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Saints Row Reboot Is an Unremarkable Hot Mess

Saints Row Reboot Is an Unremarkable Hot Mess

Saints Row always lived in the shadow of the mighty Grand Theft Auto, and the 2022 reboot of the franchise won't help the open-world crime game escape that image. This entry, which hit PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC on Aug. 23, tries to give the Saints a new lease on life, but it just falls flat on its face.

The new characters, settings and other changes don't have the effect developer Volition might've been hoping for. Instead, we're given an unremarkable experience with plenty of glitches thrown on top.

Saints Row takes place in Santo Ileso, a fictional city loosely based on Las Vegas. Players start on the desolated outskirts of the city and step into the role of "The Boss," the leader of a group of friends who have ties to the city's other criminal organizations. They quit those groups and form the Saints. 

Like in previous games, players have to build their own criminal empire, starting with tasks like dealing drugs from food trucks, stealing cars and disposing of toxic waste. As the game progresses, The Boss and his crew take the fight to the other criminal orgs, including the Los Panteros street gang, the Idols -- who answer the question, What if Burning Man started its own mafia? -- and private military corporation Marshall Defense Industries. 

Sound exciting? Well, it's not. 

The Boss and his crew -- Eli, the nerd who wants to make money; Neenah, the getaway driver; and Kevin, who DJs while never wearing a shirt -- come off as homicidal social media influencers. That's been the tone of the franchise's characters since 2011's Saints Row 3, and it feels played out now. I couldn't help but roll my eyes when the characters constantly portrayed themselves as amazing killers who need to let their social media followers know they're about to gun down a gang of criminals. It didn't take long for me to stop caring about the characters, even during missions clearly designed to make them more compelling, like Neenah's quests revolving around a car she's been restoring. 

A wingsuit gives you a way to quickly travel around Santo Ileso.

Volition/Deep Silver

As for the gameplay and storyline, Saints Row is about as average as it gets. Missions have the sense of wackiness the series is known for, like destroying a rave campground with a car that's dragging around a portable toilet with a person inside. Unfortunately, none of this feels new -- it just reminds me of back in the '00s when every game company was trying to make its own GTA clone with shooting and driving mechanics in an open world. What I wanted was something interesting and refreshing, and I couldn't find a lot of that with this reboot. 

I will say that the unlockable skills were the element that did feel "new." The Boss levels up and gains violent special moves, from shoving a grenade into an enemy's pants and then flinging them into a group of enemies, to throwing a flaming punch that does significant damage. These skills add a bit of spice to the otherwise bland gun-toting action. 

What really ruined my experience were the interruptions to the game's flow. 

I played the game on my Xbox Series X, which is designed to have little to no loading times with its SSD drive, and there were still loading screens right in the middle of missions. They occurred at pivotal moments, like a Boss enemy showing up or going from a shooting sequence to a driving segment. It was jarring and took me out of the excitement. It may seem like not a big deal, but when this happens multiple times in one mission, it becomes increasingly frustrating. 

The game's physics contributed to the problem as well. During chases in a mission, I like to give enemy vehicles a nudge into oncoming traffic to create a fantastic crash. Instead, cars just rammed through other cars without a hint of resistance. I tested this lack of physics with a motorcycle and was able to push vehicles out of the way as if they were cardboard left in the street. 

Takedowns -- unique combat moves to knock out enemies in an elaborate and humorous fashion -- also made the game grind to a halt. When executed, The Boss goes through this several-second routine while enemies just stand and watch. Enemies, in general, will simply stand around on occasion as their AI seemingly doesn't kick in to get them to start fighting. 

Audio was another flow killer. The banter between the characters can sound normal at times, but at other moments in a mission, I could barely hear my companion even though The Boss' voice was loud and clear. Some missions also attempt a needle drop, where a certain song gets turned up to create this exciting moment, like in one instance where I was doing a prison break when the Vines' Get Free began playing. Thing is, for whatever reason, the track can cut completely during these moments, leaving me to finish the mission without any background music. 

There was also a wealth of glitches in the review build provided by Volition: Character animations regularly went out of sync, cars would literally bounce like a beach ball, my character would take random damage from exiting a vehicle, apps on the phone that acts as an in-game menu froze or refused to pull up. And that's just naming a few. The game crashed multiple times during play, for various reasons. Volition does have a Day 1 patch ready to go to fix many problems, but it's hard to say if it'll address everything.

As for how Saints Row looks? Also mediocre. Character models had no particularly unique or realistic details and reminded me of Fortnite characters. Saint Ileso didn't strike me as some visual spectacle, even though it's based on Las Vegas. The starting area is particularly desolate, but the parts of the city where the casinos are located don't offer much eye candy either. GTA 5, a game that's almost a decade old, had a much bigger world, with more interesting destinations and better fidelity. 

Saints Row simply doesn't do enough to set itself apart in an era when the genre is already tired. I could deal with just mediocre action, boring characters or subpar audio and visuals -- but not all three. Maybe die-hard Saints Row fans will find enough to chew on, but most players will likely give up in frustration long before they become the new crime boss of Santo Ileso.

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Inside the Plan to Resurrect Australia's Extinct Tasmanian Tiger

Inside the Plan to Resurrect Australia's Extinct Tasmanian Tiger

Wilfred Batty's sister had just sat down to eat lunch when, out the window, she saw a shadow flicker across the yard. A beast, slender and wolf-like, prowled around the chicken pens. 

The creature, a thylacine, had been the cause of great trouble for Batty and other local farmers in Tasmania, Australia — snatching fowl in the middle of the night and, on one occasion, unceremoniously entering a hut at dusk, frightening the campers within. A thrown boot had startled it, causing it to slink away into the dark.

It would not be so lucky this time. Batty and his son grabbed their guns, burst out the door and gave chase. As Batty approached, the thylacine — or "Tasmanian tiger" — turned tail and fled, darting behind a garage. Not wanting it to escape again, the farmer unloaded his rifle, fatally hitting the animal in the shoulder. It collapsed in his yard. 

For decades, the number of tigers had been dwindling, mostly due to hunting, but Wilfred Batty couldn't have known that on this afternoon, May 13, 1930, his kill would go down in history. It was, officially, the last Tasmanian tiger, or thylacine, to be killed in the wild. The species would be rendered extinct with the death of Benjamin, a captive tiger at Hobart Zoo, in 1936.

