Here's a quick and fun way to enrich your business knowledge: streaming documentaries on Netflix.

The online movie and TV service has a vast cache of business and tech documentaries that anyone with a subscription can watch instantly. The topics range from profiles of great tech innovators like Steve Jobs to deep dives into industrial design.

Each of these 12 documentaries offers an entertaining storyline, as well as valuable insights into business success. 

Alison Griswold contributed to an earlier version of this article.

How lifelong dedication and obsession with quality can pay off

"Jiro Dreams Of Sushi" profiles Jiro Ono, a Japanese sushi chef and restaurant owner who is widely revered for his skill and $300-a-plate dinners. It follows the 85-year-old master as he works with vendors to secure the finest ingredients, manages and mentors his staff, and prepares his son to succeed him when he retires. The movie brings viewers inside the dedication, obsession, and decades of hard work it takes to achieve perfection.

The best tricks to transform your life

"TED Talks: Life Hacks" is a collection of 10 popular TED lectures that offer tips and insights for success in life and business. You'll learn body-language secrets from Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy, research-backed productivity tricks from positive psychology expert Shawn Achor, and more.

How to stage a dramatic turnaround

"Inside: Lego," a short 2014 film by Bloomberg, takes viewers inside one of the greatest turnaround stories in recent history. Lego, the Denmark-based toy maker, was in trouble in the early 2000s. It had overextended, lost its identity, and was bleeding money. After executing CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp's strategy to refocus on the core business, Lego rebounded to become the world's fastest-growing toy company.

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As a child, Oprah Winfrey wore potato sacks because clothing did not always fit into the budget of her poverty-stricken family.

Today, Forbes estimates Winfrey's net worth at $3 billion, and she is the only black woman on the publication's list of the 400 richest people in America.

Before she became a media mogul and the queen of daytime TV, Winfrey suffered a tumultuous childhood.

She was shuffled between family members, spending her first few years on her grandmother's farm in rural Mississippi while her unwed teenage mom looked for work, according to the Academy of Achievement.

When her grandmother fell ill, 6-year-old Winfrey was sent to live with her mother in a Milwaukee boarding house, where she would not only grow up around extreme poverty, but also endure years of sexual and physical abuse.

She was raped for the first time at age 9 by her 19-year-old cousin, writes Oscar Bamwebaze Bamuhigire in his book "The Healing Power of Self Love." It would be the first of several episodes.

At age 14, Winfrey broke free and went to live with her dad in Nashville, Tennessee, where her success would start to take course.

Her dad provided direction, discipline, and a sense of structure that Winfrey had never known, according to the Academy of Achievement. The stable and education-centered environment he created allowed her to thrive academically and socially at East Nashville High School, where she became an honor roll student and was voted the most popular girl in her class. 

It was at East Nashville High where she would discover her passion for media. She joined the speech team and worked for a local black radio station after school.

By her senior year she had secured a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. She left college early, however, at age 19 to pursue a career in media.

Her gamble paid off.

She became the first black female news anchor before the age of 20 in Nashville, starting with a few gigs as a local anchor before landing a co-anchor position in Baltimore. She was sexually harassed and humiliated at her job in Baltimore, according to DailyWorth, but didn't need to quit — she was fired seven and a half months after joining.  

Winfrey didn't stay down for long. She landed a gig hosting the then-stagnant morning talk show, "AM Chicago." 

Within a few months, Winfrey turned "AM Chicago" from the lowest-rated talk show in Chicago to the highest-rated one, writes the Academy of Achievement. Three years later the show would be renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

She made a savvy, career-transforming move in 1986 when she founded Harpo Productions and negotiated ownership of the "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which brought in $300 million a year during its peak. Her company later produced lucrative spinoff shows, including "Dr. Phil" and "Rachael Ray."

While best known for her award-winning talk show, Winfrey has also been involved in films, television series, and plays. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1985 drama "The Color Purple." 

She also published her own magazine, The Oprah Magazine; started a radio channel, Oprah Radio; and most recently partnered with Discovery Communications to launch a cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network. 

Now 61, Winfrey has a lifestyle that she could only have dreamed of during her traumatic childhood.

She flies in her own $42 million, custom-designed Global Express XRS jet.

Her impressive real-estate portfolio includes a $52 million estate in Montecito, California, which she nicknamed "The Promised Land;" a 15,000-square-foot duplex in Chicago; a farmhouse in Kula, Hawaii; 63 acres of land near Maui's Hamoa Beach; a vacation home on the shores of Antigua; a shore home in Lavallette, New Jersey; a ski villa in Telluride, Colorado; and a home in Douglasville, Georgia.

She even has her own street: Chicago Mayor Richard Daley renamed the blocks in front of Harpo Studios "Oprah Winfrey Way."

Winfrey also has given millions of dollars to charity, mostly directed towards three foundations: The Angel Network, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation, and The Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation.

She's come a long way from the girl who wore potato-sack overalls, now donning Prada and Jimmy Choo.

SEE ALSO: From pumping gas to a $6 billion fortune — the impressive rags-to-riches story of Forever 21's husband-and-wife cofounders

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NOW WATCH: Here's what happens when you get bitten by a black widow

The next entry in EA Sports' massively popular FIFA game series is adding 12 women's national teams for the first time in its history.

The women's national squads included are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and the United States of America. They'll feature in most online and offline game modes, but not in the game's most popular mode, named "Ultimate Team." The developer says this is due to the limited number of female players in this year's game.

