Latest news with #PaulAtreides
The Guardian
06-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Explain it to me quickly: What is aura farming, and is it cool or cringe?
Bertin and Luca. You're young people. Why are all the kids on my feeds suddenly talking about aura farming, and what does it have to do with Timothée Chalamet? Who has more aura than the Dune saga's prophesied leader Paul Atreides? Since that role, Chalamet has become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Aura farming is all about cultivating the coolest version of yourself. Think well-tailored suits, lots of grayscale, serious stares and sharp angles. When Chalamet, playing Atreides, leads an army of hardened warriors in the sci-fi blockbuster, delivering a powerful speech and declares himself emperor of the known universe, he's aura farming. Kids have always wanted to be cool – now they get to farm for it. I'm guessing this farming does not involve a tractor. How exactly does one do it? By the simple act of being cool or mysterious: striking a cool pose, or performing great feats of coolness – a strike when you go bowling, flawlessly landing rubbish in the bin from 5 metres away, or completing a new personal best at the gym. OK, so aura farming is the same as earning aura points. But why is it farming? Like so much Gen Z and Alpha slang, it emerges when the world of video games and anime collides with TikTok. In many video games, to farm is to endlessly grind at a digital task to gain experience, currency or items (wow, art imitating life). Some examples – such as World of Warcraft or more recently, Fortnite – are notorious for sucking hours, days, maybe even months from people's lives as they farm in pursuit of these things. TikTokers count the aura points earned when they do something cool; players of games like Elden Ring farm aura by performing spectacular game play moves, or standing against a backdrop of cool scenery and wearing all their their cool gear – to share with viewers on a stream, or social media followers, or just for their own satisfaction. Just as there are video game streamers and entire YouTube channels dedicated to playing a game quickly or skilfully, there are others devoted to mastering the art of playing stylishly and smoothly. Of course these worlds were going to cross over. Back in my day, spending hours playing video games wasn't exactly cool … If the number of television adaptations of video games are any indication, maybe the definition of cool has changed. But you do have a point. Aura farming refers to a sense of cool that is very specific to video games and anime. The most famous examples of aura farmers – you could start with Piccolo, Gon, Sangwoo, to name a few – all come from that world. Can you aura farm in real life? Yes. There's always riding your bike with hands in your pockets down the main street of your university campus. Or pretending to be so famous that people want your autograph. On election day in Australia, one dedicated aura farmer walked past polling booths signing how to vote cards as if he were a celebrity – a riff on the existing trend of autographing receipts and pieces of paper you dropped in front of celebrities on purpose. This doesn't sound that cool, honestly. The main difference between aura farming in a game and in real life is that if you're doing the latter, you're running the risk you'll be made fun of. Where there is cool, there is also cringe. They are two sides of the same coin. And trying too hard to aura farm is not cool. If someone from Gen Alpha or Z says you're aura farming, pay attention to the tone. If it's accusatory, they're mocking you. If they're laughing, they're mocking you. Just hope that if someone says it to you, it's in sheer awe of your presence … and aura. OK, so to put it in terms my calcified millennial mind can understand, that time I saw Chloë Sevigny smoking on the dancefloor at a New York fashion week party, she was aura farming in the cool way. But then when my friend lit a cigarette right afterward and we were told it was a no-smoking venue, we were aura farming in the cringe way? You're aura farming just by telling that story.