A thylacine at Hobart Zoo in the 1930s.

Dave Watts/Getty

What if we could reverse this? What if, through the power of revolutionary gene-editing technology, we could bring the tiger back from the dead and repopulate the Tasmanian wilderness? Andrew Pask, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Melbourne, and his team are attempting to do just that, with plans to "de-extinct" the thylacine in the next decade.

The technology to resurrect the dead, de-extinction advocates will tell you, already exists. It's just a matter of funding and focus. That's where Colossal, a de-extinction and gene-editing startup with plans to bring back the woolly mammoth by 2027, comes in.

On Aug. 16, Colossal announced that its second de-extinction project will be the thylacine, and, through $10 million in funding over the next three years, it will be supercharging Pask's research, helping to further develop technologies necessary to resurrect the tiger. 

"The challenges ahead of us are engineering challenges, they're not science challenges," said Ben Lamm, co-founder of Colossal. 

Pask's laboratory has published extensively on marsupial genetics and was the first to decode the thylacine genome back in 2017. Earlier this year, it received $3.6 million ($5 million Australian) in philanthropic funding to establish the Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research, or TIGRR, Lab in Melbourne.

De-extinction and rewilding of the striped marsupial is the headline goal, but along the way the lab hopes to generate new conservation techniques and create technologies that can help Australia's beleaguered marsupial populations as they face the increasing threat of climate change, habitat loss and environmental degradation. With Colossal on board, work to revive the species can accelerate rapidly and, within the next decade, the thylacine could prowl the wilds of Tasmania once again. 

It may even prove easier to bring back than a mammoth.

Two mammoth tasks

Colossal made waves in September 2021, announcing its plan to resurrect woolly mammoths — or, more accurately, an approximation of woolly mammoths — and introduce them to the Arctic within about five years.

The company's idea is to cut-and-paste woolly mammoth DNA into Asian elephants, adding in genes that confer cold resistance to the pachyderms. If successful (and after achieving regulatory approval), a herd of these hybrids would be released into the Arctic tundra where they could remodel the landscape, helping to prevent the vast stores of carbon in the soil from being released.

Colossal is bankrolled by investment groups and co-founded by Lamm and George Church, a Harvard and MIT professor who has been dubbed the "father of synthetic biology." Church has a long history working with CRISPR, a technology that allows scientists to edit DNA with almost-unmatched precision. It's CRISPR that much of the mammoth work will hinge on, and Church's team is continuing to develop methods that will allow the wide-scale changes in DNA necessary to revive long-dead creatures. It's this expertise that will complement Pask's work on thylacine de-extinction. 

For Lamm, adding the thylacine project to the company's mammoth ambitions is about bringing two projects together to help drive them both forward. He says the thylacine research is "almost an exact opposite" of the mammoth research. 

"I still have incredible love for the mammoth."

Ben Lamm, Colossal co-founder

For instance, the thylacine has only been extinct for around 90 years, whereas the last mammoths roamed the Earth some 4,000 years ago. This makes it much easier to get a complete DNA sequence from the thylacine. Mammoth DNA is far more degraded and — even though George Church is considered a guru in this space — harder to piece back together. 

Overcoming the challenges in one Lazarus project will support progress in the other. So, even with the announcement Colossal is taking on thylacine resurrection, it's not as if the mammoth work is taking a backseat. Lamm says there are now over 35 employees at Colossal working on its mammoth project and the team have reconstructed 54 genomes. 

"I still have incredible love for the mammoth," he laughs. "I want to make that clear."

Pask, on the other hand, is all about the thylacine. The last time I visited his office, pre-pandemic, it was chock full of tiger paraphernalia, clippings and pictures (and, if I recall, one figurine of Jurassic Park's John Hammond). I can't think of too many people who'd be more thrilled to welcome the thylacine back to Earth — but this isn't an all-or-nothing game. It's not just about resurrection. Whenever we discuss the realities of bringing a species back from the dead, Pask's pragmatism shines through. He knows resurrecting the tiger will be tough.

But Pask, and his TIGRR lab, have a plan.

The preserved body of a thylacine being prepared for display in an Australian museum in 2005.

The Sydney Morning Herald/Getty

Resurrecting the Tasmanian tiger

The idea to resurrect the thylacine is not a new one. When biologist Mike Archer was appointed director of the Australian Museum in 1999, he had grand plans to clone the creature by extracting DNA from the museum's specimen collection. The project was scrapped in 2005 because the quality of the DNA was too poor to work with.

"In the early 2000s, this wouldn't have worked," notes Lamm. Today, though, he believes it's a different story. Scientists like Pask are looking at entirely new methods, including CRISPR gene-editing, which just wasn't possible two decades ago.

Here's the plan.

The first step is to unravel the mysteries of thylacine DNA. This step was completed in 2017 by Pask's lab. With this, the researchers have the thylacine "recipe" or "blueprint" — the DNA instructions needed to build a thylacine.

Next, they will need to take cells from a close living relative, like the fat-tailed dunnart, a mouse-like marsupial that could fit in the palm of your hand. They also have the dunnart's DNA blueprint. 

The theory here is that you need to identify all the differences between the dunnart DNA and the thylacine DNA. This is an active area of research requiring a ton of computing power and bioinformatics. But suppose they can pinpoint those differences (a huge supposition and one that's not guaranteed by any stretch); they will then take cells from the dunnart and, using the gene-editing tool CRISPR, build a thylacine cell. This is Pask's major focus right now.

The plan to resurrect the thylacine seems simple on paper, but perfecting the process and building the technologies to perform the revival could take a decade or more.

Naomi Antonino/CNET

"We're interrogating every single part of the thylacine genome," he says. "It's an expensive and time-consuming endeavor, but now we can figure out those essential [DNA] edits we need to make that thylacine."

Then, the hard part. The scientists will need to make an embryo that can then either be implanted into the pouch of another marsupial species (like a dunnart) or grown in a microfluidics chamber. If they can coax the embryo to grow, then they can remove it from the pouch to feed and care for it. This is still a long way from reality, but, if it succeeds, soon enough, you'll have something that resembles a full-grown thylacine.