EA uses facial and body scanners that capture motion to replicate how some of the most popular men's soccer players look and move on the soccer pitch for a realistic experience, and it's doing the same for women. But EA's David Rutter told The Guardian that it's not as simple as adding female attributes to the current skeletal structure EA uses for its male players. The game developer had to rebuild the animation system to adapt to female proportions, and it had to factor in new animations for certain common female attributes, like longer hair.

Rutter also told The Guardian how adapting the FIFA game to include female animations forced EA to implement scalable player "skeletons," which leads to better individual male player animations.

The announcement comes at a time when soccer's popularity is on the rise in the US, where the US Women's National Team also garnered huge popularity due to its positive performance in international competitions.  

It's not the first time women's teams and players have been included in a soccer game, as some lesser known titles existed in the past, and women were added to EA's NHL video game series, too. FIFA is EA's biggest worldwide franchise, and we can expect to see a more complete digital rendition of "the beautiful game" with the addition of female players and teams. 

It's a positive announcement during a time of duress for the FIFA organization, as it is currently under pressure from authorities for corruption scandals.

SEE ALSO: Here's what we know about Traffic Group, the sports marketing company embroiled in the FIFA corruption scandal

AND: 'Assassin's Creed’ finally drops its lame excuses and adds more female characters

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NOW WATCH: Here's how soccer superstars Ronaldo and Messi match up

What does it take to cut through the hundreds of cable channels available today?

Viacom executive Chris McCarthy was faced with answering those questions when it came to reinvigorating a young, male audience for MTV2 as it neared its 20th anniversary and revitalizing gay trailblazer Logo TV after nearly a decade on-air.

"While the brands seem very, very different, and they are, from a brand perspective — one is young guys, and the other one is gays and gay culture," McCarthy — MTV2, MTVu, and Logo TV's general manager — told Business Insider. "From a business perspective, they share a lot in common, more than most people would probably think."

And the results are pretty impressive. Only three cable networks have actually increased their audience over the past eight quarters. MTV2 and Logo are two of them. This quarter alone MTV2 is pacing toward another year of growth after earning its highest ratings ever over 2014. Meanwhile, Logo is currently experiencing its highest ratings ever, after already achieving a 50% increase over the past six quarters.

McCarthy credits those accomplishments to some relatively simple (and sort of iconoclastic) changes in the way those cable channels do business.

1.) Act like a start-up.

"One is just the culture. We operate both of the brands like a start-up rather than a legacy cable model," McCarthy said. "So, we break the rules. We don’t have any traditional greenlight process. It’s anywhere from 30 days to three months from concept to air."

The new startup mindset has allowed the networks to become more experimental. They can cut down the six to nine-month process to get a pilot to screen by just releasing the pilot as a special, or as a short test season. They get quicker audience feedback, can decide what changes to make if they move on to another season or just let the special or pilot season stand as it is with no renewal.

"It actually allows us to be quicker, faster, doubling down on things that are working, and quickly move past things that aren’t," McCarthy explained. "It’s that start-up mentality where we sail fast, we sail forward."

For example, Logo's makeover show "Secret Guide to Fabulous" (which is produced by Kelly Ripa and husband Mark Consuelos) premiered as a six-episode pilot season. After that run, the creative team "tinkered with it" and will bring it back this summer for another season.

2.) Decentralize the creative process.

"The second thing is our creative and our talent, and that’s both on and off the screen," the GM said. "So from our interns to our talent on-air, everyone pitches ideas, and everybody makes them and actually gets to market them. Both groups are structured very horizontally, and it’s a little bit like a creative collective."

This is one of the reasons Nick Cannon approached MTV2 with bringing back his hip-hop improv series "Wild N' Out" with a few changes.

"He did that, because he knows we’ll give him the creative freedom to create the show in the way that he wants to," McCarthy pointed out.

But, the the system doesn't just work for those with already established names. "We take pitches from production companies, but oftentimes, most of our content is developed internally," McCarthy said.

3.) Double-down on creating content for your core audience.

"The third piece is we’ve created demand, and I think this really applies for any industry," McCarthy described, "If you think about the actual content space as a whole, the world has enough content, and had enough content. But what we were able to do with these brands is create an audience demand by taking sort of an audience desire and tapping into it."

Since McCarthy took charge of MTV2 in 2009, networks were abandoning the young male audience. NBCUniversal shuttered G4, Comedy Central and Spike TV went broader and Esquire targeted an older male demographic.

"People had sort of felt like young guys are too hard to get, go after," McCarthy, who has used comedy to attract young male viewers to MTV2, recalled. "And instead we said, 'No, we’re going to develop specifically for them,' and we brought them back to television."

Logo had a different problem that called for a similar solution. Gay rights, specifically marriage rights, gained support in the U.S. TV had begun to increase the amount of gay characters on shows. Many wondered if there's even a need for a channel geared toward gay viewers anymore.

"We said, 'No, it’s the reverse.' We double down on it, and the results are showing, we’re up almost 50 percent," McCarthy said. "No one’s telling a 360 degree angle on that character. We’re telling every side of the character, and it’s not just checking off a box, having a gay character. Our characters and our stories are centered around that."

Its new programming aims to reflect gay lives and history. Logo has moved into scripted programming with "Cucumber" and "Banana," two interlocking series created by "Doctor Who" producer and "Queer as Folk" creator Russel T. Davies, which earned the network's highest ratings for a new series (with the help of a lead-in from "RuPaul's Drag Race").

Logo has also created a documentary division that launched with "Orange Is the New Black" star's "Laverne Cox Presents the T-Word." The channel's deep dive into gay culture included its "Trailblazers" special, a rare celebration of LGBT heroes, and "Cocktails and Classics," which takes an inside look at movies that have become gay cult classics like "Valley of the Dolls," "Auntie Mame," and "Steel Magnolias."

