Facebook announced Thursday that its umbrella company will rebrand as “Meta.” Mark Zuckerberg said that the new name reflects the full breadth of the future the company wants to help build: “Now we have a new North Star: to help bring the Metaverse to life. From now on, we’re going to be Metaverse first, not Facebook first.”

And: Do we want TV shows (and movies and books, etc.) to acknowledge the pandemic? It’s an odd conundrum. When shows deal with it, it seems intrusive. When they don’t, it seems unrealistic.

And finally: Dune: Part One is the fourth screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book series that dates back to the 1960s. It is directed and co-written by Denis Villeneuve, and it debuted in theaters and on HBOMax on October 22. A sequel was officially greenlit this week.

Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take:

• sahl-dead.html">Mort Sahl, Whose Biting Commentary Redefined Stand-Up, Dies at 94 A self-appointed warrior against hypocrisy, he revolutionized comedy in the 1950s by addressing political and social issues.
• sahl-comedy-legacy.html">There’s No Dave Chappelle or Hannah Gadsby Without Mort Sahl Before Sahl, who died at 94 on Tuesday, intellectual arguments and controversial stances were off-limits to stand-ups seeking mass acceptance.
• michael-tyler-death-friends-gunther-b1944489.html">James Michael Tyler death: ‘Friends’ star who played Gunther dies from cancer, aged 59 ‘If you met him once you made a friend for life,’ family says of actor
• blowers-california-emissions.html">The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Leaf Blowers
• Photos Are Too Flattering Now An ode to the bygone days of blurry, poorly lit images
• What happens when your favorite thing goes viral? A 2002 song by the Mountain Goats about a doomed divorce is suddenly big on TikTok. Why?
• Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, And Jeff Lowe’s Complicated Saga Continues In The First Trailer For “Tiger King 2” The big cat owners and their bigger rivalries will return to Netflix next month.
• There is a consistency to the debate over book censorship: Distress about change
• The Alec Baldwin shooting has some people calling for only computer-generated gunshots. It’s not as easy as it sounds. Creating a realistic muzzle flash is a key part of the problem
• Gwyneth Paltrow, Jada Pinkett Smith Declare Porn ‘Harmful to Women’
• Chappelle is unapologetic in his first public statement on ‘The Closer’ controversy
• z-workplace-culture.html">The 37-Year-Olds Are Afraid of the 23-Year-Olds Who Work for Them Twenty-somethings rolling their eyes at the habits of their elders is a longstanding trend, but many employers said there’s a new boldness in the way Gen Z dictates taste.

GUESTS:

• Helder Mira - Multimedia producer at Trinity College and co-host of the So Pretentious podcast
• Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College

Join the conversation on Facebook (I’m pretty sure it’s still called that) and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.

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