It's not just about bringing the animal back once, either. The mark of success for Colossal, and Pask's lab, is rewilding. And rewilding requires many thylacines. "To bring a healthy population of thylacines back, you can't bring back one or five," Pask notes. "You're looking at bringing back a good number of animals that you can put back into the environment."

It sounds straightforward, but there's a lot of science to do. Teaming up with Colossal provides extra bandwidth for the TIGRR lab — and its sister lab in Texas — to work on the plan's outstanding problems in parallel. And the Colossal mammoth team will share its homework, too, to get through the decade of tinkering with genes ahead of the team.

"A lot of this is just purely grunt work" says Pask. "We just need people chipping away at every single aspect of these really big problems."

Whether they could, if they should

The specter of Ian Malcolm, Jeff Goldblum's eccentric and inimitable Jurassic Park mathematician, hangs over every de-extinction project (and pretty much everypieceof popular science reporting on the topic, too).

His famous line, when discussing the merits of de-extincting dinosaurs for a theme park, goes: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

Colossal and its team of scientists and researchers seem to have thought through the could of de-extinction. The plans are in place; the road map laid out. They could de-extinct species. They are also cognizant of the should, attempting to bolster the argument that de-extinction research has real world benefits. 

There are, they say, benefits that are likely to spin out of the de-extinction development phase for conservation today. For instance, Lamm notes the team is developing an "exopouch," a synthetic analog to a marsupial's pouch, which could be used to rear other species like the Tasmanian devil. Not all joeys (babies) survive to adulthood, but an exopouch might enable conservationists to save four or five times the number of joeys by nurturing them outside of their mother's care. And then there's the assisted reproduction technologies Pask is developing, which could aid in the creation of stem cell lines for other threatened marsupials, providing a gene bank to preserve species at a cellular level as a fail-safe. 

However, other scientists are critical of these ideas, arguing that "de-extinction is unlikely to offer any real value to the overall conservation of biodiversity." There are no guarantees the grunt work will result in conservation wins, that CRISPR technology will be refined enough to make the necessary DNA edits or that the new technologies will have any impact.

Colossal hopes to create a hybrid elephant that would be adapted to the cold of the Arctic.

Black Bone Illustration

There are other broader social and ethical issues to be worked through, too. Can we really grasp how a resurrected animal, or group of animals, will fare in today's world? Are we bringing them back to, effectively, doom them again? How will they feel? Will they experience pain? How does reintroducing them affect the Indigenous people of the land they're being returned to? As science and engineering for de-extinction accelerates, these questions will require answers.

And what of current conservation efforts? For now, most de-extinction work remains in the hands of biotech startups, funded by investment companies and philanthropists. But if these projects become "sexy" and begin attracting dollars away from ecology and conservation research, one model suggests it could lead to a net loss of biodiversity.

Hugh Possingham, a conservation biologist at the University of Queensland, offers an Australian perspective. "If funding de-extinction reduces investment in saving the species we have, then it doesn't make sense," he says. "If funding de-extinction does not compromise conservation funding, then it is an intriguing but high-risk activity." 

It's a risk that Colossal, Lamm and Pask are taking. And if it works — and that remains a mighty, mighty if even with a fresh injection of cash — other resurrections may soon follow. But which ones?

"We've got a lot of work to do between these two species," says Lamm. "We'll think about future [projects] if we need to."

Updated Aug 16: Added context in final section above illustration.
Updated Aug 18: Provided additional context around the difficulty of resurrection in the second section.

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Netflix: The 44 Absolute Best Movies to Watch

Netflix: The 44 Absolute Best Movies to Watch

Netflix  has an extensive library of movies. And as each week brings more to the service, it becomes an effort to sift through the best of the bunch.

To save you time, you'll find the highlights of the new movies below, as well as CNET's full list of best movie originals on Netflix.

What's new this week (Aug. 29 to Sept. 4)

Here are this week's highlights.

Monday

• Under Her Control (2022): Drama. An ambitious young woman enters into an unusual arrangement with her charismatic boss.

Tuesday

• Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul (2022): Documentary. Years after serving time for betting on games he officiated, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy revisits the scandal that shook up the league.

Wednesday

• I Came By (2022): British crime thriller. A graffiti artist who targets homes of the elite uncovers a twisted secret in a hidden basement -- triggering events that put his loved ones in danger.

Thursday

• A Cinderella Story (2004)
• A Clockwork Orange (1971)
• A Knight's Tale (2001)
  
• American Beauty (1999)
  
• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)
• Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
• Collateral (2004)
  
• Despicable Me (2010)
• Despicable Me 2 (2013)
• Fast & Feel Love (2022): Thai rom-com. A cup-stacking champion fights to hold onto his neglected love life while defending his title as the fastest speed stacker in the world.
  

• Fenced In (2022)
• He's Just Not That Into You (2009)
• If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
  
• Love in the Villa (2022)
  
• Resident Evil (2002)
  
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
• Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
• Rock of Ages (2012)
  
• Sam Morril: Same Time Tomorrow (2022): Standup. Sam Morril delivers his trademark dry and dark punchlines in a standup set ranging from problematic fairy tales to biting social commentary.
• Save the Last Dance (2001)
  
• Scarface (1983)
• Snow White & The Huntsman (2012)
• The Notebook (2004)
  
• This Is 40 (2012)
  

Saturday

• The Festival of Troubadours/Asiklar Bayrami (2022): Turkish drama. An unexpected reunion between a traveling musician and his son opens old wounds as the two set out on a long journey to a troubadour festival.

Read more: The Absolute Best TV Shows on Netflix

The full list of best Netflix original movies

At time of writing, these films all score at least 70 on Metacritic.

Animation

Netflix

The Sea Beast (2022)

The Sea Beast joins Netflix's collection of stellar family-friendly animated adventures. A young girl named Maisie (Zaris-Angel Hator) stows away on the ship of sea monster hunter Captain Crow (Jared Harris), becoming wrapped up in a thrilling journey through uncharted waters. Bringing originality to the high seas and swashbuckling characters, The Sea Beast is a must-watch chapter of enchanting fantasy.

Netflix

The Mitchells vs. the Machines (2021)

One of the best family movies on Netflix. From some of the same people who made Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse comes this adventure to save the world involving Mom, Dad, the kids and their slobbery, bug-eyed dog. But amid the robot apocalypse, led by Olivia Colman's sinister Siri, really The Mitchells vs. the Machines is about a strained relationship between movie-loving daughter Katie and her technophobe father. The technology-inept parent gags are rife, the colors frenetic and the character growth moving. A near-perfect package with the timeless message that embracing your weirdness is a superpower.