"With gay characters happening all over television, there was really an opportunity to re-position the network back to being the home of gays," he said.

SEE ALSO: How Spike's new 'Lip Sync Battle' landed its A-list celebrity contenders and became a breakout hit

MORE: 5 reasons so many moms are obsessed with Starz's sexy new historical fantasy show 'Outlander'

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NOW WATCH: Jimmy Fallon's new lip sync show looks hilarious

Tony Stark/Iron Man, played by Robert Downey, Jr., is not only the most prominent character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with five leading parts and pivotal roles throughout.

He's also the most interesting character due to inherent aspects of his story, choices by the filmmakers, and Downey's complex portrayal.

While other characters appear static — Steve Rogers is heroic before and after becoming Captain America; Bruce Banner is a loner before and after becoming the Hulk; Thor is a bro god from beginning to end; Natasha Romanoff’s dark past is only alluded to; Clint Barton is grounded when he’s not under mind-control — Stark is ever dynamic.

Stark's centrality has been helpful, offering a popular human element to tie everything together. At the same time, it poses a risk: Downey is under contract for only two more movies, and he reportedly demanded a fortune from Disney for his last extension. 

We've highlighted his character evolution below, with some spoilers.

At the start of "Iron Man," Tony Stark is a selfish genius weapon maker.

In a time of crisis, he makes something that can truly help the world.

Stark shows valor as he keeps his creation away from people who would use it for evil. In the end, he publicly identifies with his heroic alter ego: "I am Iron Man.”

But this heroic transformation leaves him cockier than ever, as seen in "Iron Man 2."

He gets humbled: first, by a rival engineer; second, the possibility of death; third, his own embarrassing behavior; fourth, the revelation of his father’s secret accomplishments.

Stark completes his transformation into a selfless hero when he sacrifices himself to save the world in "Avengers."

When he survives the sacrifice, Stark's selflessness becomes an obsession. He can't stop working, building iteration upon iteration of Iron Man, while his personal relationships suffer in "Iron Man 3."

When forced to save the day without his suits, however, he finally realizes that he, not the suit, is the hero. It now has new meaning when he says, “I am Iron Man.”

Stark, an engineer unleashed, focuses on his biggest project, an artificial intelligence capable of saving earth from a threat only he understands in "Avengers: Age of Ultron."

Has Stark caused more harm then good? An intelligent robot he unleashed, Ultron, tries to destroy the Avengers with the help of two super-powered siblings whose village was destroyed by Stark weapons.

Stark trusts his instincts even as his teammates lose faith in him. He is validated when his work leads to an android, Vision, who saves the world and becomes mankind's best hope for the future. Stark is not "worthy" to lift Thor's mystical hammer, but he has created someone who is.

Downey may be under contract for only two more movies, but Marvel will certainly get a lot out of him.

Next year's "Captain America: Civil War" will feature Stark as an anti-hero in another promising transformation: "The clues are in Ultron about where we might find him next," Downey told Empire. "But what would it take for Tony to completely turn around everything he’s stood for?"

Then we'll have the two-part climax of the Avengers, and you can bet Stark will play a central role.

SEE ALSO: The Flash is the most important character in DC

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NOW WATCH: 70 people were injured while filming this movie with 100 untamed lions

Before she was a national figure, the high-profile prosecutor in the death of an unarmed black man in Baltimore sought justice in an unlikely place.

In 2000, Baltimore state's attorney Marilyn Mosby — then Marilyn James, a sophomore at Tuskegee University — appeared on an episode of "Judge Judy" seeking damages after a neighbor allegedly trashed her apartment.

In the episode, Mosby says her neighbor attempted to persuade Mosby to move out because he wanted her apartment. When Mosby refused, her neighbor allegedly broke into her apartment and ransacked her kitchen.

As the Baltimore Sun points out, Mosby successfully argued her case, winning $1,731.90 in damages. For her part, Judge Judy appeared fully convinced of Mosby's argument. In one particularly heated exchange between Judge Judy and Mosby's neighbor, Mosby can't seem to hold back a smile.

Mosby gained national attention in April after announcing criminal charges against six Baltimore police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed black man who died after suffering fatal injuries while in police custody. The incident sparked national outrage and several nights of protests and riots.

The case has brought Mosby notoriety and criticism. Earlier this month, the state's attorney appeared onstage at a Baltimore benefit concert with Prince and received a standing ovation.

The officers charged in the incident want Mosby off the case, claiming her involvement represents a conflict of interest because of her husband's position as a city councilman and Mosby's own political ambitions.

Watch the episode below:

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NOW WATCH: Ray Lewis to kids in Baltimore: 'I'm you, I sat in that seat'

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is one of the few people who intimately knew Steve Jobs and Apple's journey to becoming the leader in personal computing devices.

So, Wozniak clearly has his take on whether Hollywood has gotten it right when it comes to how the 2013 feature film "Jobs" portrayed his late friend and business partner.

"I think that there were a lot of weaknesses about the 'Jobs' movie, the one with Ashton Kutcher, a lot of weaknesses from the screen writing and all, but I gave it a chance. I was hoping it would be a great movie," Wozniak said on a press call Wednesday for National Geographic Channel's upcoming episode of documentary series "American Genius" titled "Jobs vs. Gates."

He continued, "['Jobs'] didn’t get into the inner thinking of Steve Jobs, which the movie was about Steve Jobs."

Wozniak didn't believe the movie went deep enough into the character of Jobs' biggest rival, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, either.

