• Samantha Bee addressed the backlash against the #MeToo movement that surfaced this past week after a story about comedian Aziz Ansari came out.
• Bee said that no one was comparing what Ansari is accused of to rape, and said, "I'm sorry we tattled about that stuff you did on us, even when it was totally not rape."

On "Full Frontal" Wednesday night, host Samantha Bee addressed the backlash against the #MeToo movement that started after an accusation of sexual misconduct was published about comedian Aziz Ansari in the publication Babe.net.

Bee said even though what Ansari had been accused of wasn't not rape, it was still worth discussing.

"What many fail to understand is that it doesn't have to be rape to ruin your life and it doesn't have to ruin your life to be worth speaking out about," Bee said. After pausing for applause, she added, "any kind of sexual harassment or coersion is unacceptable."

The anonymous woman who spoke to Babe.net accused Ansari of continually trying to have sex with her after a date in September, though "she used verbal and non-verbal cues to indicate how uncomfortable and distressed" she was. In a statement, Ansari said that from his perspective all indications were that the encounter was "completely consensual." He also said that when the woman told him that their encounter was upsetting in text message the next day, he was "surprised and concerned."

"People are worried about Aziz's career," Bee said. "Which no one is trying to end because again we know the different between a rapist, a workplace harasser, and an Aziz Ansari. That doesn't mean we have to be happy about any of them."

Addressing men, Bee said, "I'm sorry our request to be respected makes office culture a little less fun and flirty, and I'm sorry we tattled about that stuff you did to us, even when it was totally not rape."

Bee then said, seeming to speak directly to Ansari and other men who act in the same way, "If you don't want to hurt your partner's feelings throughout sex, maybe you shouldn't be f***ing the person at all."

Watch the entire segment below: 

SEE ALSO: Dylan Farrow went into emotional and disturbing detail about her alleged sexual assault by Woody Allen in her first TV interview

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NOW WATCH: The bizarre history of the Yule Log Christmas special

Travis Kalanick's latest obsession is the puzzle game "2048." 

A new piece out Thursday from Bloomberg details Kalanick's final few months as Uber CEO and what he's been up to after being pushed out of the company — and that includes a new addiction to the popular smartphone game.

Kalanick's last few months at Uber were contentious, Bloomberg reports, and before his tenure was over, tragedy struck: Kalanick's mother was killed in a boating accident, and his father was seriously injured. 

According to Bloomberg, Kalanick is using his newfound downtime to set up a family office, spend time with his father — and play plenty of "2048."

Kalanick even confirmed he loves the game on his Instagram back in September:

But "2048" isn't a new game — or a particularly original one at that. It's easy to learn, and even easier to get hooked on. So here's how to play "2048," the game that's taking up a lot of Kalanick's free time:

SEE ALSO: Travis Kalanick's final months as Uber CEO reportedly included squirming on the floor 'on his hands and knees' and offering the driver he yelled at $200,000

"2048" came out in 2014. It's similar to another popular mobile game, called "Threes."

Back in 2014, the developers behind "Threes" even wrote a lengthy blog post detailing their frustration at the similarities, since "Threes" came first. But "2048" likely became so popular because it's free — "Threes" costs $2.99 these days. 

"2048" was originally created by a developer named Gabriele Cirulli, but the mobile version most people play these days is from Ketchapp Games. 

Your goal in "2048" is to add up all the tiles to get to the number 2048.

The game takes place within a 4x4 board — you'll start off with two tiles each bearing the number "2." 

When you swipe one of the tiles toward the other, they'll combine to make one tile. They'll also combine their values, so you'll now have a tile that says "4."

Here's a look at the game in action:

• Rapper Chamillionaire is trying to help out the family of Jorge Garcia, a suburban Detroit man who was deported to Mexico last week after living in the US for 30 years with no criminal record.
• On Tuesday, Chamillionaire sent an email to Detroit Free Press reporter Niraj Warikoo, who wrote the story on Garcia's deportation, asking if Warikoo could connect him to the Garcia family.
• Chamillionaire said in a statement to Business Insider that while he hasn't been connected to the Garcia family, he was "happy to see their story getting the attention that it deserves."

On Monday, Detroit Free Press reporter Niraj Warikoo wrote a moving story on the deportation of Jorge Garcia, a 39-year-old metro Detroit man and father of two, who was deported to Mexico after living in the US for 30 years with no criminal record.

The story gained traction nationwide this week, with supporters of Garcia seeing his situation as emblematic of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration. On Tuesday, Warikoo even received an email from rapper-entrepreneur Chamillionaire, best known for his 2005 Billboard No. 1 single, "Ridin' Dirty." In the email, Chamillionaire said he wanted to help Garcia's family with financial support:

Chamillionaire confirmed in a statement to Business Insider that he did indeed send the email to Warikoo, while expressing regret that he hadn't yet been connected to the Garcia family.