Netflix

I Lost My Body (2019)

This award-winning French film begins with a severed hand escaping a refrigerator in a laboratory and embarking on a Paris-wide search for the rest of its body. What an opening! With a few flashbacks and elegant animation, this strange, satisfying story delves into loss, both physical and emotional, in the most poetic of ways.

Action/Adventure

Netflix

Okja (2017)

2017's Okja comes from Parasite director Bong Joon-ho -- which should be incentive enough to watch it. Part cheeky dark comedy, part surreal environmental thriller, Okja follows a young South Korean farmer girl whose pet pal is a genetically enhanced super-pig. But Okja is the target of a big corporation that wants her delicious flesh. With an English supporting cast including the likes of Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal, Okja sucks you in with its sweetness before showing you a distressing close-up of the meat industry.

Crime/War

Netflix

Da 5 Bloods (2020)

Spike Lee's fierce war drama follows a group of aging Vietnam War veterans who return to the country in search of the remains of their squad leader -- as well as buried treasure. With a frenzied energy coursing through it, Da 5 Bloods gives you a look at the Vietnam War through Black experiences, delivering an all-too-timely critique of racism and warfare.

Netflix

The Irishman (2019)

Spanning the lives of its mobsters over multiple decades, The Irishman pulls off a 3-and-a-half-hour crime saga. But don't worry -- you can break up this tour de force if you need to. Always clever and entertaining, with Martin Scorsese favorites Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci commanding the screen, The Irishman creeps up on you, offering a haunting look at aging mobsters and the havoc they wreak.

Netflix

Beasts of No Nation (2015)

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga gives you a sobering look at the life of a boy who becomes a child soldier in a West African country embroiled in civil war. Idris Elba stars as the ruthless Commandant along with the astonishing Abraham Attah as the young Agu. A confronting yet quietly hopeful snapshot of war from a human perspective, Beasts of No Nation needs to be on your radar if it isn't already.

Comedy

Netflix

The Forty-Year-Old Version (2020)

The title of this comedy-drama might sound familiar, but its focus is an unconventional tale. The Forty-Year-Old Version follows Radha, a playwright and teacher who finds herself drawn to the forgotten passion of her youth: rapping. Inspired by writer, director and star Radha Blank's real life, this beautiful diary of a struggling artist will inspire and hit home, with relatable themes of failure and unfulfilled potential.

Netflix

Paddleton (2019)

Tennis-playing buddies Michael (Mark Duplass) and Andy (Ray Romano) receive devastating news: Michael has terminal stomach cancer. Struggling to let go of his dying friend, Andy joins Michael's road trip in search of medication to end things before they get too painful. Folding comedy into melancholy, Paddleton eases the touching friendship at its core into deftly-affecting places.

Netflix

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Eddie Murphy returned from his acting break with a glorious performance as Rudy Ray Moore, a comedian who played a character called Dolemite in stand-up routines and blaxploitation films from the '70s. Dolemite Is My Name follows Moore from his job at a record store to the big screen. Tracking Moore's rise to fame and its bizarre and enthralling turns, Dolemite Is My Name does justice to both Moore's and Murphy's talents.

Netflix

Private Life (2018)

Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn starring in a comedy-drama with something to say about modern marriage? Private Life is a unique and relatable slice of a New York middle-age couple's struggles with different avenues to have a child. But because Hahn and Giamatti are in it, it sparkles with wit and charm. Add Kayli Carter to the mix as Sadie, a college dropout, and you have another layer to this compelling movie about the unpredictability of heading into a new stage of life.

Netflix

Win It All (2017)

Jake Johnson co-writes this comedy from prolific indie director Joe Swanberg (he was behind the Netflix anthology TV series Easy as well). Win It All follows Eddie, a gambling addict who agrees to stash a duffel bag of cash for a local thug heading to prison. Making one of many questionable decisions, Eddie dips into the funds. If you're a fan of simple, grounded storytelling with a focus on character, Win It All is a delight that brings out Johnson's humor and charisma.

Netflix

The Meyerowitz Stories (2017)

The Meyerowitz Stories is a bittersweet comedy-drama told through Noah Baumbach's grounded lens. The titular stories concern dysfunctional adult siblings, played by Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller, trying to live in the shadow of their father. An effervescent cast, including Dustin Hoffman, play these intelligent, albeit miserable, characters as they weave their poignant tales.

Netflix

Tramps (2016)

This indie gem might have flown under the radar, so if you're looking for a modern romcom overflowing with charm, definitely give Tramps a watch. Callum Turner and Grace Van Patten star as Danny and Ellie, a sincere good kid and a streetwise girl who attempt to carry out a shady deal for a little cash. Tightly scripted and deftly avoiding hackneyed territory, Tramps will effortlessly win your heart.

Horror

Netflix

Vampires vs. the Bronx (2020)

Vampires vs. the Bronx is a unique comedy-horror in more ways than one. Set in the New York borough of the Bronx, it follows young Miguel Martinez, a big-hearted kid helping to raise money for his struggling local bodega. But it's not just new designer clothing stores threatening to move in: Creepy pale residents with a taste for blood are eating up people and their properties. A commentary on gentrification with goofy charm, twists and thrills, Vampires vs. the Bronx is a fresh, entertaining spin on the genre.

Netflix

His House (2020)

His House is a horror flick that, yep, hits close to home. Revealing its supernatural evils through a harrowing human story, it follows Bol and Rial, a refugee couple from Sudan, who struggle to adapt to their new life in an English town. Don't expect straightforward jump scares -- His House plays into the psychological specters of the past, adding even more corridors of torment. A heartrending, powerful piece.

Netflix

Cam (2018)

This smart psychological horror is partially drawn from co-writer Isa Mazzei's experiences as a camgirl (or webcam model). Yet Cam is no documentary, following Alice Ackerman, a young camgirl who one day discovers an exact replica of herself has taken over her show. This unique thriller flashing red with the threat of technology is an excellent feature to hit play on.

