tv talk shows

Jimmy Fallon: Charlize Theron, Donnie Wahlberg, Morgan Neville, Ashley McBryde

Stephen Colbert: Pete Buttigieg, Andy Serkis, Jon Stewart

Seth Meyers: Henry Winkler, Lea Michele (above), Aaron Tveit, Nicholas Christopher

tv talk shows

Jimmy Kimmel: Meryl Streep (above), Desi Lydic

Jimmy Fallon: Olivia Rodrigo, Richard Gadd, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen, Bruce Hornsby

Stephen Colbert: Meryl Streep, Maggie Rogers

Seth Meyers: Adam Scott, Juliette Lewis

Around the PWHL: Race for fourth; Road warrior Philips; Another million reasons

THE race for fourth place is fully underway with a week left in the regular season. With only the Seattle Torrent eliminated from playoff contention, four teams are vying for the final playoff spot with three games remaining for each.

Thanks to a league-leading seven overtime wins, the Ottawa Charge sit in the fourth spot with 36 points.

The New York Sirens and Toronto Sceptres sit tied at 34 points, within easy striking distance of the Charge’s position, and the Vancouver Goldeneyes — though largely needing the three other clubs to lose some of their final games — are still in the race, sitting with 30 points.

It may all come down to next week’s super Saturday. What a thrill.

PWHL Takeover Tour: Charge down Victoire in OT

It was a debut many hope will one day turn the dream of hosting a professional women’s hockey team in Winnipeg into a reality.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League’s Takeover Tour landed in the provincial capital for the first time on Sunday — marking the first time the city has hosted a game in a professional women’s league — and did not disappoint in a physical, tight-checking affair between the Ottawa Charge and Montreal Victoire that needed overtime to decide a winner.

In the end, it was Ottawa forward Rebecca Leslie scoring her league-lead-tying 12th goal 12 seconds into the bonus period to secure a 2-1 victory for the Charge at Canada Life Centre.

While there was an appreciation for the game they had just played, the theme following the spirited contest was what an evidently successful weekend could mean for the future.

Horoscope

Moon Alert: Avoid shopping (except food and gas) or major decisions from 2:45 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. After that, the moon moves from Aquarius into Pisces.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

You might meet someone unusual or avant-garde — someone who is different in some way. This person might be a new acquaintance or they could be a member of a group. Be careful not to be influenced in a way that you might later regret.

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

briefs

Lineup announced

for Burt Block Party

The annual outdoor concert series held outside the Burton Cummings Theatre has announced the bands for the four nights of the Aug. 13-17 event.

As usual, the Burt Block Party is grouped by genre: Thursday, Aug. 13, will see metalcore act Killswitch Engage perform; Aug. 14, features female indie-pop acts Beaches, Lights and Lolo; Saturday features Canadian classic acts Colin James and Streetheart; and Sunday it’s a ’90s flashback with Collective Soul, 54-40 and Paul Langlois of the Tragically Hip.

Chronicle of Nintendo and its games and platforms a history of a company committed to fun

If Silicon Valley likes to move fast and break things, Nintendo prefers to go slow and preserve its history. The Japanese game and console maker also always protects its “sense of fun,” Keza MacDonald explains in the spirited new history Super Nintendo: The Game-Changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play.

Nintendo’s approach to developing games and devices over decades — from the Game Boy to the Wii to the Switch — make it a distinct foil to Big Tech. It’s a company that favours harmony over disruption, enjoyment over endlessly increasing profit. Even with the rise of realistic high-fidelity graphics from competitors and buzzy virtual-reality gaming experiences online, Nintendo has tended to avoid big risks and industry trends, an approach some say has made the company recession-proof.

MacDonald, the Guardian’s video games editor, retraces the company’s history from a humble playing-card manufacturer to video game behemoth. The lively book is structured around major franchises, including Donkey Kong, Pokémon and Animal Crossing, chronicling the game design and creative thinking behind each. MacDonald weaves together old and new interviews with Nintendo executives and gaming enthusiasts to reveal how these colourful, family-friendly games are first imagined and then remain so beloved for so long. Nostalgia abounds in Super Nintendo, not unlike when the company sells its own rebooted games.

Nintendo was founded in 1889 in Kyoto, when entrepreneur Fusajiro Yamauchi began producing wood and cardboard hanafuda, cards emblazoned with floral images for entertainment at home. These cards had been banned in Japan for several centuries for being “closely associated with gambling and, therefore, with organized crime,” and it was a savvy business decision to make them when the ban eased in the late 19th century.

tv talk shows

Jimmy Kimmel: Christina Applegate (above), Taylor Tomlinson, Arlo Parks

Jimmy Fallon: Tracy Morgan, Neve Campbell, Cooper Flagg, Twice

Stephen Colbert: Ray Romano, Chloé Zhao, Cory Wong

Seth Meyers: John Oliver, Ben Marshall

tv talk shows

Jimmy Kimmel: Nick Kroll, Wunmi Mosaku, Cory Wong

Stephen Colbert: Ian McKellen (above), I’m With Her, Laura Benanti