"(When I sent the email) I assumed this would be a private conversation, and I was hoping that I would be connected to the family, but unfortunately, neither happened," Chamillionaire said. "It looks like the story of this family's unfortunate situation is gaining some traction, so at the least, I'm happy to see their story getting the attention that it deserves." 

Warikoo did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

Chamillionaire, who moved into the field of technology venture capital in 2015, has a history of helping out those in need. His website currently hosts a YouCaring fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Harvey. 

SEE ALSO: The 50 best-selling albums of all time

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NOW WATCH: Celebrities flocked to these underground poker games where someone once lost $100 million in one night

• Google's Arts & Culture app is having viral success in the US.
• Users can match their faces with famous works of art in Google's art database, which is largely from museums in Europe and North America.
• But many users are complaining that the options for people of color are too limited.

Google is having viral success with its two year old Arts & Culture app now that it's including some new faces: yours.

The app rocketed to the top of the charts this week after Google added in a feature that lets people compare their selfies to works of art and see who they look like. 

The feature is only available in some states in the US, and is blocked in places like Texas and Illinois that have stricter privacy laws. But some people trying the new selfie-matching machine are voicing frustration about the differences between results for white people and people of color. 

SEE ALSO: Take the 10-minute mental test Trump's doctor said he scored 100% on

Some users, like Ryan Seacrest, got a host of decent match options.

But lots of users quickly expressed frustration that the app doesn't have as many options for people of color.

Some said the app highlights an ugly blind spot in art history.

• Kevin Bleyer, the head writer for NBC's "Megyn Kelly Today," was fired after accusing two executive producers of bullying and abusive behavior.
• He reportedly wrote an email to his former colleagues which chronicled the alleged offenses.
• Megyn Kelly did not appear to be directly implicated in Bleyer's emails.

The head writer for NBC's "Megyn Kelly Today" was reportedly fired after complaining about "dysfunctional management" and "abusive treatment" from the show's co-executive producers, according to a Daily Mail report Thursday.

A lengthy email written by head writer Kevin Bleyer painted the picture of a hostile work environment where "the show's management regularly scapegoated junior members of staff," and where co-executive producers Jackie Levin and Christine Cataldi created a "toxic and demeaning environment," the email claimed.

Bleyer's message, which chronicled the alleged offenses day-by-day, was reportedly sent to his former colleagues. It further notes that he notified NBC News president Noah Oppenheim and the human-resources department about the alleged problems at work.

"On Wednesday 1/3, when I offered politely that Megyn wouldn't have to wait for a rewrite if Jackie could review the affiliate promos prior to the show (as per the workflow), Jackie called me a 'f---ing whiner,'" Bleyer wrote. "It was not said as a joke. It was unwarranted, and unjustified, and abusive. And unacceptable."

Bleyer recorded incidents spanning 24 days in total.

A source familiar with the situation appeared to confirm to the Daily Mail some of the sentiments shared behind the scenes.

"The working environment on Megyn Kelly Today is completely toxic," the source said in the report. "It is hypocritical that a show that has positioned itself as a safe place for those who are victims, has staff that feel like they are being harassed and abused."

"Megyn harps on about people having a voice and shining a light in dark places, so that's what Kevin did," the source continued. "Here's the problem, Megyn's show doesn't practice what she preaches — you do that on her show, you get fired! It's a joke."

Megyn Kelly did not appear to be directly implicated in Bleyer's emails. 

An NBC spokesperson reportedly denied the accusations according to the Daily Mail: "Jackie and Christine are being attacked unfairly. They are both excellent and experienced producers, and have the full support of everyone here," the spokesperson said.

"They, and the team, are fully focused on continuing the show's momentum as it continues to climb in the ratings," the spokesperson added.

The accusations come on the heels of the recent departure of Don Nash, the executive producer of NBC's "Today," and the firing of the show's longtime anchor Matt Lauer, who was sent packing after he was accused of sexual misconduct.

Read the email in full below:

SEE ALSO: Megyn Kelly responds to backlash for saying that fat-shaming women works, and says she was bullied herself

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NOW WATCH: A Georgetown professor explains how Martin Luther King Jr. 'has been severely whitewashed'

HBO has given us the gift of some of the greatest TV shows of all time — like "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "The Wire," and "Game of Thrones" — throughout its history of original programming.

But HBO has also released a lot of prestige shows that critics love, but normal people don't. And the other way around.

When audiences and critics agree, however, you know the show is definitely worth your time. This is especially relevant now that old shows are available to binge-watch on HBO Now or HBO Go.

So which shows do both groups agree on? There's "Game of Thrones," of course, but there are also 28 more that make the cut.

We ranked these universally beloved HBO shows according to their scores on Rotten Tomatoes, which aggregates critic reviews and audience scores and assigns each show a score. We chose shows with a combined score average of over 80 percent, then ranked them by those averages (with audience score breaking any ties). 