Netflix

1922 (2017)

One of the more successful Stephen King adaptations, this horror drama based on the novella 1922 is a slow burn with a mesmerizing performance at its core. Thomas Jane, who you'll also know from Boogie Nights and 2004's The Punisher, gives one of his career best performances as the ever proud Wilfred James, a farmer who makes the totally wise decision to murder his wife with the help of their teenage son. The consequences are harrowing on multiple levels (if you don't like rats, you really won't like rats after this).

Netflix

Gerald's Game (2017)

If you were mesmerized by The Haunting of Hill House, then Mike Flanagan's adaptation of Stephen King novel Gerald's Game is a must-watch. A couple goes on holiday at an isolated lake house, where one thing leads to another... and Carla Gugino's Jessie ends up handcuffed to the bed with no visible escape. Gugino puts in an immense performance, packing out the enclosed bedroom setting. Expect narratively and emotionally satisfying conclusions, with melancholy-suffused horror that surges into quiet triumph for its haunted characters.

Western

Netflix

The Power of the Dog (2021)

More than a decade after her previous film, Bright Star, extraordinary filmmaker Jane Campion has unfolded the director's chair again to oversee The Power of the Dog. She ended up winning an Oscar, so it was a good move. The Western centers on Phil Burbank, a domineering rancher who uses the power of toxic masculinity to have his way, mocking his brother for falling in love. The Power of the Dog is a mesmeric exercise in the subtle shifts of emotion and power in relationships. Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons and Kirsten Dunst are immense, helping to bring Campion's masterful vision to life.

Netflix

News of the World (2020)

Paul Greengrass (Jason Bourne) directs Tom Hanks in this moving Western. Civil War veteran Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd discovers a young girl years after she was captured by Native Americans as a baby. While helping return her to her family, he does his usual job of traveling to towns and reading newspapers for a small fee. Don't expect high-octane action: This road movie is fueled by character development and the beautiful views. Still, you'll want to settle in for a comforting ride with pure sympathetic Hanks at the steering wheel.

Netflix

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Coen Brothers kick up the western dust with an anthology film that gives you six vignettes all set on the American frontier. One of them is about the titular Buster Scruggs, a chipper singing cowboy who casually sets off a shoot-up in a cantina. But there's a dark twist that keeps you on your toes. Sewing the rest of its stories together with a constant black humor, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a Coen Brothers winner.

Drama

Netflix

Passing (2021)

Rebecca Hall makes her directorial debut in magnificent fashion with her adaptation of Nella Larsen's 1929 novel Passing. It tells the story of two light-skinned Black women, one of whom chooses to "pass" as white. Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga embody the duality at the heart of this delicate story, shot in black and white. Gracefully handled, Passing is a tender portrait revealing powerful psychological depths.

Netflix

Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021)

Andrew Garfield takes the spotlight for this biographical musical drama about Jonathan Larson, the late composer behind Rent and Tick, Tick... Boom! The movie, helmed by Lin-Manuel Miranda in his directorial debut, follows Larson's career and the time pressure he feels to leave a lasting impression. With joy-inducing music, a meaningful narrative about the creative process and a passionate performance from Garfield as Larson, Tick, Tick... Boom! is a graceful and feel-good tribute.

Netflix

The Dig (2021)

This fine British drama excavates a whole lot of buried treasure with a distinguished cast in Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James and Johnny Flynn. It's based on the true events around the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo, yielding a priceless trove of Anglo-Saxon artifacts hidden in a burial ship. Romantic, intellectual and moving, The Dig is a full sweep of elegance.

Netflix

The Boys in the Band (2020)

The Boys in the Band sets a new stage for an ensemble cast who all performed the classic play-by-the-same-name's 2018 Broadway revival. Among them, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto and Matt Bomer. The movie brings new perspectives to a birthday party celebrated by a group of gay men in 1968 New York City. The party takes an unexpected turn when a visitor from the host's past calls in. With a cast that knows how to play off each other and compelling themes such as self-loathing and internalized homophobia, The Boys in the Band is a thought-provoking, engaging drama.

Nikolai Loveikis/Netflix

Mank (2020)

A black-and-white David Fincher tale about the unsung screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz who helped Orson Welles write Citizen Kane. Step back into Old Hollywood, with beautiful cinematography and take in the behind-the-scenes of how studio systems functioned in a different time. Gary Oldman and Amanda Seyfried are among the exceptional cast of this biographical drama filled with the lightness and darkness of its hero's life.

Netflix

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

An Aaron Sorkin drama based on a true story? The Trial of the Chicago 7 lives up to its pedigree, following the real-life trial of a group of anti-Vietnam War protestors charged with conspiracy to incite riots. With a stellar ensemble cast, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eddie Redmayne, Sacha Baron Cohen and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, The Trial of the Chicago 7 is both topical and full of compelling theatrical energy.

Netflix

High Flying Bird (2019)

This sports drama from 2019 marked the second occasion director Steven Soderbergh used an iPhone to shoot a feature film (the first was 2018's Unsane). High Flying Bird tells the story of a sports agent facing the ax unless he pulls off a company-saving plan in 72 hours. Capturing the high tensions of professional sports through a unique shooting style, High Flying Bird is a fascinating piece put together with expert direction, editing and performances.

Netflix

Marriage Story (2019)

A movie about divorce might not sound like the best viewing experience, but Noah Baumbach's Marriage Story is a journey you'll want to take. Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver give two of the best performances of their careers as Nicole and Charlie, a couple who embark on the emotionally and logistically complicated legal processes involved in prying a partnership apart. Painted with an emotional complexity that includes poignantly funny moments along with the painful ones, this is happy-sad at its best.

Netflix

The Two Popes (2019)

Set primarily in Vatican City, this biographical drama follows Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the aftermath of the Vatican leaks scandal. It's as fascinating as it sounds. The Two Popes carves up a slice of real-life drama with a first-class two-hander featuring Jonathan Pryce and Anthony Hopkins.

Carlos Somonte

Roma (2018)

Alfonso Cuaron's semi-autobiographical snapshot of the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City tells a small story with staggering prowess. Let Cuaron steer you through the ups and downs of a live-in housekeeper of a middle-class family. His lens captures intricately beautiful scenes in an album that quietly envelopes you with wonder and grace.