"That one wasn’t about Bill Gates, but it didn’t get into how he worked inside and how he actually negotiated and worked on people and portrayed his ideas through," Wozniak explained. "It kind of shortened everything. It sort of had the outside Steve Jobs, the frill, the façade and done very well, but I wanted more. I want to really know what is behind this thinking that goes a step further than other people."

But Wozniak said that he doesn't feel it's impossible for Hollywood dramatizations to get it right.

In fact, he pointed to TNT's 1999 original TV movie, "Pirates of Silicon Valley," which starred Noah Wyle and Anthony Michael Hall as Jobs and Gates, respectively, as a good example. 

"I absolutely feel that it can be captured and has been captured in drama style," he said. "One of the things is, yes, it not only captures inside of Steve Jobs. It’s the events that occurred and what was their meaning in the development of computers and 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' was intriguing, interesting. I loved watching it."

Nominated for five Emmy awards in 1999, "Pirates" portrayed Jobs and Gates' lives from 1971-1997. It followed the duo from their formative college years to how their rivalry would impact and fuel the race to create the best personal computer and then to their alliance in 1997.

Watch the trailer below:

"Every one of those incidences occurred and it occurred with the meaning that was shown in that TV movie, 'Pirates of Silicon Valley,'" adds Wozniak. "In the 'Jobs' movie, it was just like, I don’t know, I felt like I’d eaten a big meal and I was still hungry. Somehow, I had not gotten what I tuned in for."

Although he has yet to watch Nat Geo's "American Genius: Jobs vs. Gates," Wozniak has high hopes.

"I think that this show will do a lot better at it," the 64-year-old inventor said. "I don’t know if you can compare a National Geographic presentation to a feature movie, but I’m as anxious as anyone else to see it. I’m thinking that this one is going to turn out a lot better because first of all, you’re starting out with National Geographic and a lot of credibility and things on the line they can’t risk by trying to be overly dramatic or just take aside. I think it’s more searching for the truth when it comes from National Geographic."

"American Genius: Jobs vs. Gates" premieres Monday, June 1 at 9 p.m. on National Geographic Channel.

SEE ALSO: HBO's 'Silicon Valley' took a page from Mark Cuban's story about being naked and becoming a billionaire

MORE: Former Apple CEO John Sculley admits Steve Jobs never forgave him, and he never repaired their friendship, before Jobs died

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NOW WATCH: Steve Jobs' biographer reveals the childhood moment that defined the Apple founder

While Google hosts its annual developer conference on Thursday, Twitter is afire with excitement about...a new piece of cardboard?

Okay, okay – it's a virtual reality headset, powered by your smartphone, and Google's updating the headset to accommodate phones up to six inches large. The system is called "Google Cardboard" (fittingly), and it's been Google's main point of entry for virtual reality since last year's developer conference.

As The New York Times' Farhad Manjoo puts it:

Smart! Naturally, the inexpensive and open approach that Google's taking to VR is spurring the Apple critics to take up arms.

Alongside the new headset, Google announced a variety of virtual reality initiatives. First up is a virtual tourism application aimed at schools. It's named "Expeditions," and it's a fully integrated system for teachers and students to travel together around the world, under the oceans and into space – all in VR, of course. The system comes in a cardboard box, as Google demonstrated in this intro video:

While students use the headset to, say, explore the Great Wall of China, the teacher – using a tablet – is able to guide the experience.

People are also freaking out about Expeditions:

And they should be! Expeditions intends to enable inexpensive field trips to children all over the world.

Even better, Google's creating a VR-ready version of YouTube for use with its Cardboard headset, and working to create 360-degree video with its "Jump" initiative – a hardware and software set that makes it easy to film and produce 360-degree videos.

The initiative is already supported by the world's leading action camera company, GoPro, and will be supported by the upcoming 360-degree camera that GoPro announced earlier this week.

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NOW WATCH: Here's a preview of the mind-bending virtual reality amusement park set to open in Utah next year

Michael Jackson's famed Neverland Ranch has hit the market for $100 million. 

Now called "Sycamore Valley Ranch," the 2,700-acre ranch in Los Olivos, California was bought by private investment firm Colony Capital in 2008 for $23.5 million. 

With millions put into its restoration, the listing is being split by Sotheby's broker Harry Kolb and Hilton & Hyland's Jeffrey Hyland.

Hyland told The Wall Street Journal that they're "not encouraging a lot of showings." Added a representative from Sotheby's, "We’re not going to be giving tours."

Alyson Penn contributed to an earlier version of this story.

Welcome to Neverland Ranch, the famed 2,700-acre property that once belonged to the late Michael Jackson.

Passing through the gates into the driveway, visitors will see a bronze statue of children playing in front of the main house.

Here is a full view of the front of the Normandy-style mansion.

In a press call for National Geographic's upcoming documentary series "American Genius," Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak took time to give glowing reviews to two TV shows about the tech world — HBO's "Silicon Valley" and AMC's "Halt and Catch Fire."

Wozniak found the comedic portrayal of start-up culture in "Silicon Valley" to be both amusing and realistic to his own experiences.

"Silicon Valley, I watched the entire first season," he said. "It fit into this thing where when we started Apple there were companies that would spin-off."

Wozniak continued:

"Then along came groups like Bill Gates and Microsoft and Steve Jobs and myself and Apple and a lot of young, young people; Mark Zuckerberg working in a dorm, creating these great companies. So, it became very enamored by people and wanting to be an entrepreneur, wanting to know the formula. How can I someday be part of a startup, one of the most exciting in life for people of that university-type age? So, those TV shows definitely would find a [audience], either have an interest, a spark, a point that could grab an audience."