Here are all the HBO shows that critics and audiences agree on, according to their scores on Rotten Tomatoes:

(Note: We left off animated, children's, documentary/reality, and foreign programming, as well as miniseries, with a few notable exceptions.)

SEE ALSO: Amazon just canceled 3 shows at once: 'Jean-Claude Van Johnson,' 'One Mississippi,' and 'I Love Dick' — here are the others it has dropped

29. "Big Love" (2006-11), five seasons

Critic score: 85%

Audience score: 77%

Average: 81%

"A very original, extremely well-acted and complexly written drama." — SFGate

28. "The Young Pope" (2017), one-season miniseries

Critic score: 78%

Audience score: 85%

Average: 81.5%

"'The Young Pope' is TV's equivalent of a dorm-room poster of Bob Marley blowing smoke or the Lenny Bruce mugshot: a depleted symbol of a radical reaction to society that finally most clearly represents the status quo." — Collider

27. "Vice Principals" (2016-2017), two seasons

Critic score: 82%

Audience score: 85%

Average: 83.5%

"The two leads remain horribly entertaining as small men with huge chips on their shoulders." — Entertainment Weekly

• Colin Firth joins the growing list of actors who have denounced Woody Allen over the sexual assault allegation from Allen's adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow.
• Firth told The Guardian, "I wouldn't work with him again," in response to an inquiry about Farrow's first televised interview on Thursday. 

Colin Firth has joined the growing list of actors who have disavowed filmmaker Woody Allen after working in his films.

Firth told The Guardian, "I wouldn't work with him again," in response to an inquiry on the first televised interview from Dylan Farrow, Allen's adoptive daughter who alleges that the filmmaker sexually assaulted her when she was seven years old.

Firth, who starred alongside Emma Stone in Allen's 2014 film "Magic in the Moonlight," joins actors like Greta Gerwig, Rebecca Hall, and Timothée Chalamet in denouncing Allen over Farrow's accusation. 

In her interview with CBS News on Thursday, Farrow called on actors to "acknowledge their complicity" in perpetuating Hollywood's "culture of silence."

"I have been repeating my accusations unaltered for over 20 years and I have been systematically shut down, ignored or discredited," Farrow said. "If they can't acknowledge the accusations of one survivor's how are they going to stand for all of us?"

SEE ALSO: 8 actors who have publicly disavowed Woody Allen or donated their salaries to charity after working on his movies

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NOW WATCH: The bizarre history of the Yule Log Christmas special

• "Paddington 2" broke the record for the best-reviewed movie on Rotten Tomatoes of all time, officially surpassing "Lady Bird."
• It was supposed to be distributed by The Weinstein Company in the United States, but producers looked for another distributor following allegations of sexual misconduct against Harvey Weinstein.
• The movie is adorable and enjoyable for kids and adults, and has received glowing reviews from critics. 

"Paddington 2" — a movie about an adorable Peruvian bear who wears a blue raincoat and a red hat, and is obsessed with marmalade — just broke a record as the best-reviewed movie on Rotten Tomatoes, surpassing Golden Globe winner "Lady Bird."

It has 164 "fresh" reviews and no "rotten" ones.

The first movie in the franchise, "Paddington," which starred Nicole Kidman, was released in 2014 and is now on Netflix. Kidman plays an evil taxidermist and you should definitely watch it.

In "Paddington 2," Paddington is adjusting to his new life in London with the Brown family. He gets framed for stealing a special pop-up book of London, gets sent to prison for the crime, and has to figure out how to prove he was framed. It's one of those rare sequels that's better than the original. And the original is still really good.

"Paddington 2" stars an adorable computer-generated British bear voiced by Ben Whishaw and features Hugh Grant, Sally Hawkins, Hugh Bonneville, and Brendan Gleeson in live-action roles. 

Responding to the news that his movie broke the record, director Paul King said, "The 'Paddington' films are a real labor of love. So many people pour their hearts and souls into them for months or even years, hand-crafting every last frame, and we are all incredibly grateful for the overwhelmingly positive response we’ve had so far. We hope it inspires people to go to the cinema to see for themselves if a talking animal film really can be any good, and whether Hugh Grant really can look devilishly handsome even while dressed as a nun. Clue: yes."

"Paddington 2" was originally meant to be distributed in the United States by The Weinstein Company, but following the allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Harvey Weinstein, producers began looking for another American distributor. Producers believed that a pleasant, upbeat children's film should not be associated with the scandal. In November, Warner Bros. acquired the film's North American distribution rights for $32 million. 

Here are the most breathless quotes from critics about "Paddington 2," along with adorable images of Paddington Bear:

SEE ALSO: Amazon's 26 notable original TV shows, ranked from worst to best

"'Paddington 2' is 'The Godfather Part II' of Peruvian bear movies, a sequel that surpasses the superb original."