Netflix

Happy as Lazzaro (2018)

This Italian film has the seal of approval from Bong Joon-ho, so let's listen to the Oscar-winning director of Parasite and add it to this list. Written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher, Happy as Lazzaro is set in the '70s on a tobacco farm, where good-hearted young peasant Lazzaro dutifully works. When a nobleman convinces him to help him fake his own kidnapping, a story of friendship, innocence and social commentary unfolds. A gorgeously shot, cinematic fairytale.

Zeta Cinema

Sunday's Illness (2018)

This elegant Spanish film will steep you in its rich imagery and phenomenally good performances from its two leads. Susi Sánchez and Bárbara Lennie star as Anabel and Chiara respectively, an estranged mother and daughter who reunite for reasons that aren't as clear as they first seem. The precision of the filmmaking here is worthy of soaking up for those who are partial to deliberately paced meditations on pain, love and loss. Masterful.

Netflix

The Kindergarten Teacher (2018)

Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a career best performance in The Kindergarten Teacher, a drama about, yep, a kindergarten teacher. Lisa is dissatisfied with her own life, which leads her to make some questionable decisions regarding one of her young students. When Jimmy exhibits child prodigy levels of poetry writing talent, Lisa may or may not take credit for it. The Kindergarten Teacher's slightly disturbing character study might leave you feeling conflicted, but there's no question about Gyllenhaal's mesmerizing performance.

Netflix

Mudbound (2017)

Mudbound gives you a historical look at class struggle through the lens of a Black veteran and a white veteran who both still have one foot stuck in World War II. Dealing with PTSD and racism in the Mississippi Delta, with a cast that includes Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell, Mudbound's tempest will rivet you to the spot.

Thriller

Netflix

I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020)

A psychological thriller that dives deep into the surreal. I'm Thinking of Ending Things definitely won't be for everyone, but it connects you to the frustrations of the young woman (Jessie Buckley) at its heart, who grapples with breaking off her seven-week-relationship with her boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemons). While it overstays its welcome a little, I'm Thinking of Ending Things always keeps you on your toes, with atmospheric cinematography and strong performances from Toni Collette and David Thewlis as Jake's fairly odd parents. Fans of director-writer Charlie Kaufman will be pleased.

Netflix

The Call (2020)

Two movies named The Call came out in 2020. Watch the South Korean one, a time travel thriller revolving around, yep, a phone call. Twenty-eight-year-old Seo-yeon finds a phone buried in a closet in her childhood home. It rings -- and the caller, it turns out, is living in the same house 20 years earlier. Twists right up to the final moment, plus a wild cat-and-mouse chase that alters the past and present make this a must-watch.

Netflix

Calibre (2018)

This taut thriller set in the remote Scottish Highlands is far from an idyllic getaway. Prepare for a full-on nerve-wringing nightmare that its protagonists are desperate to wake up from. Vaughn and Marcus set out on a lads' weekend hunting trip, but after a night of drinking, they find themselves facing events they never could have planned for. Calibre lives up to its name, delivering a slick package of grim, gripping drama. Let the full force of this one wallop you.

Netflix

First They Killed My Father (2017)

The fifth film on Angelina Jolie's directing CV turned out to be her best. Based on Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung's memoir, the biographical thriller recounts the horrors Ung suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge. With an empathetic lens framing a shocking story from the perspective of a child, First They Killed My Father is a unique war movie made with control and finesse.

Netflix

I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017)

If you've had a bad day, this might be the movie for you. When the police refuse to help with a robbery, nursing assistant Ruth and her weird neighbor Tony take matters into their own hands. I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore spots the idiosyncrasies of everyday life, before escalating its story into dark places with even darker humor. With a touch of Coen Brothers' flair, its perfectly packed 96 minutes will leave you surprisingly emotional.

Sci-fi

Netflix

The Platform (2019)

From Netflix's impressive stash of international films comes Spanish sci-fi horror The Platform. Its high-concept story centers on a tower that delivers food to people on each of its many levels via a platform. Those at the top snag the best and most abundant spread, which is devoured as the platform lowers down the levels. Social commentary rings throughout this dystopian thriller, which takes shocking, occasionally gruesome turns all the way to the bottom.

Romance

Netflix

The Half of It (2020)

This YA movie tells the story of Ellie Chu, a shy Asian American discovering her sexuality in the remote town of Squahamish. A straight-A yet friendless student who has a side-hustle writing papers for her classmates, Ellie helps footballer Paul Munsky write a love letter to Aster Flores. But it turns out Aster is perfect for Ellie instead. A story of self-acceptance told with a delicate touch, The Half of It is a joy.

Netflix

The Incredible Jessica James (2017)

The Incredible Jessica James introduces a delightfully self-possessed main character played by an equally delightful Jessica Williams. The confident and independent Jessica James goes on a blind date where she ends up talking about nothing but her ex. A fresh take on the breakup movie with an empowering lead, this is an easy hit for an entertaining night in.

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Yes i mean yes i m designer yes i miss you yes i meant yes i m inter yes i m sure yes i miss you chord yes in spanish yes in russian yes in italian yes indeed yes in japanese yes in chinese yes it is

Yes, I'm Autistic. No, I'm Not a STEM Savant

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Yes, I'm Autistic. No, I'm Not a STEM Savant

This story is part of Mysteries of the Brain, CNET's deep dive into the human brain's infinite complexities.

Hire them, and you'll have walking supercomputers on your hands: near-infinite processing power and perfect conformity to rules. Sure, they'll short-circuit in social situations and overheat on occasion. But aside from that, they're perfect robots who won't exhibit those bothersome human emotions that can stifle their usefulness. 

They are the future of Silicon Valley: Einstein, Gates and Zuckerberg, all rolled into one. As long as you keep them tucked away behind monitors where they can't cause trouble, they'll be your company's greatest assets. 

They're the picture of autism. 

And they're not real -- no matter how badly companies want them to be.

April marked Autism Acceptance Month here in the US, where more than 1 out of 50 adults have autism, according to an estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

I am one of them. I've spent 22 years navigating a world that views my autism as simultaneously a burden to be stamped out and a commodity to be taken advantage of. Though most of us with autism want to be employed, ignorant attitudes about the disability pervade workplaces, making them less accessible for us. 

The psychologists who knew me as a toddler would consider it a miracle I'm even employed in the first place.

