October 14th, 2005. London, headquarters of EON Productions. Barbara Broccoli turns on the recording: on the screen, a red-haired detective from Leyer 44 hits a gangster with a tire iron. "It's the butcher!" says producer Michael Wilson. "No," Barbara retorts. — This is the new Bond. He's going to bleed." Thus began the era of Craig, the most humane, furious and inconvenient 007 agent. Part 1: The Casting that almost failed The year is 2004. After the failure of "Die, but Not Now," Pierce Brosnan is "kicked out" of the role...

I’ll be honest: I didn’t think I’d get hooked on a Roblox life-sim game about climbing the celebrity ladder. I mean, sure, it sounded fun—meet people, do jobs, earn fame—but I thought it would be just another “grind, level up, repeat” kind of experience. Oh, how wrong I was. Pop Starz pulled me into a flashy, energetic world where every interaction felt like a little scene from a teen drama or a behind-the-scenes peek into a superstar’s rise. And yes, before we go any further, let me just say it: the game has codes...