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal. 

"It's an exquisite reminder of the wondrous things that can happen when a storyteller of boundless imagination avails himself of some rigorous discipline."

Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times. 

"If you have kids, take them. If you have nieces and nephews, take them. If you don't have kids but just want to feel like one yourself, go see it. Paddington is a bear for all seasons."

Adam Graham, Detroit News. 

• Terry Crews said it's a "good thing" he went public with his allegation that he was groped by a Hollywood executive because it showed him who his real friends were in Hollywood.
• The actor said if he had stayed quiet, "I would have gone for years thinking these people had my back."

Since the sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein broke in October, many others have spoken out in Hollywood about being sexually harassed or assaulted, sparking the #MeToo and Time's Up movements.

And though many of those who have spoken out are women, men have as well. The first prominent man in Hollywood to come forward was unexpected: Terry Crews.

"I found out who my friends really were through this thing," Crews told Business Insider in a recent interview while reflecting on his experience.

The 6'3", 245-pound former NFL player, who gained stardom for his memorable comedic work in movies like "White Chicks," "Idiocracy," and on Fox's "Brooklyn Nine-Nine," said in a series of tweets last year that a Hollywood executive groped him at a party in 2016.

In subsequent interviews, Crews revealed that the exec was Adam Venit, head of the motion picture department at the talent agency William Morris Endeavor, the same agency that represented Crews (the actor has since left WME). Crews also filed a report with the LAPD, alleging Venit sexually assaulted him. 

After a one-month suspension, Venit returned to WME and was demoted.

By coming forward, Crews showed the world that issues of Hollywood sexual misconduct could affect men as well, and when Time magazine revealed its Person of the Year issue would be the "Silence Breakers," Crews was one of the people highlighted.

Looking back now on what he went through, Crews said it was "a good thing" because it revealed who was really in his corner.

"There were a lot of people that I thought were behind me and weren't," Crews told Business Insider. "I didn't cry in my bed, 'Oh, I've been betrayed,' as a businessman the difficult times revealed who was there for me and who wasn't."

Crews didn't just leave the agency he thought for years had his back (he's now with UTA), the actor also had to question those in the industry he looked up to.

Entrepreneur/producer Russell Simmons contacted Crews asking that he give Venit a pass. Crews posted a screenshot of the email on Twitter and told Simmons (who has since been fighting numerous sexual misconduct allegations of his own) in the tweet, "No one gets a pass."

"I'm thankful," Crews continued, "because I would have gone for years thinking these people had my back. I would have just kept going. Sometimes you don't see until something weird happens, and it doesn't get weirder than what happened to me."

SEE ALSO: How Terry Crews went from sweeping floors after quitting the NFL to becoming a transcendent pitchman and huge TV star

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NOW WATCH: Celebrities flocked to these underground poker games where someone once lost $100 million in one night

• According to The Hollywood Reporter, Michelle Williams was paid eight times less than costar Mark Wahlberg for "All the Money in the World."
• Last week news surfaced that Williams was paid under $1,000 for the reshoots needed to replace Kevin Spacey with Christopher Plummer, while Wahlberg was paid $1.5 million.
• The THR story also revealed that "Black-ish" star Tracee Ellis Ross gets paid significantly less than her costar Anthony Anderson.

"All the Money in the World" has jump-started a conversation about equal pay in Hollywood, with an open discussion about the salaries of its stars, Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg. 

After criticism for his hefty reshoot pay on "All the Money in the World" in the wake of the Kevin Spacey scandal,  Wahlberg donated his earnings ($1.5 million) to the Time's Up campaign. Williams was reportedly paid less than $1,000 for the reshoots.

But the story continues.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Williams' original salary for the movie was $625,000, while Wahlberg's was $5 million, though the two essentially have equal screen time.

Williams is a four-time Oscar nominee, and a contender for best actress at this year's ceremony (she was also nominated last year). Wahlberg has been nominated for two Oscars, and one of those nominations was for producing "The Fighter," not for acting.

Williams' salary discrepancy was part of a THR story about the conversation women in Hollywood are having about their salaries in order to get equal pay. The story also addressed "Black-ish" star Tracee Ellis Ross, who is fighting for pay equal to her costar, Anthony Anderson.

At a Time's Up meeting, Ross reportedly said that if she does not get the pay she asks for, she will reduce her role on the show, appearing in fewer episodes. Ross has equal screen time to Anderson. She won a Golden Globe for her role in 2017, and like Anderson, has been nominated for multiple Emmys for her leading role.

SEE ALSO: Amazon just canceled 3 shows at once: 'Jean-Claude Van Johnson,' 'One Mississippi,' and 'I Love Dick' — here are the others it has dropped

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NOW WATCH: The bizarre history of the Yule Log Christmas special

• Michael Douglas was accused of sexual harassment by the writer Susan Braudy in interviews with The Hollywood Reporter and "Today" on Friday.
• Braudy alleged that, during her employment under Douglas in the 1980s, the actor subjected her to profane comments and masturbated in front of her.
• Douglas preemptively denied the allegations in a Deadline article on January 9.
• He called the allegations "an unfortunate and complete fabrication" to THR.

