Grammy House Returns for an Expanded Four-Day Grammy Week in 2026

Posted on January 16, 2026 by admin

Grammy House will return during Grammy Week 2026 with its most expansive program to date, running from Wednesday, Jan. 28 through Saturday, Jan. 31 in Los Angeles. The invitation-only cultural hub, presented by the Recording Academy®, expands to four days of panels, performances, and immersive experiences leading up to the 2026 Grammy Awards, airing Feb. 1 on CBS and Paramount+.

Positioned as more than a pop-up, Grammy House continues to function as a gathering space where music, culture, technology, and community intersect. The 2026 edition introduces new programming, additional performers and panelists, and a record number of sponsors reflecting music’s growing overlap with lifestyle and tech.

One of the most notable additions this year is the first-ever Grammy U® Day, signaling a stronger focus on emerging artists and future industry professionals. Programming includes a livestreamed Grammy U Masterclass with YUNGBLUD and the debut of the Grammy U Soundstage, a multi-stage mini festival highlighting student creators and rising talent.

The schedule also emphasizes identity-driven and global perspectives through events spotlighting Best New Artist nominees, women in music, Black creators, AAPI+ artists, LGBTQIA+ voices, and international talent, underscoring how cultural representation continues to shape today’s music landscape.

Technology remains a key theme, with panels addressing artificial intelligence and the evolving role of artists, including a featured discussion moderated by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr.

“The Recording Academy serves as a microphone for the voices of today and tomorrow, and we look forward to honoring and celebrating those voices at Grammy House alongside our incredible sponsors.”

With immersive activations, branded experiences, and forward-looking conversations, Grammy House reinforces how Grammy Week has evolved beyond an awards ceremony into a broader creative and cultural platform. More information is available at GrammyHouse.com.

Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Joins ‘The Lake’ Ahead of Sundance World Premiere

Posted on January 15, 2026 by admin

Ahead of its Day One world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions has boarded the feature documentary The Lake as executive producer, alongside Jennifer Davisson and Phillip Watson.

Directed by Abby Ellis (Flint’s Deadly Water), The Lake has quickly emerged as one of Sundance’s most closely watched documentaries. The film examines the accelerating ecological crisis surrounding Utah’s Great Salt Lake, which is rapidly shrinking and exposing a toxic lakebed containing arsenic, lead, mercury, and other heavy metals—posing serious health risks to millions living along the Wasatch Front.

The documentary follows two scientists and a political insider as they race to prevent an environmental catastrophe, offering a rare look at bipartisan efforts to address a crisis with both local and global implications. As Sundance prepares for its final year in Park City, the film’s urgency has drawn significant attention.

Ellis described the project as deeply personal:

“What’s happening in Utah is a microcosm for so many environmental stories around the world… Having the support of Appian Way will only help enhance our reach with this incredibly timely and relevant story.”

Appian Way’s involvement reinforces its continued focus on environmentally driven storytelling. Jennifer Davisson noted that the film aligns closely with the company’s mission to support urgent, impact driven narratives.

Blending scientific reality with moral reckoning, The Lake moves beyond traditional environmental documentaries, asking broader questions about responsibility, complicity, and whether communities can act in time to avert disaster.

Plague House Turns the Haunted House Story Inside Out

Posted on January 15, 2026 by admin

Haunted houses aren’t exactly new territory, but Plague House isn’t interested in playing by the usual rules. The horror comic from writer Michael W. Conrad and artist Dave Chisholm takes a familiar setup and slowly mutates it into something far more unsettling.

The story centers on the aftermath of a brutal family murder in a quiet California suburb. Thirteen years later, a small group of ghost hunters moves into the abandoned home, hoping to document evidence of something supernatural. What they uncover isn’t just a haunting, but a far darker presence that feels tied to violence itself — something infectious, pervasive, and disturbingly human.

Rather than leaning on jump scares or predictable beats, Plague House builds tension through misdirection. Just when it feels like you understand what kind of story you’re reading, it shifts. The scope widens. The rules change. The horror becomes less about ghosts and more about what lingers after trauma, obsession, and belief collide.

Chisholm’s art plays a huge role here, moving between stark unease and moments of unsettling beauty, while Conrad’s writing keeps pulling the ground out from under the reader. Together, the series feels deliberately disorienting — the kind of horror that sticks around after you’ve put it down.

The newly released trade paperback collects issues #1 to 4, bringing the full story together in one volume. Plague House goes on sale January 20, 2026, from Oni Press.

.lumen Wins CES 2026 Accessibility Award for AI Glasses Designed for the Blind

Posted on January 8, 2026 by admin

CES 2026 included a wide range of accessibility-focused technology, and .lumen was among the companies recognized for its work in that area.

The European deep-tech startup received the CTA Foundation Pitch Competition for Accessibility award, which comes with a $10,000 prize. The award was given for .lumen’s AI-powered glasses designed to help blind users move independently without relying on guide dogs, smartphones, or constant internet access.

The wearable uses computer vision and on-device AI to interpret surrounding space in real time. Instead of audio prompts, it guides users through a haptic feedback system, allowing for hands-free navigation in unfamiliar environments.

Founder and CEO Cornel Amariei noted that the project grew out of personal experience and long-term exposure to accessibility challenges. He also pointed to the gap between the number of visually impaired people worldwide and the limited availability of guide dogs.

In addition to the CTA Foundation award, .lumen was named a CES 2026 Innovation Award Honoree. The company also received recognition last year through a U.S. Army pitch competition.

CES 2026: Early Days, Day Two on the Show Floor

Posted on January 7, 2026 by admin

By Armando

Second day at CES 2026, Displays are bigger, vehicles are more experimental, and mobility concepts are no longer confined to a category.

