Talk Fuse

    Topic: Entertainment

    Entertainment brings together the latest from film, television, music and gaming, tracking everything from big studio releases and streaming hits to the smaller stories behind the scenes. Expect a mix of reviews, interviews and features that look at how films and shows come together, the choices actors and musicians make along the way, and how decisions by studios and networks play out once viewers get involved.

    The topic also keeps an eye on the business and cultural side of the industry: how streaming services are reshaping what gets made and watched, the sometimes tangled relationship between entertainment and technology, and the moments when a franchise, format or platform doesn't go the way its backers hoped. Older films, shows and songs feature too, revisited with the benefit of hindsight on decisions that looked different at the time.

    For readers, it's a way to keep up with what's actually worth watching or listening to, understand the reasoning behind the projects that shape popular culture, and see how the industry's bigger shifts affect the entertainment on offer day to day.

    • The glaring “mistake” Eddie Van Halen hated about his greatest 1970s solo : “I didn’t even play it right”

      Eddie Van Halen’s blistering solo instrumental “Eruption,” from Van Halen’s self-titled 1978 debut album, is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitar solos in rock history, celebrated for popularising the two-handed finger-tapping technique alongside fluid legato phrasing. Despite the track’s enduring reputation and influence on generations of guitarists, Van Halen himself remained privately dissatisfied…

    • The American band Ray Davies never fully clicked with and how it almost ruined a 2017 album

      Ray Davies has revealed how his instinct for imperfect, energetic sound has repeatedly shaped his career, from The Kinks’ breakthrough single to his 2017 solo album Americana. When PYE Records first recorded ‘You Really Got Me’ with a polished, Phil Spector-style production, Davies refused to let it be released and threatened to quit the music…

    • Jon Turteltaub says Disney has approved National Treasure 3 script

      Director Jon Turteltaub has confirmed that a third instalment of the “National Treasure” franchise is now moving forward, with Disney having approved a script he says he is finally happy with. Speaking at a live recording of the “National Treasure Hunt” podcast in Philadelphia, Turteltaub said the project was “Hollywood real”, meaning production could still…

    • Watch Moby perform ‘Father Ted’ favourite ‘My Lovely Horse’ live in Dublin

      Moby performed ‘My Lovely Horse’, the comic song from Father Ted, during his Dublin concert at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on 21 August. Introducing it as a possible “new national anthem”, he paid tribute to a song strongly associated with Irish television comedy and Eurovision satire. The song appeared in Father Ted’s ‘A Song For…

    • The “unacceptable” 2000 movie Mike Myers refused to make: “I cannot cheat moviegoers”

      Mike Myers once turned down a $20 million film built around Dieter, his pseudo-intellectual talk-show host character from Saturday Night Live, arguing publicly that he could not “cheat moviegoers” by making a film from a script he deemed unacceptable. The twist was that Myers himself had written that script, meaning he effectively torpedoed a project…

    • Best players for FC 26 Leyenda de Moncada Evolution

      The free Leyenda de Moncada Evolution has launched in FC 26 Ultimate Team, allowing players to upgrade an eligible outfield card to a 98 overall rating. It matters because the four-stage upgrade provides near endgame attacking, dribbling and passing attributes, potentially making previously less competitive cards highly effective. – Eligible cards must be rated 97…

    • Rockstar takes GTA 6 leaker’s channels offline after they apparently record themselves playing the game

      Rockstar Games has apparently succeeded in having a GTA 6 leaker’s website and Telegram channel removed after a week of alleged leaks. The action matters because it shows the publisher escalating efforts to contain unauthorised material from one of the industry’s most anticipated releases, although the leaker’s identity and claims remain unverified. The website reportedly…

    • The “important” 2002 album Robert Plant needed to make: “Always”

      Robert Plant has described his 2002 covers album “Dreamland” as a personally important record, made not to disguise a lack of ideas but because he had long wanted to perform songs by artists he admired, such as Tim Buckley. Rather than repeating the heavier sound of his Led Zeppelin days, the album reflected Plant’s continued…

    • 3 of the Best First Classic Rock Hits of 1974

      Three classic-rock songs that reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1974 illustrate the period’s range, from upbeat covers to studio-crafted pop-rock. The selections highlight how familiar songs were reinterpreted for a new audience. – Grand Funk Railroad’s “The Locomotion”, released in February 1974, topped the chart in May; it revived Little…

    • 8 Sci-Fi Books That Marked the End of an Era

      The article identifies science-fiction books that, in different ways, brought important periods of the genre to a close. These endings range from final instalments in major series to works that signalled a shift away from older storytelling conventions, showing how science fiction continually changes with its audiences and times. – The Ringworld Throne (1996): Larry…