In response to a reporter's question about "Halt and Catch Fire," AMC's period drama about the Silicon Prairie of Texas in 1983, Wozniak reacted even more positively:

"'Halt and Catch Fire,' too. Wow, I love the portrayal, but it's more like a lot of the drama."

"American Genius" premieres on the National Geographic Channel on June 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. 

The first episode, "Jobs vs. Gates," will detail the battle between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to bring the personal computer to the masses in the 1980s and feature commentary from Wozniak, Twitter co-founder and entrepreneur Biz Stone, politician and businessman Mitt Romney, and others.

SEE ALSO: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says the best Steve Jobs film is this 1999 made-for-TV movie

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NOW WATCH: 'Steve Jobs' trailer provides the first look at Michael Fassbender as Apple's cofounder

If you are a fan of movies or television in 2015, then the cultural dominance of the superhero will not come as a surprise to you—water is wet, skies are azure, and two “Avengers” movies have made a billion dollars each.

With the hundreds of millions of dollars being pumped into comic book-inspired movies, television, and toy commercials (sometimes they are one and the same), it's easy to feel either exasperated or fascinated by it all. In the midst of all this noise, one name stands taller than the rest in the current pop culture climate: Marvel. 

Perhaps you’ve never read a Marvel comic, but you’d like to start. Lucky for you, Marvel has made it very easy to get into its comics—if you have a smartphone, tablet, or access to a web browser, you can subscribe to Marvel Unlimited: A Netflix-style streaming service with the vast majority of Marvel comics 75-plus year library ready for you to read. That’s wonderful, but daunting—75 years of continuous storytelling? Where do you start?

"Captain America" by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting

Why it’s great: Did you like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”? Here’s where that story was first told. Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting reinvent Captain America as an espionage thriller, a propulsive and smart story that’s engrossing and hard to put down. While it does get a bit mired in a few crossovers, one of those crossovers is “Civil War”— which is the source material for the next Captain America movie.

How to read it: The issue numbers make big leaps and that can make things a bit confusing, but in Marvel Unlimited the entire Brubaker/Epting run is collected under “Captain America” (2004-2011). Start reading it here.

What to read next: Check out two other great recent runs featuring Avengers from the Marvel movies: Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca’s “Invincible Iron Man” and Greg Pak’s epic “Planet Hulk” arc in “Incredible Hulk” with various artists, listed under “Incredible Hulk” (1999-2011) #92-112.

"Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E." by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen

Why it’s great: In the early 2000s, superhero comics had taken on a certain hard-edged cynicism, a grim “edginess” that wasn’t always entirely effective. Created by Warren Ellis and Stuart Immonen, “Nextwave” takes everything about that zeitgeist (which you can still see in comics and comic-book movies today) and strips away all pretense.

It’s about (take a deep breath) a group of heroes who rebel against the government agency they used to work for when they find out said agency is controlled by a corporation that’s actually a front for a terrorist organization looking to test ridiculous weapons like broccoli-powered robots and man-eating teddy bears on unsuspecting civilians around the world.

But none of that really matters—it’s all just an excuse for outlandish fight scenes and laugh-out-loud comedy. Ellis and Immonen lampoon their contemporaries by exaggerating the ridiculousness of the era—and by being really, really good at making comics.

How to read it: It’s all there under “Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.” #1-12.

What to read next: For the same blend of sharp comedy and biting social critique (with a touch of Jorge Luis Borges and H.P. Lovecraft), consider Ales Kot and Michael Walsh’s “Secret Avengers” (2014). For pure, laugh-out-loud funny, you can’t get much better than Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber’s “The Superior Foes of Spider-Man.” 

"Hawkeye" by Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth, et al

Why it’s great: One of the most critically-acclaimed comics of the past three years, “Hawkeye” was a game-changer. Created by the critically-acclaimed team of Matt Fraction and David Aja (with some help from fantastic artists like Annie Wu, Francesco Francavilla, and always-great colorist Matt Hollingsworth), “Hawkeye” follows the Avenger who’s just a normal guy, and tells the stories of what he does when he’s not out avenging.

What Fraction and Aja ended up creating felt (and still feels) like nothing else in superhero comics, with a design-minded indie comics feel that led to phenomenal experiments like an issue that featured heavy use of sign language, or the one told entirely from the perspective of a dog who solves a murder. If you haven’t read it yet, now’s the time. 

 How to read it: Start with 2012’s “Hawkeye” #1 and read until the end. At the time this post is being written, the “end” is issue #20—the actual final two issues have suffered interminable delays. While #21 is available for purchase, it’s not currently on Marvel Unlimited.  #22 is currently scheduled for July 2015. Whether or not it comes out then remains to be seen. Don’t be afraid to dive in, though—#20 is a pretty good place to pause the narrative before the big two-part finale. Start reading "Hawkeye" here.

What to read next: Fraction and Aja first collaborated on another excellent book, “The Immortal Iron Fist” (which was co-written by Ed Brubaker and showcased a number of other artists). The first 16 issues are fantastic, and a good preview of what you could expect from Netflix’s forthcoming “Iron Fist” series. 

Getting kicked off "Top Gear" was "my own silly fault," Jeremy Clarkson told BBC2 Radio's Chris Evans last week.

In his first live interview since his unceremonious dismissal from the popular BBC2 car show in March, the bombastic TV personality and automotive journalist proved to be surprisingly contrite and honest.

During the interview, Clarkson described his departure from the show he helped build into a global media juggernaut as "leaving a big hole in his life."

"Top Gear was absolutely my baby," Clarkson said. "I absolutely adored it and I worked all the time on it and paid attention to every little detail."

In recent weeks, rumors of a potential new car show featuring Clarkson along with his former co-hosts James May and Richard Hammond have made their way through the internet.