Brands like TCL are pushing further into connected mobility with NXTAUTO concept interiors, blending automotive design with large-format displays and in-cabin experiences. DREAME’s massive booth leans into smart home appliances at scale, while CHiQ continues positioning itself as a design-forward consumer electronics brand.

Elsewhere, GDU and RICTOR / Kuickwheel showcase alternative mobility ideas, from rugged drones to hybrid personal transport concepts that blur the line between vehicle and gadget.

At the entrance of the Las Vegas Convention Center, Deloitte’s Formula E car greets attendees immediately, setting the tone before anyone even steps onto the show floor.

Day two reinforces CES 2026 tech’s spread across everything, homes, transportation, entertainment, and the spaces between.
By Armando

Photos: AIPImaging.com

Feeld’s 2025 Report Shows How Digital Platforms Are Reshaping Modern Intimacy

Posted on December 30, 2025 by admin

Feeld, the dating app focused on nontraditional relationships and sexual exploration, has released its annual RAW 2025 report, offering a data-driven snapshot of how desire, identity, and connection are shifting across cities and generations.

Drawing on user behavior from around the world, the report points to a continued loosening of rigid sexual labels, with heteroflexible emerging as the fastest-growing sexuality on the platform, up nearly 200 percent year over year. The data suggests that users are increasingly comfortable occupying gray areas between established identities rather than committing to fixed definitions.

The report also highlights changing attitudes toward intimacy and masculinity, including a sharp rise in interest among cisgender men in practices once considered niche or taboo. According to Feeld’s data, cities such as Miami, Seattle, and Berlin are among those where alternative relationship structures and evolving power dynamics are most visible.

Geography plays a central role in the findings. Urban centers like Berlin and Portland consistently rank high for open relationships and sexual experimentation, while cities in Brazil top the list for more traditional or “vanilla” preferences. The contrast underscores how local culture, infrastructure, and social norms continue to shape how people explore intimacy, even on global digital platforms.

Explore this and more global insights in the full Feeld Raw 2025 report available. here.

Brigitte Bardot, Iconic French Film Star and Cultural Figure, Dies at 91

Posted on December 28, 2025 by admin

Brigitte Bardot, the French actor, singer, and international cultural icon who rose to global fame in the 1950s before leaving cinema to become a prominent animal rights activist, has died at the age of 91. Her death was announced by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which did not disclose a cause.

Bardot became an international sensation with her breakthrough role in Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman (1956), a film that reshaped attitudes toward sexuality in postwar cinema and established her as one of France’s most recognizable celebrities. Over the following two decades, she starred in more than 40 films, including The Truth, Contempt, and Viva Maria!, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, and Henri-Georges Clouzot.

She retired from acting in 1973 at age 39 and devoted her life to animal welfare, founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986. In later years, Bardot remained a polarizing public figure due to her outspoken far-right political views and repeated convictions in France for inciting racial hatred.

French President Emmanuel Macron called Bardot “a legend of the century,” noting her lasting impact on French culture. She is survived by her son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier.

Award-Winning Documentary ‘Natchez’ Opens at Film Forum

Posted on December 26, 2025 by admin

Suzannah Herbert’s documentary Natchez will open its U.S. theatrical run at Film Forum on January 30, following its award-winning debut on the festival circuit. The film is executive produced by Sam Pollard.

Set in Natchez, Mississippi, the documentary examines a town long known for its antebellum tourism as it confronts growing challenges to its romanticized portrayal of the Old South. Through interviews with plantation owners, tour guides, activists, and local officials, Natchez explores conflicting narratives about history, memory, and the legacy of slavery.

Natches premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, where it won Best Documentary, along with special jury awards for cinematography and editing. The film has since earned additional honors, including audience and documentary prizes at multiple festivals, and was named one of the National Board of Review’s Top 5 Documentaries of the Year.

‘Suspicious Minds’ Season One Concludes With AI-Focused Finale

Posted on December 23, 2025 by admin

By Armando

The first season of Suspicious Minds, the documentary podcast and video series examining the psychological impact of artificial intelligence, has concluded with its finale episode, “Why Is AI Making Us Crazy?”

Created and directed by filmmaker Sean King O’Grady, the season explores how emerging technologies can influence belief systems and mental health, particularly as AI tools become increasingly personalized, emotionally responsive, and difficult for some users to distinguish from human authority.

The finale revisits ideas from Suspicious Minds: How Culture Shapes Madness, the book by psychiatrist Dr. Joel Gold and philosopher Ian Gold, focusing on how long-standing psychological mechanisms such as pattern-seeking and suspicion can be intensified in contemporary digital environments. Rather than framing AI as a singular cause, the episode situates it within a broader cultural context that can amplify existing vulnerabilities.

Produced by Wondermind and Agoric Media, Suspicious Minds premiered in October 2025 and has ranked among the year’s top podcasts, combining expert analysis with firsthand accounts to examine how technology can shape, and in some cases destabilize, individual perceptions of reality.

The series is now available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major platforms.

Documentary Glendora to World Premiere at Dances With Films NY 2026

Posted on December 21, 2025 by admin

The feature documentary Glendora will make its world premiere at Dances With Films: New York 2026. Directed by Isabelle Armand in collaboration with the Glendora community, the 74-minute film screens January 16 at Regal Union Square.

Set in the Mississippi Delta, Glendora offers an intimate portrait of a small, predominantly African American town, shaped by decades of economic hardship yet sustained by strong communal bonds and cultural traditions.

Developed over five years, the documentary is told through the voices of multiple generations and captures everyday rituals that define life in the town.

Blending personal testimony with observations of daily life, the film situates Glendora’s present-day experiences within a broader American history marked by racial injustice and structural inequality, while emphasizing the community’s resilience and collective memory.