Art & Culture

Toronto – October 15, 2026 -- Toca Boca World players can dress their characters in looks inspired by HUNTR/X and the Saja Boys and play four songs from Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters in their stories when the collaboration launches October 27.

Two style worlds, one wardrobe

Spin Master's digital studio Toca Boca is bringing the film to its Toca Boca World app, which has close to 60 million players. The new content blends the film's everyday fashion with the look of its K-pop stage performances. Players can mix and match both to build characters and personalize their storytelling.

A music player with four hit songs

A new in-game music player carries "How It's Done," "Golden," "Soda Pop" and "Your Idol." For a limited time, players can use the tracks as soundtracks for their own stories inside the app.

Washington State – October 12, 2026 -- Washington drivers will be able to order a new LeMay – America's Car Museum specialty license plate, after the Washington State Department of Transportation approved its design. The museum has not yet announced when ordering opens.

The original black-and-white design went to the State

The museum first proposed a black-and-white "throwback" look. The State adopted that design for its own retro plate series, so it is no longer associated with the museum and is owned by the State.

The museum then had to create a fully new concept that met the State's specifications, including color palette, layout, and mandatory design elements. The new plate went through the State's approval and compliance process.

Las Vegas – October 15, 2026 -- Players in every regulated U.S. iGaming state and Canadian province can now play Spooky Link Go Ghost, the first online real-money version of Aristocrat's land-based slot franchise, on participating online casino platforms and mobile casino apps.

Aristocrat Interactive brings the franchise online for the first time

Aristocrat Interactive, the online Real Money Gaming (RMG) division of Aristocrat, is behind the network-wide launch. The rollout is timed to coincide with the Halloween season and is supported by what the company calls the industry's leading operators.

Go Ghost is the first release in a character family that will later include Mo' Mummy and Yo Yeti. Additional Spooky Link titles are planned throughout 2027.

Harare – October 15, 2026 -- Visitors in Zimbabwe's capital can now see evidence of some of the world's earliest rice cultivation, along with hands-on tea, pottery and puzzle activities, at an exhibition on China's Shangshan culture that opened on October 12.

Titled "DAWN-LIT RICE SOURCE GLOWING MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS," the show is part of Jinhua's 2026 "Into Africa" cultural tourism initiative. It uses rice and pottery as central themes to foster cultural dialogue between China and Africa. The Jinhua Municipal People's Government hosts the event, and the Jinhua Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism organized it.

Zimbabwe's Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Tsitsi Gezi, and Tang Xiaoping, Minister-Counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe, attended the opening ceremony.

United States – October 15, 2026 -- TickTalk Radio, a closed music service for kids' smartwatches, costs $4.99 a month as an add-on. It is included in the TickTalk Wireless Premium plan and runs on the new $169.99 TickTalk 6.

The service has no ads, no algorithmic social feeds and no open search. Parents approve what their children can hear.

Three age tiers sort the stations by development stage

Working with Feed.fm, TickTalk split its parent-approved stations into Junior (ages 3–5), Explorer (ages 6–9) and Tween (ages 9–12). Content moderation filters for language and for thematic maturity, so it goes beyond standard clean/explicit labels. New content is added regularly.

The catalog combines licensed major-label music with science-backed wellness tracks. The wellness tracks are aimed at routines around calm, focus, sleep and mindfulness.

Bangkok – October 15, 2026 -- Travelers can watch illuminated boats float down the Mekong in Nakhon Phanom from 16 to 27 October, with the main procession on 26 October marking the end of Buddhist Lent. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is promoting the 2026 Nakhon Phanom Illuminated Boat Procession to wider international audiences.

The main procession starts at 18.00 on 26 October

A TAT Nakhon Phanom Office showcase boat leads the parade, followed by 12 illuminated boats representing the province's 12 districts. The district boats compete in beauty and creativity categories for a royal trophy, and each enters the Mekong at 20-minute intervals. A non-competitive Nakhon Phanom University showcase boat joins at 20.00, and the final district entry is scheduled for 22.20.

Los Angeles – October 14, 2026 -- Reservations to see Space Shuttle Endeavour in its permanent home open to the public on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. California Science Center Members get first pick starting Monday, October 19, at 9:30 a.m.

The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center opens to the public on Friday, November 13, 2026, at 10:00 a.m.

Reservations cost $4 per person, except for Members

General admission to the California Science Center remains free. Entry to the Air and Space Center, including Endeavour, is a different matter: reservations are strongly encouraged because of anticipated high demand, and visitors without one may face limited entry. A $4 per-person reservation service fee applies and is waived for Members.

New York – October 14, 2026 -- New Yorkers can watch 10 feature films and 5 shorts from Korea's independent scene for free from October 15 through 25, 2026, at the KCCNY Theater. The inaugural New York Korean Independent Film Festival (NYKIFF) is presented by the Korean Cultural Center New York (KCCNY). Admission is open to the public, but pre-registration is required.

Twelve filmmakers and film professionals will take questions from the audience

Twelve directors and other film professionals are traveling to New York for post-screening Q&As. The program spans fiction, documentary, thriller and action. It was developed with five Korean festivals: the Seoul Independent Film Festival, Jeonju International Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Muju Film Festival and Mise-en-scène Short Film Festival.

Los Angeles – – October 14, 2026 -- Chinese author Xuemo's novel Eternal Love, available in English on Amazon, has won a 2026 NYC Big Book Award and reached No. 1 on an Amazon psychological literary fiction bestseller chart, according to its publisher, Ruxue International Media Inc.

The novel follows love, loss and self-discovery

Eternal Love is literary fiction about love, loss and personal transformation. It invites readers to look for love within themselves rather than from others, and to change not necessarily their circumstances but how they respond to them. Ted Olczak, president of the NYC Big Book Award, called it "a work of raw emotion and profound insight."

San Diego – October 14, 2026 -- Sony Electronics has introduced the ECM-W5 wireless microphone system for video creators, and pre-orders open at 7 AM PT/10 AM ET on October 14, 2026. The system pairs two transmitters with one receiver and sends audio over a line-of-sight distance of up to 500 m.

32bit float audio lands in a single video file

Through the Multi-Interface (MI) Shoe, 32bit float audio travels digitally and directly to a compatible camera and records with the video in a single file. There is no external recorder and no separate audio file to sync later. The 32bit float mode works only at 48 kHz. It is meant to capture quiet and loud sounds without constant gain adjustment and to reduce the chance of clipping.

The microphones also support 96 kHz High-Resolution Audio recording, and a 3.5 mm input accepts lavalier and external microphones, including the separately sold ECM-L1.