Potential suitors for the high-octane troika's services include such heavy hitters as British broadcaster ITV and internet streaming service Netflix.

Although his departure from the BBC may have comer under less-than-ideal conditions, the long-time automotive journalist spoke glowingly of his time with the network.

"I think it's a great organization," Clarkson gushed about the Beeb. "I'll never complain about it and I thank them for giving me such a long time there."

The network's decision to part ways with the polarizing TV personality came after an internal BBC inquiry found Clarkson had punched a "Top Gear" producer when he failed to obtain a hot steak dinner after a long day of filming.

In addition, the fracas with the producer came on the heels of a controversy-filled 2014 for Clarkson — which saw the TV host mired in scandal stemming from accusations of racist, sexist, and culturally insensitive comments. 

Prior to his dismissal, Clarkson had spent nearly three decades with the BBC as a host on "Top Gear" and is credited with being the driving force behind the show's explosive international success.

With more than 350 million weekly viewers, "Top Gear" set the Guinness World record as the most watched factual TV program in the world. In addition to the UK show, the Top Gear brand also includes numerous international spinoffs, a live stadium tour, merchandising, a successful magazine, and website.

Although their involvement with the "Top Gear" television program may be over, the show's trio of former-hosts will continue with its live stadium appearances. However, the tour will no longer be able carry the "Top Gear" name. Instead, it will be named after the show's three hosts — "Clarkson, Hammond, and May Live"

Listen here for an excerpt of Jeremy Clarkson's interview with Chris Evans:

SEE ALSO: 30 awesome photos from Formula One's glamorous Monaco Grand Prix

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The leisure industry analysts at Citi believe SeaWorld will finally experience attendance growth at its parks in 2015 and 2016.

"Air traffic into the Orlando airport suggests a beneficial trend for SeaWorld," Citi's Jason Bazinet said.

"Since, October 2014 domestic passengers have experienced the most robust growth since 2010. Furthermore, international passengers into the Orlando airport have grown double digits since May 2014. While just 30% of SeaWorld’s total attendance pertains to the Orlando parks, we believe this data foreshadows a potential broader uptick in recreational spending."

Recreational spending is something that comes with an improving economy in which jobs are growing and wages are increasing.

This is particularly good news for SeaWorld, which has seen attendance suffer in recent years.

The company has been struggling to repair its public image in the wake of "Blackfish," a CNN documentary that claims the amusement park's captive orca whales are under immense psychological pressure which is turning them into killers. "Blackfish" was released in 2013.

"We believe these positive recreational spending trends are apt to benefit SeaWorld parks. As such, we are now forecasting ~1.85% attendance growth in 2015 and 2016 (from 0%)."

Bazinet has a Buy rating on the stock, and on Tuesday he raised to price target to $26 from $21. He did not reference "Blackfish" in his note.

SeaWorld shares closed Thursday at $21.67, down 43% since "Blackfish" premiered on July 19, 2013.

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Let's get one thing out of the way: I don't listen to Taylor Swift's music. I'm not one of her millions of adoring fans, which is why I'm not willing to let her off the hook for abandoning Spotify.

The truth is, Swift's decision to pull her albums from Spotify doesn't affect Spotify. It only affects music fans.

Swift says this is "old news." Months before she pulled her songs from the streaming service last November, she wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in July explaining why she thinks streaming services like Spotify don't properly value musicians' creations.

Spotify, for the record, pays 70% of its revenue to labels, which amounted to roughly $1 billion in payouts last year. But that's not how artists like Swift see it: When you break it down, labels actually get less than a penny per play, and that's money going to the labels, not to the artists. So a label would still make less than $1 million off a single song, even if it's played 100 million times, and the artist would see even less of that money.

It's unclear how much money Swift actually made from Spotify, but as Buzzfeed pointed out last year, Swift never needed Spotify for the money. She makes most of her money from tours — her most recent one grossed a record $150 million at the box office, and Swift reportedly made $30 million in the first six months.

Of course, people have plenty of other options to listen to Swift's music: They could buy the physical albums, which is profitable for the artist but not efficient for customers — nobody really listens to CDs anymore, they just import them to computers for later listening. They could also pursue other online outlets like iTunes, Beats Music, Rhapsody, and Pandora.

But Spotify isn't going away anytime soon.

Even though iTunes has more credit cards on file, Spotify is widely recognized as the most important player in the space right now. Even Apple is jealous: the iPhone maker has reportedly attempted to persuade music labels from breaking ties with Spotify as it preps its own music streaming service.

Spotify gets music: It allows paid subscribers to endlessly binge on music at a reasonable price, similar to Netflix, but it also offers curated content and countless customization options, even for new albums. That's great for customers who love music, and artists who want their work to be heard.

And so, this is Taylor Swift's argument for leaving Spotify: "Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for. It's my opinion that music should not be free."

She's entitled to her point-of-view, but that opinion, particularly the way she's framed it, is greedy and short-sighted. She didn't say Spotify devalues all music; she's complaining that her cut from Spotify isn't big enough. It's reminiscent of the recent introduction of Tidal, Jay-Z's streaming music service, which many people criticized as a poorly-veiled attempt to help rich musicians get even richer. Clearly, money was the biggest factor in Swift's decision to pull away from Spotify.

Swift is right about one thing: Valuable things should be paid for. Except on Spotify, you never "own" anything, even if you pay for the Premium service — you're just playing it, enjoying it, but not "owning" it. And if someone discovers Taylor Swift and likes her work, there's a good chance they could attend one of her concerts or buy some of her merchandise — that's much more "valuable" than counting pennies from song plays. 