Actor Michael Douglas was accused of sexual harassment by the writer Susan Braudy in interviews with The Hollywood Reporter and "Today" on Friday, ten days after Douglas preemptively denied the allegations in a Deadline article. 

Braudy alleged that, during her employment under Douglas in the 1980s, the actor subjected to her profane language, demeaning comments about her appearance, and masturbated in front of her while the two were working out of his Manhattan home.

"He slid down the floor, unbuckled his belt and put his hand inside his trousers and I could see what he was doing. Then he began to sort of began to fondle himself. And I was very scared," Braudy said in an interview with "Today."

"He thought he was the king of the world and that he could humiliate me without any repercussions," she continued.

A rep for Douglas did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Douglas called Braudy's allegations "an unfortunate and complete fabrication" in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

Braudy backed up her story to THR with notes and files she kept during her employment under Douglas, and with the testimony of three people she had told of her experiences.

Watch Braudy discuss her allegations against Douglas with "Today" below:

Douglas responded to THR's story with the following statement:

"This individual is an industry veteran, a senior executive, a published novelist and an established member of the women's movement — someone with a strong voice now, as well as when she worked at my company more than three decades ago. At no time then did she express or display even the slightest feeling of discomfort working in our environment, or with me personally. That is because at no time, and under no circumstance, did I behave inappropriately toward her.

Coarse language or overheard private conversations with my friends that may have troubled her are a far cry from harassment. Suggesting so does a true disservice to those who have actually endured sexual harassment and intimidation."

SEE ALSO: 9 actors who have publicly denounced Woody Allen or donated their salaries to charity after working on his movies

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NOW WATCH: The bizarre history of the Yule Log Christmas special

There's no doubt about it: The Oscars are flawed.

Sometimes deserving movies simply don't generate enough hype, and get nothing more than a nomination. Or no nomination at all. We'll see all of that at this year's Oscars, airing on March 4.

Then there are the terrible movies and performances that somehow manage to snag the enviable trophy. 

There's a long list of actors, directors, and more who you probably think have an Oscar, but don't. Some of them have been nominated dozens of times. Some a few times. And some, tragically, not at all. 

Here we take a look at some of Hollywood's finest who somehow haven't won an Oscar already:

SEE ALSO: Hollywood stars who rejected their Oscars

Glenn Close

Between 1983 and 2012, Close got six Oscar nominations. Her last nomination in 2012 was for “Albert Knobbs.”

Sigourney Weaver

Ripley herself got a best actress nomination for “Alien” but didn’t win. She also got a best actress nomination for “Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey” and a best supporting actress nod for "Working Girl." Weaver has said that awards shows give sci-fi films "no respect."

Annette Bening

Three nominations, yet she always gets beaten by another powerful performance. Her latest nomination was in 2011 for "The Kids Are Alright." She lost to Natalie Portman for her performance in "Black Swan." In 2017, she was snubbed with no nomination for her acclaimed work in "20th Century Women."

• Nintendo made a major announcement on Wednesday night when it introduced "Labo."
• Nintendo Labo is a set of two dozen cardboard sheets that can be transformed into various do-it-yourself contraptions, like the miniature piano seen above.
• Labo is a brilliant and logical move for Nintendo, a 128-year-old company with a long history of making toys.

Nintendo surprised the world once again this week.

The Japanese gaming powerhouse announced a new product with a strange name: "Nintendo Labo."

Stranger than the name, however, is the product itself: a cardboard construction kit for building gaming peripherals. A what? 

It's worth explaining up front what you actually do with Labo. It's not just a toy you buy, but a construction set for toys that are used with the Nintendo Switch console. The sets start at $70, and come with games.

Here's how Labo works:

1. After emptying the box, you take the game cartridge that it comes with and pop it into your Switch.
2. A set of instructions guides you through the process — on your Switch screen — of assembling the various cardboard components into whatever you intend to make.
3. Having created your cardboard device, you insert components of the Nintendo Switch game console into it and play the included game. 

Here's an idea of what that might look like, care of Nintendo:

The project may seem strange, but it's actually a perfect marriage of Nintendo's history as a toy maker and its recent history as a video game powerhouse. The word "Nintendo" is synonymous with "video games," and has been for nearly 40 years.

But the company's actually far older than you may know — over 128 years old! — and much of its history had nothing to do with Italian plumbers fighting evil turtles.

The bulk of Nintendo's history was spent as a playing-card manufacturer, up until the mid '60s when it began creating toys. That toy division eventually morphed into one that focused on a burgeoning format — video games — in the late '70s. 

