HBO’s new horror drama series The Last of Us is the best video game adaptation of all time. That shouldn’t be a surprise: Rarely, if ever, has this level of production value or amount of screen time been given to an adaptation of a game that can take between 15-20 hours to complete. Usually, filmmakers are forced to…
I’ve been captivated by The Last of Us since I first played it shortly after it was released for the PS3 way back in 2013. Its ruined, dangerous but somehow beautiful post-pandemic world was compellingly rendered by developer Naughty Dog, and the tense combat driven by stealth and a need to conserve your resources felt more brutal and realistic than the Uncharted series the developer was known for.
But the relationship between protagonists Joel and Ellie is the true heart of the game. The story of a broken father reluctantly taking responsibility for a child who ends up becoming a surrogate daughter isn’t wildly original, nor is the game’s post-apocalyptic setting. But the development of Joel and Ellie’s relationship is filled with humor, hope, sadness and conflict, and it was brilliantly written by creators Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley. Performers Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, along with the entire Naughty Dog team brought it to life, and the game has stuck with me ever since.
It’s the kind of video game that’s been begging for some sort of on-screen adaptation. Now, almost a decade after the game was released, HBO’s The Last of Us series will premiere on January 15th. The first season is led by a deep and talented cast (headlined by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie) and an equally strong creative team, including Druckmann and Craig Mazin (best known for his outstanding Chernobyl mini-series, also on HBO).
I’m happy to report that The Last of Us should satisfy fans of the game, and might even bring in a fresh audience. It deftly walks the line between paying loving tribute to the source material while not feeling overly devoted to it. The structure of the show is essentially identical to the game: Joel and Ellie meet in a Boston quarantine zone some 20 years after a fungal infection destroys the world as we know it. Circumstance shoves the pair together on a cross-country journey that spans the better part of a year, as Joel tries to safely get Ellie to the Fireflies, a revolutionary militia that’s been trying to find a cure for the infection.
If you’ve played the game, you’ll be familiar with the season’s nine-episode arc. But in each act of the story, Mazin has smartly identified where to expand the narrative and what to leave out. The biggest thing missing are many of the huge action set-pieces that come up throughout the game. It’s an unsurprising change, as it wouldn’t feel realistic for Joel and Ellie to survive the number of battles they face in the game; it also wouldn’t make for compelling TV. There’s still plenty of action in the show, but it’s meted out more carefully and generally only when it moves the story forward.
Unsurprisingly, everything about The Last of Us reflects the high-budget, flagship status the show seems to have at HBO. Sets and environments are epic in scale and detail, and the combination of prosthetics and digital enhancements bring the Infected to life in terrifying fashion. Although there seems to be less of an emphasis on encounters with these creatures than in the game, seeing them on screen is distressingly memorable. Details like cinematography and music (composed by Oscar-winner Gustavo Santaolalla, who scored the games), are also masterfully executed; this is a show that oozes quality and attention to detail — much like the game itself.
More interesting is how The Last of Us expands on the world and its inhabitants. We immediately get a more extensive look at the pre-pandemic life that Joel and his daughter Sarah inhabit. The showrunners give us more backstory and a better understanding of the different ways people survive: cooped up in a dreary Boston quarantine zone, fighting the government in a Kansas City lost to a violent militia group, or a peaceful settlement out west. The world feels a lot more nuanced than the one in the game, where almost everyone is an enemy to be overcome. Don’t get me wrong — most of the inhabitants of HBO’s The Last of Us will shoot first and ask questions later – but most encounters are about tension rather than brutal violence.
A lot has been written about the show’s two stars, Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal, both of whom have some big shoes to fill. Finding two performers with on-screen chemistry who could successfully embody their respective characters was surely not an easy task. But Pascal and Ramsey’s performances both immediately connected me with the original characters while also feeling vital and essential on their own. Fans of the game should immediately find things to draw them in, while those new to the series should be quickly won over by the pair.
Pascal’s Joel has a lot more emotional depth than Joel the video game character. Part of that is due to scripts that put more focus on his vulnerabilities and insecurities, but Pascal skillfully portrays a broad range of emotions. He’s able to show the cold, violent and skilled survivor side of Joel who’ll do anything to get what he needs while also embodying the broken spirit of a man who’s spent 20 years doing whatever it takes to stay alive. Watching Ellie bring out Joel’s more vulnerable side, and seeing how that conflicts with the hardened survivor, is at the heart of Joel’s character journey, and Pascal simply nails it. Joel is both more vulnerable than ever — and also more terrifying.
