DAY OF DOOM
I still have so many fond memories of being a sweaty preteen playing Doom 64 in my dungeon of a room. Naturally, I was excited to hear the announcement that the Doom series was being re-released for consoles and mobile devices last Friday in anticipation of the forthcoming Doom Eternal. Even if you're not a fan of the ultraviolent first-person shooters, 1993's Doom set the standard for the industry, and the series consistently pushes the envelope for acceptable levels of chaos. Angry moms be damned. (QUINN WELSCH)
WIZARDS EXPLORE?
Even though it's a lot like its predecessor, Niantic's Pokémon: Go, the recently released Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is actually an improvement on the classic. Rather than lackadaisically throwing Pokéballs and then hoping to get lucky, you draw different spells on screen. Speed and accuracy are key, so be careful — but fast. You can recover tons of items from all corners of the Potterverse, both obvious and obscure: Gobstones, the Triwizard Cup and even Dumbledore himself. The game is out now free on Android and Apple; in-app purchases sold separately, but not required to win. (CARSON McGREGOR)
A SMALL STICK
The Loudest Voice really tried to create the sort of prestige TV so many networks are gunning for. In telling the story of Fox News visionary Roger Ailes, Showtime lined up heavy hitters like Russell Crowe, Naomi Watts and, uh, Seth MacFarlane to showcase Fox's rise to prominence, its coordination with the Republican Party and the dark underbelly of Ailes' reign. The results, though, feel distinctly like a made-for-TV movie. Crowe is a fine actor, but I spent more time marveling at his fat-suit makeup job than his take on the man who undeniably had a huge effect on American political culture. (DAN NAILEN)
THIS WEEK'S PLAYLIST
Some noteworthy new music arrives online and in stores Aug. 2. To wit:
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Live at Woodstock. The band's complete 11-song set from the festival 50 years ago.
Ty Segall, First Taste. The insanely prolific garage-rock hero is back with a big fuzzy addition to his massive catalog.
Tyler Childers, Country Squire. Roots-country up-and-comer's new album is co-produced by Sturgill Simpson. His October Spokane show is already sold out. (DAN NAILEN)
In an illuminating piece co-published by the New Yorker and ProPublica, reporter Lizzie Presser tracks how the Reels brothers spent over five years in jail for refusing to leave their land in North Carolina after it was involuntarily sold to developers without their knowledge. (The land had been in their family dating to the end of slavery.) It's a case indicative of an ongoing dynamic of the loss of black-owned land in Southern states due to antiquated laws making it easy for developers to acquire property without the consent of its rightful owners. Experts estimate black families have been stripped of hundreds of billions of dollars in lost land since 1910 due in part to such laws. Read it at propublica.org. (JOSH KELETY)