All of which is to say one thing: Nintendo Labo makes a lot of sense given Nintendo's history.

It's a toy. It's a game. It's something you build  — that you create — and then play with. It can be drawn on, or covered in stickers, or accidentally stepped on. Maybe you'll have to repair it with duct tape and, uh, an old soda carton. Maybe you use the box Labo came in!

Isn't that kind of rad, actually? 

On paper, Labo is a kind-of DIY, adaptable gaming peripheral, with custom games made specifically for the various permutations of that peripheral. In reality, it's a custom game controller that kids get to build, fix, and own.

Here, Nintendo uses cardboard as a feature, not a flaw. Cardboard can be repaired easily! It also lends itself to modifications, which will assuredly result in some delightful, unexpected ways to play Labo games. 

It also just looks cool. Can we just stop and marvel at this adorable little cardboard house?

And yes, of course, Nintendo is selling decorations.

They're $10, and you're gonna want some. There are stickers and stencils and tape in the customization sets, and they're exactly what you'd expect from Nintendo:

It's in this way that Nintendo has casually surprised fans once again with a product that, at first, is confounding. 

"Nintendo is selling a box full of cardboard for $70 with some basic software!" one might argue. What Nintendo is actually offering with Labo is a relatively inexpensive, Lego-like experience on its wildly popular Nintendo Switch console. Better yet: The entry-level set, the "Variety Kit," offers five different builds of varying complexities. Considering the cost of a Lego set nowadays, you're probably not doing too bad by comparison!

Nintendo Labo is set to launch on April 20 — check out the introduction trailer right here for more:

SEE ALSO: Nintendo just unveiled an ambitious, bizarre new project called 'Labo' — here's how it works

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NOW WATCH: The coolest gadgets we saw at CES 2018

• YouTube is setting up an "Intelligence Desk" to weed out dicey content before it spirals out of control and brands get involved.
• The move is the latest in a series of efforts by the company to win back advertiser trust.
• Earlier this week, for instance, YouTube upped the requirements for channels to be eligible to carry ads.

YouTube is trying to get its act together in the wake of its brand safety crisis, setting up an "Intelligence Desk" to weed out dicey content before it spirals out of control raising alarm for marketers.

The desk is intended to be a multi-pronged "early detection" initiative and was described in a briefing sent out to advertisers by the company, BuzzFeed News first reported. This is the latest step in a wider push by Google to address the brouhaha around digital advertising and 'brand safety.'

YouTube’s Intelligence Desk will reportedly comb through Google data, user reports, and social media trends and rely on third party consultants to detect inappropriate content early. It is a measure that will either remove the problematic content or prevent brands' ads from appearing alongside it. 

"As we outlined in a blog in December, we're expanding our work against bad actors trying to abuse our platform. This includes hiring more people working to address potentially violative content and increasing our use of machine learning technology. We can confirm that part of those efforts will include assembling new teams dedicated to protecting our platform against emerging trends and threats," a YouTube spokesperson told BuzzFeed News.

Brand safety has emerged as a huge concern for the Google-owned video platform over the past year, with several big marketers finding their ads next to objectionable content including hate videos and child-exploitation clips on YouTube. Most recently, YouTube star Logan Paul came under fire for posting a video featuring a dead body.

The move comes on the heels of YouTube trying to take the challenge head on in a bid to win back advertisers in recent weeks, who were far from satisfied with its response initially. Some, like JPMorgan Chase, even set up their own brand-safe algorithms to make sure their ads didn't end up next to unsavory videos on the platform. 

Earlier this week, for instance, YouTube upped the requirements for channels to be eligible to carry ads, saying that creators on its platform would now need 4,000 hours of total watch time in the previous 12 months and 1,000 subscribers in order to get paid for ads. Further, it also said that Google Preferred videos would be vetted by humans before ads ran on them.

The company is also planning to add 10,000 content moderators by the end of the year.

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NOW WATCH: Why you should never throw away these bags again

• "Blue Planet II" premieres in the US on Saturday, January 20 at 9 pm ET.
• For the series, producers spent more than 6,000 hours underwater over four years, visiting 39 countries on 125 expeditions.
• The footage they captured is breathtaking, heartbreaking, and stunning.

Earth's oceans make life possible. They're the reason that when the planet is viewed from space, we call it a "blue dot."

"Blue Planet II," a BBC Natural History Unit production that premieres in the US on Saturday, offers the most breathtaking look at the oceans yet.

The producers take viewers to the surprisingly full-of-life waters 3,280 feet deep in the Antarctic. The cameras show an octopus battling a shark in a struggle to stay alive. There's a journey to finally discover where whale sharks give birth, and a look at how orcas use their powerful tails to kill herring with shockwaves.

At one point, the show's production team even filmed life in the deepest parts of the ocean, seven miles down, where scientists didn't know anything could live. Creatures there are under pressure equivalent to 50 jumbo jets stacked on top of each other.