To be sure, companies have made commendable progress in recent years thanks to advocacy from autistic people and our allies -- and I feel fortunate to work with caring folks who are helping to foster an environment that supports my needs. Some companies have started employee resource groups, consulted autistic people in making their workplaces more accessible and even cultivated hiring programs to train neurodivergent workers. 

But these wonderful steps will only go so far when popular misconceptions about autism still permeate workplace culture and guide policy in less-than-accessible directions.

Pigeonholed and misunderstood

The psychologists who knew me as a toddler would consider it a miracle I'm even employed in the first place. I was diagnosed at age 3 with Asperger's Syndrome, a neurological and developmental condition that's nowadays classified as simply autism spectrum disorder. (That change in terminology is a good thing: Austrian autism researcher Hans Asperger was shown to have collaborated with the Nazi regime.) 

Researchers aren't sure what causes autism. I struggled to interact with my preschool peers, "melted down" when switching from one activity to another, and sobbed in grocery stores because the fluorescent lights felt like daggers in my eyes. "What time is it?" my dad would ask me. "Wednesday," I'd respond. It's not that I didn't know the answer, it's that I didn't understand the question due to my auditory processing difficulties. 

Doctors told my parents I'd never be able to drive or live independently. "Mary often appears to be staring through you rather than looking at you," reads one preschool teacher's remark in my file. "During free-choice time, she just sits in the middle of the floor and stares." 

CNET Associate Editor Mary King, a 22-year-old autistic woman, works at her desk in the Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters of Red Ventures, CNET's parent company. On some days, parts of the office are still relatively empty due to the pandemic.

Anna Throckmorton/Red Ventures

I'm exceptionally lucky my loving parents had the resources to send me to occupational and speech therapy, which were critical in teaching me how to speak, interact with others and handle my sensory challenges. Like many autistic people, especially those socialized as women, I observed my neurotypical peers and learned to "mask": putting on a manufactured personality to hide my autistic traits, even as it exhausted me to the point of tears by the end of the day. 

By the time I was about 10, I reached a point where the untrained eye couldn't clock me as autistic. I excelled at school and standardized tests, especially in the humanities. Then I'd go home and shut down, drained from the masking and sensory overload. When my parents would show my teachers my diagnosis and ask for a simple accommodation -- like the option for me to go sit in the school library for a few minutes to calm my overstimulated brain -- they would respond with dismay, disbelief and outright dismissal because I didn't match their preconceived notions about autism.

Read more stories in CNET's ongoing series Mysteries of the Brain. 

As a result, I'm all too familiar with the popular idea of what autism looks like. We're all male. White. We're either deemed high-functioning, perfect performers with savant-level STEM abilities that companies can harness for profit, or we're pigeonholed as low-functioning and written off altogether because we aren't "useful." In addition to arguing that autism "functioning labels" do more harm than good, journalist Eric Garcia, who is himself on the spectrum, identifies these as the two myths that plague autistic people in the workforce.

"These narratives put the onus on autistic people to find a super skill that will make them an asset to employers rather than forcing employers to become more accepting of autistic workers," Garcia writes in his 2021 book We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation.

Autistic workers need acceptance and support from our employers, Garcia and others stress, regardless of how our autism manifests. Autism spectrum disorder involves difficulties with sensory processing, communication and executive functioning, with the key word here being "spectrum." (Here's a great comic explaining how the autism spectrum is better described as a spider graph than a straight line.) 

It looks different from person to person, and studies haven't found a consistent autistic brain composition. Our challenges and abilities vary greatly. Most autistic people, myself included, are not savants. But sometimes autism lends us special skills in areas like memory, pattern recognition and visual thinking. 

"People with autism might see the world through a filter that enhances the intensity of the details of the images they see every moment of their lives," researcher Arjen Alink told the autism-focused news outlet Spectrum News in 2021. 

Autism exists in every ethnicity and gender, though research shows autistic people of color and women have a harder time accessing diagnoses and support. And contrary to the stereotypes, we're employed in every field. Sure, we're scientists, engineers, software developers and tradespeople, but we're also artists, retail workers, communications professionals and businesspeople. 

We share your desks and break rooms. When we choose to disclose our autism to you and communicate the work conditions that would help us succeed, please believe us, even if we look, talk or act differently than what you're expecting. Even if we don't remind you of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, or Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man, or your aunt's neighbor's cousin's autistic fifth grader who's enrolled in linear algebra.

Not a human calculator 

"They think we're like calculators," Gideon Kariuki, a 21-year-old public policy student at Arizona State University, told me. 

"We're members of the community, too," says Gideon Kariuki, a junior at Arizona State University. "Regardless of our support needs, regardless of, quote unquote, 'what we can contribute to society.'" 

Margarete Moffett

Kariuki is, in fact, anything but a human calculator: He said he's always been "awful" at math. Instead, his passion lies in civics, public service and policy. He reckons his sharp analytical thinking -- an ability commonly found among autistic folks -- has served him well in these areas. 

The night we spoke, he was headed to a concert featuring one of his friends from Blaze Radio, the student radio station at Arizona State. Kariuki is Blaze Radio's program director, and he co-hosts two news analysis shows there.

"I'm somebody who's a big old chatterbox, as I'm sure you're figuring out," Kariuki said with a laugh. 

Being an autistic chatterbox myself, I had a splendid time talking with Kariuki as we derailed the interview and led each other down rabbit trails only tangentially related to the topic at hand. At one point we landed on the subject of US immigration policy and his parents' emigration from Kenya. That's when he made a compelling connection between attitudes toward immigrants and autistic people.

"One of the things that drives me up a wall concerning American immigration rhetoric is, 'Immigrants are such a benefit to the economy, yada yada.' Listen, I agree with that," he said. "However, that's not why you should support immigration."

The US should support immigrants not solely for the potential economic benefits, Kariuki argues, but because it's the right thing to do. By similar logic, while autistic workers can benefit employers with the special abilities and helpful traits we often bring to the table, that's not the primary reason workplaces should treat us with respect.

"We're members of the community, too," he said. "Regardless of our support needs, regardless of, quote unquote, 'what we can contribute to society.'"