Daily Mirror
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Dune Awakening beta start time and how you can join the fight
Arrakis is in need of a protector, and it could be you, as you have the opportunity to access Dune Awakening ahead of time to test its first hours of its story. Your chance to show Arrakis who's boss is finally here with a wide beta test for Dune Awakening, giving you access to the first portion of gameplay for the survival title. If you watched Paul Atreides climb to become the Lisan Al'Gaib, Duke of Atreides and steward to Arrakis and thought, 'I bet I could do that,' I've got some bad news for you. It's almost impossible, and frankly, you're going to have a hard enough time simply finding water when your Arrakeen adventure finally begins. Dune Awakening is almost here, and is set to give you the chance to test your survival skills on the least hospitable planet in the charted universe. It's been a very exciting prospect, especially since Denis Villeneuve 's movies, but getting the chance to explore Frank Herbert 's iconic world is reason enough to be excited, full of ruins, bases and face-offs with the Shai Hulud themselves. It comes at a good time, too, as survival fans are being treated with peeks behind the curtain after the recent Prologue: Go Wayback playtest. The game's incoming beta is set to offer you a chance to try it out for yourself before the game launches, but it already comes with some alterations to the core game – as the beta only offers a look into the first few chapters of the planned game, it will ask you to select a class between four choices, rather than give you the free reign to unlock them yourself in skill trees, as you won't earn enough skill points to bag them all. Changes are bound to be made, but that doesn't mean that this won't be a compelling peek into Arrakis' gameplay – and the Dune Awakening beta is a great opportunity to get a taste of what we'll get with the final game. So, when is the Dune Awakening beta start time, and how can you get involved? Here's what you need to know. Dune Awakening beta start time and how to join The Dune Awakening beta start time is 5am PDT / 8am EDT / 1pm BST on Friday, May 9, with the beta coming to a close at 2.59pm PDT / 5.59pm EDT / 10.59 BST on Monday, May 12. The beta, unlike previous opportunities to play a build of the game, has no NDA, so expect a lot of footage and details to be revealed to the public about the game during this time. If you want to join the beta, there are three steps to complete, with the completion of all three steps increasing your chances of earning a code. First, you'll want to add the game to your wishlist on Steam and click the 'Request Access' button via its Steam page. Sign up with your email on the Dune Awakening website, and then failing that, you'll want to tune into the Global LAN Party Broadcast on the Funcom Twitch channel, where the game's team will be dishing out tens of thousands of beta codes. There are a few options to consider, but it could be worth ticking through all of them if you want the chance to play the first 20-25 hours of Dune Awakening's gameplay. Though you might have a little less time than others if you get your code from the LAN Party stream, you'll at least have access for a couple of days, so you can make the most of your Arrakeen holiday. May thy knife chip and shatter.
USA Today
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
How many Oscars did 'Dune: Part Two' win? See how sci-fi epic fared at 2025 Academy Awards
Sci-fi epic "Dune: Part Two," directed by Denis Villeneuve, was thrust back into the national spotlight Sunday night, winning two Oscars at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. "Dune: Part Two" was in running for the night's biggest prize – best picture – alongside "Anora," "A Complete Unknown," "Conclave," "I'm Still Here," "The Substance," "Dune: Part Two" and "Nickel Boys." "Anora" ultimately won that award. USA TODAY's Brian Truitt gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying that the "sci-fi epic gets it right the second time around." "Even though it snagged six Oscars (and a best picture nomination), the previous 'Dune' was a mixed bag with lackluster storytelling – even David Lynch's crazypants 1984 adaptation was a more entertaining exercise," Truitt wrote. "But 'Part Two' rights the cosmic battleship with plenty of staggering visuals, all the gigantic sandworms you'd ever want, plus a deeper thematic exploration of power, colonialism and religion." 'Dune 2' review:Timothee Chalamet sci-fi epic gets it right the second time around Rate your 'Film of the Year': Join our Movie Meter panel and make your voice heard! Based on Frank Herbert's celebrated novel of the same name, the film explored "the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a path of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family," per Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. Here's how the film fared at the Oscars. How many Academy Awards did 'Dune: Part Two' win? "Dune: Part Two" won two awards in total during Sunday's ceremony. The film won in the following categories: Best sound Best visual effects The film did not win in the following categories: Best picture Best cinematography Best production design In comparison, "Dune: Part One" won six Academy Awards and was nominated for 10 awards. Oscars winners live:See who got awards, including Zoe Saldaña and 'Wicked' When did 'Dune: Part Two' release? "Dune: Part Two" released in cinemas on March 1, 2024. "Dune: Part One," meanwhile, released on Oct. 22, 2021. 'Dune: Part Two' cast The cast of "Dune: Part Two" includes: Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides as Paul Atreides Zendaya as Chani as Chani Rebecca Ferguson as Jessica as Jessica Javier Bardem as Stilgar as Stilgar Stellan Skarsgård as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen as Baron Vladimir Harkonnen Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan as Princess Irulan Austin Butler as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen Josh Brolin as Gurney Halleck as Gurney Halleck Léa Seydoux as Lady Margot Fenring as Lady Margot Fenring Dave Bautista as Beast Rabban as Beast Rabban Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides Contributing: KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@ and follow her on X and Instagram @saman_shafiq7.
