Entertainment
Listen: Dan Sutton of Tantalus Labs is committed to advancing the frontier of cannabis

It was a pleasure to speak with Tantalus Labs CEO and Founder Dan Sutton this week. He has a great back story, is crushing it in BC and doesn’t take himself too seriously.
We had a wide ranging conversation about what they are doing in the Fraser Valley, as well as what’s going on across the industry and how social media plays a roll in the cannabis space. We also dove into terpenes and Dan revealed the lineage of Serratus!!!
Chris Ianson and I discussed Mango from Canaca, a nice sweet treat. Joints and joint nicknames were discussed in this episode. As always you can get 50% off a DNA Kit from Lobo Genetics, listen for the promo code.
Entertainment
Pedro Pascal launches attack on J.K. Rowling over biological sex views

MxM News
Quick Hit:
Pedro Pascal, star of HBOās The Last of Us, ignited backlash this week after publicly hurling an expletive-laced insult at author J.K. Rowling in response to her support for a landmark UK ruling that upheld the legal definition of sex as biological. Rowling celebrated the decision, which affirms the rights of women to single-sex spacesāa view shared by many who advocate for the safety and integrity of women’s rights. Pascal, a vocal progressive and LGBTQ+ activist, labeled Rowling a āheinous loser,ā aligning himself with calls to boycott HBOās upcoming Harry Potter reboot.
Pedro Pascal calls J.K. Rowling a āheinous loserā after she celebrated the Supreme Courtās ruling regarding trans womenās legal identities. pic.twitter.com/LEGMD79PjQ
— Pop Base (@PopBase) April 24, 2025
Key Details:
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Pedro Pascal responded on Instagram to Rowlingās post celebrating a UK court ruling that legally defined āsexā as biological.
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Pascal echoed an activistās call for a fan-led boycott of the Harry Potter reboot, saying Rowlingās stance was āheinous LOSER behavior.ā
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HBO has downplayed concerns of a boycott, citing the blockbuster success of Hogwarts Legacy despite similar activist campaigns.
Diving Deeper:
The latest clash in the culture war surrounding Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and the trans activist movement reached a new level of hostility this week when actor Pedro Pascal, a key face of HBOās entertainment slate, stooped to name-calling on social media. His remarks came in response to Rowlingās defense of the United Kingdomās recent court decision, which reaffirmed that sex, under British law, means biological sexāa ruling many womenās rights advocates hailed as a long-overdue step toward protecting vulnerable female spaces such as shelters, hospital wards, and sports.
Rowling, whose views on the importance of distinguishing biological sex from gender identity have made her a target of trans activists for years, posted a pointed but unapologetic reaction: āI love it when a plan comes together.ā She added, āI get the same royalties whether you read [my books] or burn them. Enjoy your marshmallows!ā
In the comments of a post by activist Tariq Raāoufāwho had attacked Rowling and promoted a boycott of HBOās Harry Potter rebootāPascal added his own vulgar commentary: āAwful disgusting SHIT is exactly right. Heinous LOSER behavior.ā While Pascal did not explicitly mention Harry Potter, the post he endorsed included calls to tank all future franchise content, including theme parks and merchandise.
Pascalās involvement with HBO places the network in a difficult position. As the Emmy-nominated co-lead of The Last of Us, one of HBOās crown jewels, Pascalās comments are being widely interpreted as an implicit endorsement of the boycott. While HBO has attempted to downplay the activist push, the tension is palpable. Casey Bloys, HBOās chief content officer, previously noted that the 2023 video game Hogwarts Legacy, which also faced calls for boycotts due to Rowlingās views, still became the yearās top-selling game.
Pascalās activism is personal as well as political. His sister, Lux Pascal, publicly transitioned in 2021, and he has frequently signaled support for trans activism. At the UK premiere of Marvelās Thunderbolts, Pascal wore a shirt that read āProtect the Dolls,ā a slogan popularized in trans activist circles.
Rather than āheinous,ā Rowlingās remarks represent a reasoned defense of biological reality and a pushback against an increasingly aggressive ideology that demands conformity and punishes dissent. Her critics, like Pascal, resort to vulgarity and character attacks instead of engaging with the substance of her argument. But Rowling has stood firm in supporting womenās rights and advocating for clarity in laws that impact everything from sports to safety in single-sex spacesāpositions grounded in truth, not hate.
Business
California planning to double film tax credits amid industry decline