What support looks like

For 32-year-old New York City-based video producer Hunter Boone, who uses both "he" and "they" pronouns, support in the workplace could look as simple as supervisors being more direct with their communication. Boone said they've noticed that once they reveal they're on the spectrum, supervisors tend to start speaking to them as if they were a toddler. With a newfound hyper-awareness of Boone's condition and a desire to avoid offending or confusing him, the supervisors start to be even less direct: the opposite of what Boone needs.

"I crave communication," Boone told me. 

For instance, one time his boss assigned them a task, and Boone completed it correctly. But afterward, Boone's boss told him he actually didn't intend for Boone to take the assignment literally. It had been difficult for Boone to discern that, as the interaction had taken place over the messaging platform Slack, where he couldn't see his boss' facial expressions or tone of voice to understand his meaning. It's a classic hangup that can happen as neurotypical and neurodivergent people work together, Boone said. More direct communication can help make things smoother. 

When we advocate for ourselves by expressing our needs, it's important for employers to welcome that self-advocacy and join us in developing solutions. 

Tim Johnson, an autistic 24-year-old notary public in Virginia and a friend from college, said the best thing that could happen for him in a workplace would be for people to stop expecting him to socialize exactly like they do.

"If I could hand out a business-card-sized little written thing saying, 'Hey, I'm probably not going to look you in the eye. Probably going to listen a lot more than I speak. I'm probably going to take criticism badly,' and not be socially judged for it, I would do it in a heartbeat," Johnson told me. 

That's a brilliant idea. If I had a little "Hey! I'm autistic!" handout like Johnson described, mine would ask managers to be very direct and literal when they assign me tasks; that might have helped Boone, too. Mine would also say I might accidentally come across as snarky or overly blunt, but I'm being earnest 99% of the time -- just ask me for clarification. Finally, I would say I struggle with multitasking and bouncing between tasks at a moment's notice. When we advocate for ourselves by expressing our needs, it's important for employers to welcome that self-advocacy and join us in developing solutions. 

Johnson's job requires him to take on requests for support as they come in, and he's had to manage his own expectation that he has to respond to every incoming message immediately. (I have trouble with that, too -- thanks a lot, Slack.) His standing desk has been helping him "take a literal step back": To fidget, he shakes out his arms, and that helps bring his stress back down to a manageable level. We discussed how dogs (beagles being one of Johnson's special interests, a term used in the autism field to describe areas of intense focus) do a similar sort of shaking motion to reset.

"Whenever my dog does it, it's when she comes in from the rain and she's getting all the rainwater off," Johnson said. "It's essentially the same thing, but with stress, for me."

Taking a fidget break 

Sometimes the very nature of work can be difficult for autistic people to navigate, so we innovate ways to tend to our own needs. For example, I struggle when I'm interrupted in the middle of a task and told to go do something else. Sure, I can technically do it, but my brain will feel fried, making it more difficult to complete the rest of the day's work. 

Cara Larsen's mixed media art (on Instagram at @caralarsenart). "The arts can be a haven for autistic people, an environment where our traits and talents can be appreciated, and we can express ideas we may not be able to say in words," Larsen wrote in a blog post for Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network.

Cara Larsen

Karisa, my understanding and supportive manager at CNET, lets me block out time on my calendar each day to focus on long-term projects, uninterrupted by day-to-day tasks. (This is a good idea for everyone, autistic or not.) I still get all of those tasks done: I just do it in a way that works for both me and my team. Managers can help by letting us do what we need to do. Allow us to take a step back and fidget, like Johnson. Or let us complete tasks in a workflow that works for us, even if it seems strange to you.

Cara Larsen, a 29-year-old autistic artist, prefers to complete her art in "bursts": She'll work for a few minutes, then pace around or read for a while before going back to her creation. Or she'll hop on her swing -- mounted indoors, to escape the overwhelming Mississippi humidity -- to gaze at one of her works in progress and contemplate her next course of action.

I conducted my interview with Larsen via email, as she said typing can often be easier for her than speaking. While growing up, she told me, teachers would try to shoehorn her into what she calls "the autistic STEM genius stereotype" despite her struggling with math. When she was deciding on a major in community college, she told instructors and advisers she was good at art and design, but they would immediately shoot her down.

"No one really encouraged me to explore different types of design careers, but I was constantly pushed toward STEM because in their eyes, that's what smart people did," Larsen told me.

She said she's suffered a lot of impostor syndrome as a result of these experiences. Larsen also discussed this in a 2018 blog post for Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network, in which she argues that even seemingly positive stereotypes are still harmful for autistic people.

"The 'autistic math genius' stereotype may seem better than 'gifted kids who struggle in school are just lazy' or 'girls can't do math' or 'art majors don't get jobs,' but it can limit a person's future just as much as those more negative stereotypes can -- especially when it is combined with them," Larsen wrote.

April is Autism Acceptance Month. While I appreciate the blue balloons for autism awareness, I'd encourage companies to also direct energy toward creating more accessible work environments.

Kaipong/Getty Images

I asked Larsen if there's any sort of community of autistic artists. I was curious, as that's not a profession stereotypically associated with autism. She said she's met a few, but wishes there was more support in place for artists on the spectrum. They may have trouble affording supplies, as many autistic people are low-income, studies show.

"No-strings-attached grants for low-income autistic artists, with an easy application process," she suggests. "And help promoting yourself at art-related events."

From artists' circles to media organizations, you probably work with an autistic person regardless of your field. Instead of wearing a blue shirt for autism awareness, celebrate Autism Acceptance Month by making a conscious effort to listen to our needs and support us. 

The many faces of focus

Often, it's in the little things. For example: Zoom calls. People often perceive my neutral facial expression as glazed over, checked out or irritated, even when I'm feeling perfectly fine and focusing intently. So when my camera is on, I have to devote energy to putting on my "pleasant, active listening face" and looking like I'm paying attention. (Ironically, this makes it more difficult for me to actually pay attention!)  Because of this, I tend to focus much better when my camera is turned off. To some people, though, this indicates the opposite: that I'm not listening. 

Instead of enforcing a strict camera-on policy and assuming we're less dedicated employees when we turn our cameras off, understand that focusing can take many shapes. 

Like Hunter Boone said, sometimes we need you to be more direct. Like Tim Johnson said, sometimes we don't conform to social expectations. Like Cara Larsen said, sometimes we just work a little differently than you. 

Read more:  What You Need to Know About Autism Spectrum Disorder

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