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I’ve been an insatiable reader ever since I first learned how letters joined together to form words. One tool my grandfather used to teach me how to read was a small tape recorder, and our routine was that he had me practice reading aloud each night into the microphone.

Somewhere, there are tapes of tiny, four-year-old me learning to read — with his voice in the background, gently correcting me whenever I stumbled. He would have me listen to them after we were done so I could learn from my mistakes. And learn I did — quickly.

Those tapes are probably why I immediately fell in love with old-time radio dramas upon discovering them — and also why I insisted on recording AP Bio and Chem notes in high school for myself — and finally, why I later fell hard for audiobooks.

After all, audiobooks are just a modern evolution of radio plays.

Although I still love the physical act of reading, some books are best experienced in your ears so your eyes and mind can wander where the words take you. Here’s a guide to help you find some gems.

Books read by the author are often worthy of special consideration.

"Born A Crime" by Trevor Noah has had a lot of attention since its release, for good reason — but hearing Noah tell his story is a completely different experience to reading it on the page. If you’ve seen "The Daily Show" and are familiar with Noah’s understated style, you already have a good idea of how you might enjoy this audiobook.

Memoirs aren’t the only place where authors can shine reading their own work.

Just check out Neil Gaiman’s turn behind the mic reading his excellent adult fairy tale, "The Ocean at the End of the Lane." He’s a writer who does frequent book tours, but if you can’t make it to one of his appearances, this is probably the next best thing.

It can be nice to have someone read you to sleep

For those comforting time-traveling feelings of having an adult read you to sleep, you can’t beat Philip Pullman’s "His Dark Materials" trilogy — comprised of "The Golden Compass" (or "Northern Lights" in its original UK home), "The Subtle Knife," and "The Amber Spyglass." While the written books can pull you into their world quite readily, hearing Pullman beckon you into Lyra’s Oxford and Jordan College is another experience entirely.

• Selena Gomez recently released a music video for her newest single, "Back To You."
• Gomez was previously accused of "ripping off" an artist's characteristic photography style when she teased the video with photos on Instagram.
• Fans are now pointing out striking similarities between the video itself and a 1965 French film, "Pierrot le Fou."
• Some think Gomez is paying homage to the film, while others think it's a shallow recreation.

Selena Gomez has had her fair share of controversies — especially when it comes to her visual works. She has been criticized for working with Woody Allen, accused of cultural appropriation, and is now being scrutinized for unoriginality. 

To promote her newest music video for the single "Back To You," Gomez posted a series of photos on Instagram that some thought were suspiciously similar to another artist's characteristic photography style. The cinematic shots, featuring the song's lyrics as subtitles, were reminiscent of a photography series by 26-year-old Palestinian artist Sarah Bahbah.

Now that the "Back To You" visual has officially been released, it appears that Gomez actually drew inspiration from another source. The music video contains multiple direct parallels to Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 French film, "Pierrot le Fou"— though some have disagreed on whether it's paying homage or creating a shallow imitation.

The theatrical, dramatic tone of Gomez's teasers on Instagram bleeds into the video itself. The plot — which follows Gomez and a boyish love interest as they ditch a boring party, steal a car, and ostensibly try to escape reality — is both bizarre and dreamlike. The dialogue is communicated through yellow captions that pop up at the bottom of the screen.

As they prance around in a sunny field, reality catches up with the couple when they discover a “WANTED” poster featuring their faces. Gomez burns the evidence of their grand theft auto, the lovers squabble, they return to the party, and they decide to repeat the shenanigans all over again. 

"Pierrot le Fou" is a romantic crime drama that belongs to the influential genre of the French New Wave. It follows an unhappily married man who decides to — you guessed it! — ditch a boring party, hop in a convertible, and run away with his ex-girlfriend.

The incompatible lovers get themselves into all kinds of shenanigans, though the film's ending is (no spoilers) a bit darker than I would've expected for Gomez's taste.

Nevertheless, Gomez's video, which was directed by Scott Cudmore, is saturated with Godard's quintessential filmmaking quirks: fragmented editing; characters breaking the fourth wall; melodramatic dialogue; a garish, primary color-focused palette; and cartoonish neorealism.

An Instagram account apparently belonging to Cudmore, though it's not verified, confirmed that the video is "Godard-inspired."

It's not difficult to pick up on the similarities. i-D magazine called Gomez's video "a Godard film for the Instagram era" and "ostensibly an homage."

Cinemaphiles will immediately notice parallels, as the music video's opening visual directly mirrors the famous party scene in "Pierrot le Fou," both doused in deep, ever-changing colors.

The inane dialogue from side characters serves to highlight the shallow, bourgeois lifestyle that Pierrot wants to escape from. Gomez may be making the same statement about her experience as a celebrity.

Indeed, the characters in both appear to have similar motivations and intentions. Gomez and her romantic interest, as with Perriot and Marrianne, want to escape — but they also try to find themselves through the eyes of the other person. They commit crimes. They burn a car. They fall in and out of love.