Spotify isn't lucrative for artists, or even itself — it exists simply because people love music, and it's better and safer than piracy.

Of course, Swift is allowed sell her music wherever she wants. But her decision affected millions of her own fans, and millions of other people who use Spotify to expose themselves to new music (Spotify has over 60 million active users, and more than 15 million paid subscribers). 

The world is changing quickly, and the future of the music industry is hazy. But if Swift is really concerned about the money she makes, she shouldn't take it out on Spotify; she could just crowdfund her next album. It'd meet its goal in less than an hour.

SEE ALSO: Apple might be preparing a 'cutthroat' move against Spotify

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Much of the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" cast has been revealed, but there's still been one giant question mark up in the air until now. 

StarWars.com revealed the role of motion capture king Andy Serkis in the upcoming film Thursday afternoon, and it sounds like he'll be on the Dark side of the Force.

Serkis, who's known for his motion capture roles as Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” series and Caesar in the “Planet of the Apes" films, will play Supreme Leader Snoke.

While we don't know much about the character yet, we do know Serkis will be using motion capture to bring Snoke to life via an image released on StarWars.com.

The image, which was originally shot for Vanity Fair's big "Star Wars" feature, but never made it into the final issue, comes from photographer Annie Leibovitz.

We've already gotten a little taste of Serkis' character in the first "Star Wars" teaser trailer, but you may not have realized it.

Serkis confirmed back in November 2014 to Absolute Radio he's the guy behind the ominous, yet thrilling voiceover in the first teaser trailer who says, "There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? The dark side and the light."

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is in theaters on December 18. 

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AND: One of the most beloved characters from the original "Star Wars" finally gets some recognition

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Google is the most important tech company in the world, depending on who you ask.

Between YouTube, Google search, and Gmail, the Mountain View, CA.-based company created, owns and operates much of what we've come to expect from using the internet. The company's influence is so great that its name is a verb – "Could you Google a good restaurant for tonight, darling?"

And that's why it's such a tremendously big deal that Google's pushing into virtual reality with one of its most important services: YouTube.

The company told attendees of its annual I/O developer conference Thursday that the public could upload 360-degree videos to YouTube starting this summer. Moreover, a VR-ready version of YouTube will become available in app form in the not-so-distant future.

Put more clearly: the world's most popular video platform is moving into virtual reality.

Here's an example of how it'll work (use the arrows in the upper left corner to navigate the video in three dimensions):

This is a much more important foundational move than any of the video game and film applications we've seen for VR thus far, and the reasons should be obvious: cat videos. That's not a joke. People are much more interested in watching cat videos – and other stuff on YouTube – than they are in even the most popular video games. 

For comparison, massively popular (and free) game "League of Legends" has around 27 million players. YouTube has "more than 1 billion" users.

Joking aside, imagine this: You buy an inexpensive 360-degree video camera, you record heartfelt family moments with it, you share those moments to your family's private YouTube account. Watching those videos is like being there all over again. And not just in a nostalgic way; with 360-degree video and a VR headset, you are there. 

With Google's "Jump" system, that is all possible. "Jump" is the initiative Google unveiled today that provides a turnkey solution for turning 360-degree video into viewable YouTube footage. Think of it like this: it's an easy way for complex video to be easily shot and distributed, for viewing on VR headsets. It's a standardization for filming, distributing and viewing 360-degree video.

Sounds boring, right? It is! It's the boring details behind a massively important initiative from one of – if not "the" – most important tech companies in the world.

There aren't any VR headsets to buy right now. You could build yourself a version of Google's cardboard headset, or buy one of the many versions of it on Amazon from third-parties. But that's not the point.

In the next 12 months, a variety of VR headsets from disparate companies will launch. The "killer app" for the mainstream won't be a dogfighting space shooter, and it won't be a puzzle game. It'll be applications like YouTube and Netflix. 

Google's already working toward that future, and that's huge.

SEE ALSO: Why a piece of cardboard made everybody at Google's big conference freak out

AND: Here's everything Google announced today: A new Android, virtual reality on YouTube, and more

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Gaming and fandom streaming service Machinima is one of the biggest video producers on the internet. With over 32,000 creators in its network, Machinima is the fifth-largest channel network on YouTube, according to ComScore data for April.

It's no surprise Machinima is on the rise. It hosts popular shows like talk show ETC, cartoon Battlefield Friends, and top gamers such as Minecrafter JermoneASF and Zack Scott.

With famous YouTubers always dropping in and all the latest video-game consoles available to play, Machinima looks like a fun place to work. We recently stopped by the company's Los Angeles headquarters to check it out for ourselves.

Machinima's offices are located in an oddly shaped building in West Hollywood. You might miss it if you were driving by. Because of building regulations, Machinima can't have signs announcing its location.

Look for their iconic "M" logo on the door.

Enter the lobby and you'll be greeted by a TV playing some of its latest and greatest YouTube videos. When we got there, Machninima's popular show ETC with cohosts Ricky Hayberg and Eliot Dewberry was playing.

Two of the women featured in Richard Prince's "New Portraits" collection of photos stolen from Instagram didn't shoot their photos in the first place.

In speaking with photo subjects Karley Sciortino and Anna Collins, Business Insider learned not only that their photos weren't their own original works, but also that the two have vastly different opinions about Prince's project.

"I don't really understand the uproar over it," Sciortino, a blogger and Vogue.com's resident sex columnist, told BI. "Richard Prince is a hugely successful artist who's made his career doing exactly what he's doing now. Personally I feel like it's an honor to be incorporated in a piece of his [Prince's] artwork."

Collins doesn't share Sciortino's sentiments. She feels she's entitled to at least a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the print depicting her.