From The Center Square
By
California legislators have unveiled aĀ billĀ to follow through with the governorās plan of more than doubling the stateās film and TV production tax credits to $750 million.
The stateās own analysis warns itās likely the refundable production credits generate only 20 to 50 cents of state revenue for every dollar the state spends, and the increase could stoke a ārace to the bottomā among theĀ 38Ā states that now have such programs.
Industry insiders say the stateās high production costs are to blame for much of the exodus, and experts say the cost of housing is responsible for a significant share of the higher costs.
The bill creates a special carve-out for shooting in Los Angeles, where productions would be able to claim refundable credits for 35% of the cost of production.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his proposal last year and highlighted his goal of expanding the program at an industry event last week.
āCalifornia is the entertainment capital of the world ā and weāre committed to ensuring we stay that way,ā said Newsom. āFashion and film go hand in hand, helping to express characters, capture eras in time and reflect cultural movements.ā
With most states now offering production credits, economic analysis suggests these programs now produce state revenue well below the cost of the credits themselves.
āA recent study from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation found that each $1 of Program 2.0 credit results in $1.07 in new state and local government revenue. This finding, however, is significantly overstated due to the studyās use of implausible assumptions,āĀ wroteĀ the stateās analysts in a 2023 report. āMost importantly, the study assumes that no productions receiving tax credits would have filmed here in the absence of the credit.ā
āThis is out of line with economic research discussed above which suggests tax credits influence location decisions of only a portion of recipients,ā continued the state analysis. āTwo studies that better reflect this research finding suggest that each $1 of film credit results in $0.20 to $0.50 of state revenues.ā
“Parks and Recreation” stars Rob Lowe and Adam Scott recentlyĀ shared on Loweās podcast how costs are so high their show likely would have been shot in Europe instead.
āItās cheaper to bring 100 American people to Ireland than to walk across the lot at Fox past the sound stages and do it and do it there,ā said Lowe.
āDo you think if we shot ‘Parks’ right now, we would be in Budapest?ā asked Scott, who now stars in “Severance.”
ā100%,ā replied Lowe. āAll those other places are offering 40% ā forty percent ā and then on top of that thereās other stuff that they do, and then thatās not even talking about the union stuff. Thatās just tax economics of it all.ā
āItās criminal what California and LA have let happen. Itās criminal,ā continued Lowe. āEverybody should be fired.ā
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, housing is the single largest expense for California households.
āAcross the income spectrum, 35ā44% of household expenditures go to covering rent, mortgages, utilities and home maintenance,āĀ wroteĀ PPIC.
The cost of housing due to supply constraints now makes it nearly impossible for creatives to get their start in LA, saidĀ M. Nolan Gray, legislative director at housing regulatory reform organization California YIMBY.
āHollywood depends on Los Angeles being the place where anybody can show up, take a big risk, and pursue their dreams, and that only works if you have a lot of affordable apartments,ā said Gray to The Center Square. āWeāve built a Los Angeles where you have to be fabulously wealthy to have stable and decent housing, and as a result a lot of folks either are not coming, or those who are coming need to paid quite a bit higher to make it worth it, and itās destroying one of Californiaās most important industries.ā
āAnybody who arrived in Hollywood before the 2010s, their story is always, āYeah, I showed up in LA, and I lived in a really, reallyĀ dirt-cheap apartment with like $10 in my pocket.’ That just doesnāt exist anymore,ā continued Gray. āDoes the Walt Disney of 2025 not take the train from Kansas City to LA? Almost certainly not. If he goes anywhere, he goes to Atlanta.ā
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