Good News for the week of February 14, 2025
Good News is a weekly collection of stories from this week about things that were actually pretty nice. From pop culture to maybe even some politics, we all deserve a dose of good news.
This week, we have Kendrick, Pokémon philanthropy, free new levels of one of 2024’s best games, and more. Plus, dark as other news has been this week, Elon Musk’s kid wiped a booger on Trump’s desk, so that’s something.
Ladies and gentleman, Kendrick Lamar
Philadelphia won the Super Bowl, and that’s excellent, but we all know the most important part of this year’s Super Bowl in particular was Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Show. It was one for the history books. It was both packed with profound criticism of America’s racist history, and constitutes one of the greatest victory laps in music industry history as Kendrick got the last word in his beef with Drake.
The whole thing started off with legendary actor Samuel L. Jackson dressed up as Uncle Sam, welcoming Lamar and viewers to “the great American game.” As Jared Alexander points out for The Root, Uncle Sam represents “mainstream ‘white’ friendly America … the ‘sanitized’ America.” As such, Uncle Sam decried Lamar’s performance at different points for being “too loud” or “too ghetto.”
Right after “too ghetto,” the camera cuts to Lamar in the middle of a group his red, white, and blue-jump suited dancers, forming an American flag. But the dancers are hunched over, which as The Black Archives analyzed, symbolizes “how America was built on the physical labor—and suffering—of Black people.” Naturally, the performance upset all the right people.
On the other hand, you had Serena Williams crip walking during a song about her ex, Drake. And Lamar’s grin as he said “say Drake” during “Not Like Us” went viral, with the entire stadium erupting to sing along with “A MINORRRR.” Kendrick more than earned the end of the performance: lights over the stadium spelling “GAME OVER.”
We’re basically getting I Think You Should Leave: The Movie
Tim Robinson’s sketch show I Think You Should Leave has become one of the predominant pop culture reference points for a large chunk of Americans. If I had a dime for how many times a picture of Tim Robinson in a hot dog suit has shown up on my social media timeline, I’d be able to buy myself … well, a hot dog.
And so, when the first trailer for A24’s new movie Friendship dropped on Tuesday, a sudden outpouring of glee unleashed on social media. While written and directed by Andrew DeYoung, whose credits include episodes of PEN15 and Our Flag Means Death, the film stars Robinson and Paul Rudd (!!) in what very much appears to be a film-length I Think You Should Leave sketch. Robinson’s character tries to strike up a friendship with Rudd’s, proceeds to make everyone uncomfortable, has the friendship broken off, and takes it poorly. See? Very I Think You Should Leave.
Friendship premiered last year at the Toronto Film Festival, which means there’s already reviews. And they’re glowing. The general consensus is that the film is hilarious. The film will come out in wider release in May 2025.
Pokémon donates to LA wildfires
Look, we can’t pretend that corporations are always our friends, but it’s nice when they do something genuinely good. And on Wednesday, The Pokémon Company announced that it would donate $500,000 to GlobalGiving’s California Wildfire Relief Fund. Niantic, the developer of Pokémon Go, is donating an additional $500,000. (“Not always our friends” case in point: Niantic used Pokémon Go data to train AI, but this is still a good use of money.)
The fund pledges to use the money for worthy causes such as “providing food and emergency medical supplies to people and animals; supporting temporary shelter and emergency supplies to displaced families; providing support to front-line workers, such as meals and gas; [and] funding long-term recovery needs.”
So thanks for putting money to a good cause, Pikachu.
There was an actually decent PlayStation State of Play
PlayStation’s State of Play broadcasts are Sony’s attempt to drum up the same amount of hype as a Nintendo Direct. For the most part, they’re valiant efforts that don’t quite succeed. But Wednesday’s State of Play had a few interesting tidbits.
The studio behind 2021’s well-received Returnal announced their first new game since, Saros, about a freaky solar eclipse. There’s going to be a new Sonic Racing game, subtitled CrossWorlds, where the mayhem level is turned up so high, you drive through portals to completely different tracks mid-race. Tides of Annihilation promised slick-looking Devil May Cry-adjacent action in a post-apocalyptic London where you play a King Arthur-coded lady-knight. Borderlands 4 and the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater remake got release dates in the fall. Good stuff!
One of 2024’s best games got more levels for free
In a year where joy was often hard to find, Team Asobi’s Astro Bot shone brightly. To play Astro Bot is to have a smile on your face the whole dang time. It’s such a beautiful and joyful experience, no wonder it won Game of the Year at the Game Awards.
All of which is why it was a delightful surprise when, on Thursday, February 13, Team Asobi announced that a brand-new galaxy is coming to the game, packed with five new levels that will be added to Astro Bot over the coming weeks. In other words, for the next five weeks, Thursdays are not only for Severance—they are also for Astro Bot.
And this isn’t a DLC or anything. The new levels are free of charge. If you have Astro Bot, you’ll get them. Team Asobi rules.
The best Japanese mascot wins defamation lawsuit
If you know any Japanese mascot, it’s probably Chiitan, a self-described genderless 0-year-old fairy otter baby. Chiitan is also notable for coming out last year on social media as a staunch transgender ally—and one with a shocking amount of patience for people who responded to their tweet with anti-trans rhetoric.
“I hope that one day we will live in a world where people with different opinions can respect each other, quietly watch over each other even if their opinions remain different, and both parties can love the people they love with pride and [be] true to themselves,” Chiitan wrote.
But Chiitan is also known for being an agent of chaos, posting videos of antics like stuffing a bat into their boot, tipping cars, and getting shoved into a police car. It’s all good fun, but since Chiitan is based on the official mascot of the Japanese city of Susaki, Shinjo-kun, Susaki sued Chiitan’s team for defamation and copyright infringement back in 2019.
Here’s the thing, though: for about a year, Chiitan was embraced by Susaki and often appeared in tandem with Shinjo-kun. Susaki city even called Chiitan Shinjo-kun’s “best friend” back in the day. And so last Friday, a court in Tokyo declared Chiitan the winner of the case. I hope Chiitan and Shinjo-kun can repair their relationship.
Bridget Jones is back! (And just for one final film!)
Lastly, two new installments were released in two major American film franchises this week: Captain America: Brave New World and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy. But one of these films has received middling-to-mixed reviews, so let’s talk about Bridget Jones, shall we?
It’s been nine whole years since the last Bridget Jones film. What’s more, this new one, Mad About the Boy, promises to end the series. Coming back after nearly a decade to put a definitive coda on a popular franchise is definitely a power move. And kind of a refreshing one, honestly.
But the truly exciting thing about Mad About the Boy is the critical consensus. It’s pretty good! Many critics even hold that it’s the second-best in the series, falling only behind the original. A successful comeback is truly sweet. You can stream the new film on Peacock.
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