"I just think about how I'm a working student in school, I'm extremely broke, and here is a middle-aged white man making a huge profit off of my image." she said. "Kind of makes me sick. I could use that money for my tuition."

Earlier this week, Prince made headlines when he sold the collection of prints for up to a reported $100,000 apiece. 

The photos Prince used feature celebrity subjects like Kate Moss and Sky Ferreira (the Moss photo had also already been stolen from elsewhere; she doesn't even have Instagram) as well as everyday users like Sciortino and Collins.   

Sciortino's photograph shows her modeling a necklace by the designer Richardson. The image was originally posted to the @richardsonworld brand account. Sciortino had re-posted it from there — meaning the photo had already been appropriated once before Prince even got to it.

Collins, a 19-year-old ballet education student from Toronto, also told BI that she did not originally take the picture Prince re-purposed from her Instagram account, @annaballins.

Instead, Collins' sister, photographer and designer Petra Collins, took the picture while Collins was lying atop her boyfriend in bed, she explained.

"I didn't have much intention behind it," Collins said. "Like many of my Instagram photos, it's of the moment."

Collins says that her sister gave her explicit permission to post the photo to Instagram, which means she would likely have "implied license" to use the photo for her own purposes. Still, this exchange only adds to the questions about art and ownership that are being raised by "New Portraits."

The dispute here is whether Prince altered the Instagram pictures enough to satisfy Fair Use laws, which allow an artist to appropriate other works if the artist in question has "transformed" the borrowed work into something new. 

Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, has issued a statement regarding these recent copyright issues. 

"People in the Instagram community own their photos, period," stated Instagram, as reported by The Washington Post. "On the platform, if someone feels that their copyright has been violated, they can report it to us and we will take appropriate action. Off the platform, content owners can enforce their legal rights.”

Of course, it's not necessarily true that Instagram users own their photos. Many, like Sciortino, repost and appropriate images from other sources. Some of the most popular accounts on Instagram, like @thefatjewish, barely post original content at all.

Perhaps that's why users like Sciortino have a different understanding of how this works than the company itself does.

"I think when we sign up for Instagram, it's a copyright-free zone, we don't really own these images," she said. "People are obsessed with this idea of ownership, but really people are only upset because they want money. People wouldn't really be upset if someone that was unknown was printing out their Instagram photos."

The reported $100,000 price tag has prompted one of the collection's Instagrammers, @SuicideGirls, to sell prints of Prince's pieces and donate the proceeds to a group that focuses on digital copyright issues. 

Collins admires the effort and believes it's about "taking back the power." 

"I think @SuicideGirls actions are much more meaningful than threatening to sue," Collins said. "I've been asked, 'Why don't you just sue him?' But it's not that simple. I'm a 19-year-old girl and here is a rich, successful man. I'm almost powerless and @SuicideGirls just completely changed the game." 

Both Collins and Sciortino noted to BI that artistic appropriation is not a new phenomenon.

"I think this is so typical and a prime example of the art industry, but also the history of the art world in general. For years men (especially white men) have been appropriating and taking credit [for] women's work, bodies, and cultures," Collins told BI. 

Collins doesn't even consider Prince's exhibit to be art.

"The lines of art have been blurred so much that it's hard sometimes to discern what is 'art' and what is a commodity/something made only for profit," Collins said. "I think it just has to do with intention and context and I think in this situation — I wouldn't consider it art."

Sciortino, on the other hand, compares Prince's work to that of pop-artist Andy Warhol.

"He [Prince] is essentially curating these sort-of self portraits of people and recontextualizing them," she said. 

As Sciortino mentioned above, Prince is well known for his controversial methods. His collections often re-purpose other artwork, adding only minimal additions of his own. This style has made Prince the subject of much debate and even a major copyright lawsuit, which Prince won in 2013. 

The "New Portraits" collection repurposes photos from other Instagram users. True to Prince's form, the prints in the series look identical to the way the photos would appear within Instagram, save for the addition of a comment from Prince at the bottom.

"He is delving as deep as he ever has into privacy, copyright, and appropriation, twisting images so that they actually seem to undergo some sort of sick psychic-artistic transubstantiation where they no longer belong to the original makers," art critic Jerry Saltz explained to Vulture when New Portraits was first shown in the fall of 2o14. 

SEE ALSO: Authorship is dying, and artist Richard Prince is in trouble again

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Lego may be working on a "Minecraft" competitor called "Lego Worlds," according to an advertisement discovered by a member of Lego fan site Eurobricks.

The advertisement in question was found on the back of a Lego instruction booklet for Lego set 60097, "City Square," and features some artwork accompanied by the tagline "Explore. Discover. Create."

There's also a link to a website — Lego.com/Worlds— but that link brings up Lego's 404 page, so it appears the advertisement might have run before Lego had time to set the website live.

The artwork for Lego Worlds certainly looks like it could be from a "Minecraft"-style video game, and the tagline does sound similar the tagline for "Minecraft," which is "Build. Play. Explore."

Creating a "Minecraft" competitor would also make a lot of sense for Lego: "Minecraft" is often described as a sort of virtual Lego sandbox where you can build whatever you want and then explore your creation or the creations of others. The popular video game has more than 100 million registered users and has sold more than 60 million copies across PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation, Android, and iOS.

Lego and Minecraft have partnered in the past, with Lego creating physical box sets with "Minecraft" branding, but it looks like Lego may be ready to create a sandbox-style video game of its own.

After its smash success following its launch in 2009, "Minecraft" has become one of the best-selling video games of all time. In September 2014, Microsoft acquired Mojang, the studio behind "Minecraft," for $2.5 billion.

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