the far right is the Welsh Red Dragon (or the Y Ddraig Goch, if you need to clear your throat), flying next to the flags of Japan, China, and the United States. That wouldn't be there in our world. Wales is part of the United Kingdom, which is…

Microtransactions are just another part of video gaming nowadays. Most of the time, these add-ons offer something cool, or interesting, or vaguely recognizable as a thing worth value ... if you squint and smack yourself in the head first. Most of the…

Huh, should have seen that coming. Every item in the original Modern Warfare was unlocked by playing it. That's sort of the entire point of a progression-based leveling system. Purchasable "drop crates" actively work against that, but they actively…

A commercial's only job is to convince you that your life will be better with its product -- a new phone keeps you connected to family, a new car inspires you to go on adventures, a different brand of toilet paper will grant you the glorious and…