Meanwhile, Ramsey charms from their first moment onscreen as Ellie. We’re afforded a little more of Ellie’s backstory in the first episode, and it’s a great introduction to the character that immediately shows her brazen attitude toward anything that gets in her way. Much of the humor and levity comes from Ellie, and Ramsey’s performance captures the innocent resilience that only a 14-year-old could have in the face of abject horror and seemingly inescapable doom. The weight on Ellie’s shoulders grows throughout the series, and Ramsey is always up to the task of taking Ellie to the brink of breakdown before she comes back to the sense of duty she feels to care for the people she’s chosen to let into her life. Ellie’s naivety and sense of wonder gets bruised time and time again throughout the series, but both Ramsey and the scripts never let her lose it entirely.
While both Pascal and Ramsey deliver excellent performances in their own right, the magic really happens when the two are playing off each other. Naturally, the characters start out skeptical of one another, with Joel straight-up calling Ellie “cargo” to her face. But Ellie’s fascination with seeing the world beyond the quarantine zone she’s been stuck in slowly breaks Joel down. Pascal does a great job flipping between those two sides of the character, offering up hints of compassion and concern for Ellie as a person, only to retreat into an emotionally distant protector role.
Meanwhile, Ramsey embodies the spirit of Ellie as she opens up to Joel, and seeing this side of Ellie’s character is a delight. Ramsey’s ability to convincingly show Ellie’s goofy and rebellious exterior is masterfully done; it’s the tool Ellie uses most to try and win over Joel, as if she knows he’s going to give in with a smile or laugh sooner or later. Watching Pascal slowly warm to her brings out a host of different ways for the two actors to play off each other. But Ramsey is also just as convincing when demonstrating Ellie’s drive for survival is just as strong as Joel’s. That leads her to some dark places, and Ramsey shows their range as the series progresses and the challenges facing Ellie and Joel mount.
The rest of the cast doesn’t get as much screen time, but they all contribute to some compelling plot lines. The stories of Bill and Frank (played by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett) as well as Keivonn Woodard’s interpretation of Sam are two of the finest examples in the series where Mazin and Druckmann deviate a bit from the original text to do something that might not work in a game but is extremely successful in a show. Their episodes are undeniable standouts, and probably the best examples of why The Last of Us is such a successful adaptation.
The show whiffs a little bit on the pacing, as the back half of the season feels rushed. The pace naturally accelerates throughout the season toward the story’s climax, and the last two episodes are among the shortest in the season. I wish that some of the many dramatic moments near the end had more time to breathe. I don’t think a whole additional episode is necessary, but an extra ten minutes in each of the final episodes might have made things feel less constricted.
Also, it’s worth remembering that The Last of Us was an extremely violent video game, and the show does not shy away from brutality and occasional gore. It’s less overt than I expected, but each episode generally has at least one moment that’s not for the squeamish. That said, much of the human-on-human violence is pared back. With a few exceptions, it’s not too gratuitous or graphic, and a lot is implied. Regardless, I respect that large swaths of people might not be in the mood for a violent and often grim post-pandemic drama after three-plus years dealing with a real-life pandemic.
Despite those concerns, the end result is the best kind of adaptation, one that’s faithful to the spirit of the origin that also makes smart changes to fit the medium. In that way, it reminds me a bit of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, another personal favorite. While those movies made numerous deviations and changes, Jackson always framed them as a way to make the story work as well as possible in the film medium.
I feel the same way about The Last of Us. It’s not a one-to-one retelling, and I’m thankful for that – it wouldn’t have made for good TV. Instead, Craig Mazin took his love for Druckmann’s story and converted it to a show that many will enjoy, regardless of whether they’ve played the game. And for those of us who already love The Last of Us, this adaptation stands toe-to-toe with the original. There are tons of stunning moments that bring me directly back to what I love, but each episode also has a number of moments that surprised and delighted me, even though I know the overarching plot inside and out. It’s more than I could have hoped for, and I’m very excited that people who don’t play video games will get a chance to experience Joel and Ellie’s story through this excellent series.