There are at least 12 scientific papers being published based on what the teams observed.

"As filmmakers, it has been unbelievably exciting to make these films in collaboration and true unity with the scientists who can unlock the secrets to this magical world," Orla Doherty, the producer of the new series' second and seventh episodes, told Business Insider. "I feel like we've pushed the boundary of what we know about the ocean just that little bit more." 

Our blue planet

The original "Blue Planet" series came out in 2001, and was one of the first nature documentaries narrated by David Attenborough. It captivated the world with the mystery and beauty of Earth's sees, and was followed by other stunning series like "Planet Earth" and "Life," which each showed how remarkable our planet is from other new perspectives.

In "Blue Planet II," the producers take viewers further and deeper underwater to show how alien and otherworldly the ocean can be and remind humans of how connected we are to the sea.

"This place isn’t just beautiful, it isn’t just full of extraordinary animals doing really really incredible things," Doherty said. "Once you then stop and think, actually it’s a healthy, thriving, vibrant ocean that’s full of life and full of all the ecosystems doing their function, performing the services they do, that is what makes it okay for us to be living on this planet." 

True natural history

As huge and full of life as the ocean is, people have the ability to impact it. The many ways in which human activity is causing widespread harm to the ocean and the creatures in it are shown to heartbreaking effect in several episodes.

"We didn’t go out there as an environmental series at all but we went out there to film natural history and the natural history is that [the oceans are] changing," Doherty. "I went out to film deep sea corals, ancient animals that have been growing in the darkness of the deep, and what I found was a rubble field because a trawler had been through and had razed the corals to the ground. We came across these scenes over and over again, so it just became our obligation to include some of them because to show our audience an ocean and not show some of the ways we are changing it would have just been so untrue."

As hard to watch as some of those scenes are, they're powerful.

The show airs simultaneously on January 20 at 9 pm ET/8 pm Central on BBC America, AMC, IFC, WE TV, and Sundance TV. Check out the trailer below.

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The Nintendo Switch had a great run in 2017. The Japanese video game giant sold nearly 3 million Switches the month it launched, wiping out all of the company's stock. Nintendo has been doubling down on manufacturing ever since but is still struggling to keep up with demand. To date, the Switch is the fastest selling console ever in the US. 

Not only has the Switch's popularity boosted Nintendo's sales, it's had a marked effect on the entire US video game business. As indicated by this chart from Statista, which is based on data from market research firm NPD Group, the Switch played a big role in boosting total US game console sales last year and helping push overall industry sales to a record high.

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• Singer Tom Petty died of an accidental drug overdose that included opioid painkiller Fentanyl, the medical examiner-coroner for the county of Los Angeles announced on Friday.
• Petty passed away suddenly last October but the cause of his death had remained unclear until now.
• The singer suffered from knee and hip problems and had been prescribed the medications for pain.

Hall of Fame musician Tom Petty died of an accidental drug overdose that included opioid painkiller Fentanyl, the medical examiner-coroner for the county of Los Angeles announced on Friday.

The musician had been prescribed pain medications for knee problems and a fractured hip, and was also taking a sleep aid and an antidepressant.

In October, at age 66, Petty suffered cardiac arrest at his home in Malibu, California, and passed away shortly after. His death certificate failed to list a cause of death at the time, however, and instead simply read "deferred," pending an autopsy.

In a statement released Friday, coroner Jonathan Lucas said that Petty’s system showed signs of several opioid painkillers, including fentanyl and oxycodone.

Fentanyl is roughly 35 times stronger than heroin and is available with a prescription. It is also sold illegally and swapped into fake pills sold as brand-name painkillers like Norco, Percocet, and Xanax.

In a post shared to Petty's Facebook page on Friday evening, Petty's wife, Dana, and daughter, Adria, wrote that Petty had “many serious ailments including emphysema, knee problems and most significantly a fractured hip." Petty continued to tour despite these limitations, they said.

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• "Blindspotting" is a powerful look at a race and class.
• It stands out because of its well done use of comedy, drama, and rap.

The Sundance Film Festival is where movies that challenge the audience get their fair shake, and "Blindspotting," the debut feature of director Carlos López Estrada, is exactly that.

The movie is a racially-charged powder keg that uses comedy, drama, and rap to give the audience a journey through the complicated lives of two friends living in West Oakland.

Colin (Daveed Diggs, who cowrote the screenplay with Estrada) is days away from completing his probation and is trying to stay on the straight-and-narrow. However, his lifelong friend Miles (Rafael Casal) is not the best influence on him as he walks around carrying a gun and always seems to get Colin involved in things that he doesn't want to do.

The movie's foundation is built on contrasts. Colin is black and Miles is white. West Oakland has a fan base of rowdy Oakland Raiders fans and stylish Golden State Warrior fans. The city is growing more and more gentrified. Even on the marquee of the local theater it has a unique lineup coming soon: rapper Too Short and rock band Third Eye Blind.

And it's through these differences that Estrada lays down the struggle Colin is going through in his life. He isn't just shackled by the label of "convicted felon," but also the fear of the police — after he witnesses a police officer shooting an unarmed black man running from him. Then there's his on-again-off-again girlfriend Val (Janina Gavankar), who he's trying to show he's changed since getting out of prison but can still see she can't let go why he was put there. The only comfort is with his best friend Miles, who sports a gold grill and tattoos.

A lot of the movie is a fun buddy comedy with the two dealing with entertaining situations, like an Uber driver with lots of guns, trying to sell hot-irons at a beauty salon, as they navigate through Oakland.

But there's an unspoken uneasiness about them as well, especially since Colin has gotten out of prison, that finally comes to ahead by the end of the movie. Whenever you think you've figured out this movie, something happens that pulls the rug right from you.

The strengths of "Blindspotting" is its commentary on race and class through the use of comedy and use of rapping in two powerful scenes. Where it falls short at times is when it becomes too dramatic. When the message is lost through raw anger.

But perhaps that was Estrada's intention all along. To give the audience raw emotion because that's what most of us live through every day.

"Blindspotting" is seeking distribution.

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• Thomas Tull, the billionaire producer of blockbuster films "Godzilla" and "Jurassic World," just listed his Los Angeles mansion for $85 million.
• The 33-acre compound has a lake and an organic farm.
• Indoor amenities include a wine cellar, movie theater, photo studio, and Himalayan salt therapy room.

Legendary.

That's the name of the entertainment company Thomas Tull founded in 2000 and the only word to describe the Los Angeles mansion he's selling.

The billionaire film producer is relocating to his hometown in western Pennsylvania, where he already owns several properties, according to The Pittsburgh Gazette. But first, he'll need to find a buyer willing to shell out $85 million for his California compound.

The 33-acre estate comprises seven separate structures, plus a lake, working organic farm, and glass greenhouse. Tull — whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be about $1.1 billion — started building the estate seven years ago and eventually privatized the cul-de-sac where it sits, reports the LA Times.

The listing is held by Jordan Cohen of RE/MAX.

Below, check out some of the coolest amenities of the $85 million estate:

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The mansion is located in Thousand Oaks, California, a Ventura County community northwest of Los Angeles.

The property was modeled after the Giverny gardens of impressionist painter Claude Monet, the architect told the LA Times.

There's 32,000 square feet of living space in the main house — and another 11,000 square feet in the guest house.

• "Mandy" is a cult classic in the making, as the director of "Beyond the Black Rainbow" gives us another stunning look inside madness.
• It's topped by a Nicolas Cage performance that is pure "Cage Rage."

Nicolas Cage has always been fascinated by the performances that open up his darker side. And though Cage still has too many roles left to say what he does in “Mandy” is the ultimate example, it definitely is one of the toppers.

It’s hard to describe “Mandy” in words. You have to experience it. But here goes.

The movie comes from the mind of director Panos Cosmatos, whose only other directing credit is the now-cult classic, "Beyond the Black Rainbow."

Set in 1983 in the Shadow Mountains, Red (Cage) lives a tranquil existence with Mandy (Andrea Riseborough), who is the center of his universe. They stay up late at night chatting, they connect, and it's clear they've found their soul mates in one another. Things take a turn for the worse when the leader of a group of religious radicals notices Mandy and becomes obsessed with her.

He subsequently calls on a group of leather-clad supernatural bikers to snatch her up in the middle of the night and bring her to him. This leads Red to open up about the madness inside of him, resulting in a psychotic quest for revenge filled with bow-and-arrows, chainsaws, a makeshift axe, and lots of cocaine.

Like “Black Rainbow,” Cosmatos uses colors and lush cinematography to create a world that is beautiful but ominous. He also trades in the synthesized score for a rock-inspired number this time.

Then Cage takes it home. There are so many sequences in the final 40 minutes of this movie that are just vintage "Cage Rage," and I don't want to give them away.

But I'll give you one.

In a scene shot in a bathroom, Red walks in covered in his own blood after being tied up with barbwire. He grabs a full bottle of vodka from under the sink and begins chugging the bottle (as well as pouring the vodka all over his fresh wounds) while screaming between chugs. The scene gets more and more insane (and comical) as it plays out. 

Like “Black Rainbow,” this movie may not be for everyone. Even the most dedicated fans of Sundance’s Midnight Movie section, which “Mandy” is a part of this year, walked out of the theater.

But I can't think of a higher recommendation.

“Mandy” is an acid trip that at times you’ll wish would just stop. But when you ride it out, gives you the payoff of a 100% insane Nicolas Cage performance.

“Mandy” is seeking distribution.

SEE ALSO: Here's why everyone at Sundance is talking about the emotionally charged movie "Blindspotting"

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