They busted claims often made by the former president, argued the newspaper’s editorial board.
CES is back, and this 2023 edition was another exciting step to a new normal, as far as tech events are concerned. It was stimulating to experience much more energy, products, and friends than at last year’s CES. Still, seeing as many products and technology as possible was challenging, and it was even harder to pick which ones we liked best. Yet, it had to be done, so here are Ubergizmo’s Best of CES, in no particular order:
ASKA came up with the ASKA A5, a vehicle that can drive on roads like a car (with retracted wings), take off vertically (VOTL) like a helicopter, and fly like a (winged) plane for distance and efficiency. What’s not to like?
This “flying car” is built with advanced materials like carbon fiber and fancy metal alloys. That’s why it is light and durable enough for potential usages such as “emergency response use, military use, as well as on-demand ride-sharing mobility services,” says ASKA.
For years, Samsung has floated the idea of using the fridge as a Family and Digital Hub. It started with a fridge with a tablet roughly integrated into it. However, the 2023 4-Door Flex Refrigerator with Family Hub Plus edition has an impeccable 32-inch touch display integration with a computer many times the original Family Hub’s.
Furthermore, Samsung’s Family Hub content and app ecosystem are much more complete now, making the concept much more attractive… if you can afford it. Finally, many people don’t realize how neat the product’s surface finish is. If you have a chance, check the Bespoke products in a store.
LG is no stranger to large TV innovations and has led the OLED TV market for years, including with rollable TVs! This year, the new LG Signature M3 Wireless TV is geared toward customers who put design above all. As designers sometimes say, “less is more.”
This LG TV could augment the room, not on a wall, but in the middle of a space. It could offer a window onto another world or become a piece of art. LG’s proprietary wireless protocol is meticulously designed to avoid radio interferences to display a 4K/120Hz image as if you had a high-speed wired connection. Expect the competition to copy this soon.
Being small, light, and fast is no longer anything special in the world of laptops. Of course, specialty laptops can be any combination of these three, but that might not make you more productive. The Lenovo YogaBook 9i is the first commercial laptop with a genuine dual-display setup that will make anyone more productive!
Its design is comparable in weight and size to any other 13.3-inch laptop when closed. However, you must also carry its external wireless keyboard and foldable stand to complete the package. You don’t “have to” use either accessory, as it’s possible to get by with the virtual keyboard. Now, let’s hope Lenovo builds 15.6” and 18” versions!
Acer’s new Predator Helios 18 gaming laptop offers an extremely large display surface in a powerful mobile gaming rig. Its 18-inch display features a 2560×1600 resolution with refresh rate options from 165 to 250Hz. A 16-inch version is also available.
You might be able to reach these insane speeds thanks to the 13th Gen Intel Core processor options (with up to 32GB of RAM), paired with NVIDIA’s freshly announced RTX 40 Series for mobile. Acer also offers up to 2TB of SSD storage, with the rare RAID0 option for maximum read speed.
The Alienware x14 R2 might be the “world’s thinnest 14-inch gaming laptop”, according to Dell, the parent company of Alienware. We can believe it because this computer looks extremely thin despite a configuration that goes “up to” the NVIDIA RTX 4060 80W paired with an Intel Core i7 13620H.
If you like the x14’s style, but want a bit more hardware, check out the Alienware x16, as it is configurable with faster hardware (RTX 4080 + Core i9 13900HK). Both laptops offer excellent image quality and could be used by Creative professionals.
The L’Oreal HAPTA is a “makeup applicator” that helps people with motor impairment to perform gestures that otherwise require a relatively high degree of motion precision, such as applying lipstick or drawing eyebrows. Developed in partnership with Verily Life Sciences (an Alphabet/Google company), this device uses a stabilization technology that most people would compare to a smartphone gyro stabilizer.
At the moment, lipstick is the first beauty application of this technology, but L’Oreal is open to other use cases. HAPTA should appear under the Lancôme brand sometime in 2023.
Airgo is not going after your classic smartglass market, which claims to put a screen in front of your eyes. Instead, the company wants to deliver spatial audio in a convenient and comfortable form factor: open-ear audio.
The idea has been exploited before, and we have some Anker Soundcore (upcoming review) that are good examples of audio glasses. But Airgo delivers spatial audio as no such glasses has before, so it’s clearly worthy of praise. We like this form factor because nothing covers or enters your ear, so that’s much more comfortable to wear.
TDK demonstrated the latest version of the energy harvesting InWheelSense modules at CES. Little known to the public, InWheelSense could become an indispensable sensor for future semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles that benefit from having more sensors and data.
This module uses the car’s motion to generate energy that local sensors can utilize. The quantity of power is not huge by smartphone standards, but it is many times what is ordinarily available to wheel sensors. With it, more accurate data can be gathered at a higher rate, giving a car’s computer more information to analyze and react.
The ThinkPhone is a Motorola smartphone destined to be paired with Lenovo’s ThinkPad line of products. If you remember, Motorola was acquired by Lenovo in 2014. At CES, the ThinkPhone demonstration showed a superb integration with a ThinkPad X1 Carbon, where you can use the phone remotely from the PC, use the phone as a PC webcam (rear+front cameras), share the clipboard between both devices, and more!
The phone/PC interaction is the best we’ve seen, and the ThinkPhone even features a dedicated “TrackPoint-red” button on the left side to activate some features. What we saw was running smoothly and was anything we’ve seen before.
The Evie smart ring might be on the cust of carving a large place for itself in the smart ring market, which brands like Oura pioneered. Evie can track many health metrics, including resting heart rate, heart rate variability, SpO2, respiration rate, skin temperature variability, steps, active minutes, calories burned, sleep stages, and duration. However, it can also track “period, ovulation and menstrual symptom,” which is why Movano calls it a product for women. Unlike other rings, Movano is seeking FDA approval for the device to show users the products meet ISO13485 and cGMP certifications.
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The “Late Show” host was left baffled by the new speaker’s latest hot take.
Virgin Orbit’s historic “Start Me Up” mission launched from Spaceport Cornwell on January 9th as planned, but it has failed to reach orbit and has ultimately ended in failure. If you follow the the company’s tweets during the event, everything went well at first. Virgin Orbit confirmed LauncherOne’s clean separation from its carrier aircraft, Cosmic Girl, as well as the ignition of its NewtonThree first stage rocket engine. The mission also seemed to have gone through a successful stage separation, with the company tweeting about NewtonFour’s, the second stage engine’s, ignition. “LauncherOne is now officially in space!” the tweet after that reads.
LauncherOne’s upper stage shut down and was supposed to coast halfway around our planet before deploying its payload. As Ars Technica reports, the next tweet after that said the rocket and its payload satellites had successfully reached orbit. But the company deleted that tweet and replaced it with an announcement that said an anomaly prevented the mission from reaching orbit as planned. According to Reuters, a graphic display it saw over the launch’s video feed showed that the mission reached second-stage cutoff but stopped three steps ahead of payload deployment a couple of hours after take off.
Matt Archer, Commercial Space Director at the UK Space Agency, said the government and various entities that include the company will conduct an investigation about the failure over the coming days. Archer also said that the second stage suffered a “technical anomaly and didn’t reach the required orbit.” It’s unclear what the investigation entails, but Virgin Orbit promised to share more details when it can. Meanwhile, Cosmic Girl and its crew was safely able to return to Spaceport Cornwall.
We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information.
— Virgin Orbit (@VirginOrbit) January 9, 2023
The mission was carrying payload satellites from seven commercial and government customers. They include a UK-US joint project called CIRCE (Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment) and two CubeSats for the UK Ministry of Defense’s Prometheus-2 initiative. Ars says this failure could have a huge impact on the company, which is struggling to launch enough missions to break even. “Start Me Up” wasn’t only the first orbital launch from UK soil, it was also the first international launch for Virgin Orbit and the first commercial launch from Western Europe. It could’ve been a high-profile success for the company and would’ve shown potential customers what it’s capable of.
The rapper’s lawyer told the “hateful” lawmaker she would never be allowed to use his music.
The Wordle for today is a bit grotty in nature, and may be hard to decipher on your own. If you need some assistance, we have hints (and the answer) for you.
The two women, who have benefited from nepotism, may want to take a page out of Allison Williams’s book of acknowledging privilege.
Donald Trump announced the news and said Lynette Hardaway, known as Diamond, had died in her North Carolina home.
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