"They are abandoned to their own devices," Godard has said of his film's protagonists. "They are inside both their adventure and themselves."

Naturally, Gomez fans are fawning over the "lovely homage."

Others, however, are less impressed with the parallels.

"Shouldn't u credit or say something about the director that inspired you if this is supposed to be a homage?" one YouTube commenter wrote. "You can't just take artists' ideas and say u were inspired u have to acknowledge them."

"You guys are too young to get the visual/story references, the whole video is inspired by 'Pierrot le Fou,' Jean-Luc Godard's film, pioneer of the Nouvelle Vague of French Cinema. I mean, maybe lyrics are inspired by her relationship with [Justin Bieber], but c'mmon lets give credit to who deserves it," wrote another.

It's impossible to deny that Gomez pulled themes and aesthetics from New Wave cinema and Godard's artistic touch, but the fine line between inspiration and imitation will likely always be up for debate.

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The sacrifices mothers make for their children are widely acknowledged and respected, and sometimes we give don't give fathers the credit they deserve.

Known for their "dad bods" and their incessant telling of "dad jokes," dads are sometimes used for a good punchline. But science has shown that the more active a father is in their child's life, the better off the child will be. So maybe you should cut your dad a little slack the next time he calls a fake noodle an "impasta."

With Father's Day coming up, it's time to show dads a little more respect. These quotes from celebrity dads will make you laugh, cry, and probably want to call your dad.

Chris Pratt said nothing he's ever done means as much as being a dad.

Chris Pratt and Anna Faris may have split, but they've remained dedicated parents to their five-year-old son, Jack. The two went through a scary experience when Jack was born two months early, and the experience has motivated Pratt to get involved with the March of Dimes charity. In a 2013 event for the organization, he shared how much fatherhood means to him.

"I've gotten to jump out of helicopters and do daring stunts and play baseball in a professional stadium, but none of them mean anything compared to being somebody's daddy."

Ryan Gosling wants to be the dad his kids deserve.

Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes maintain a low-profile relationship, but that didn't stop him from gushing about his "dream babies"— daughters Amanda and Esmeralda — when talking to GQ in 2017. The actor talked about what motivates him to be the best father he can be.

"When you meet your kids, you realize that they deserve great parents. And then you have your marching orders, and you have to try and become the person that they deserve," Gosling said.

John Legend loves his kids, even though he joked that they haven't earned it yet.

Thankfully, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen let us in on so many adorable moments with daughter Luna and her new brother Miles. They're clearly loving parents, but Legend couldn't resist joking with Stephen Colbert in 2017 that babies haven't really done anything to earn that love yet.

"It's a different kind of love. It's very pure, it's unconditional, but they haven't earned it yet. They didn't do anything, they just exist and you love them completely, but it's not built on anything other than their existence," he told the late night host. On a more serious note, Legend went on to say about the first time he held his daughter, "it's beautiful, it's very emotional and it brings you and your wife closer together. It's a very powerful feeling to see the product of your love right there in front of you."

High school is a place where teens spend four years gaining invaluable education, forming long-lasting friendships, and shaping their futures. It's a place for love, drama, and sometimes a little bit of debauchery. Above all else, high school is a place where students learn about themselves, discovering the good, the bad, and even the ugly.

And though this may not have been the best years of your life, sometimes, you may find yourself pining for the days of gym class, homework, and prom.

Here are the best movies to watch if you're feeling a little nostalgic for the good ‘ol days:

"21 Jump Street"

Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum team up in this 2012 reboot of the classic Johnny Depp show of the same name. Set in high school, Hill and Tatum play undercover cops who have to blend in with the teens to bring down a drug ring. What more could you ask for?

"17 Again"

Don't we all wish we could go back in time and change a few things? Maybe even relive our glory days as the star of the basketball team? Well, thank goodness you feel that way to, because that's the premise of this 2009 Zac Efron movie. Although touted as a cheesy family comedy, "17 Again" is actually a wholesome family film with a deep life lesson underneath it all.

"American Pie"

The premise of this late ‘90s movie is that a group of teenage boys make a ridiculous pact to lose their virginity by prom night — but of course, several things go awry. I'm pretty sure that description says enough.

• College in the United Kingdom looks very different than the United States, despite a shared language and history.
• UK college students pay less for education, have a different grading system, and spend less time completing their degrees compared to American students.
• Whether you’re preparing to study abroad or are just curious about the cultural differences, here are six ways college is different in the UK and US.

Although they share a language and parts of history, the United States and the United Kingdom are still very distinct countries with a number of cultural differences. The difference in higher education is particularly pronounced.

I’m an American who studied abroad in Scotland, so I learned a lot about these differences firsthand. In addition, I’m married to a Brit, and my husband and I constantly confuse one another when regaling each other with our college stories, or in his case, “uni stories.”

Here are six ways college is different in the UK than in the US:

SEE ALSO: 7 unique parenting styles from around the world

1. For starters, it’s ‘university’

In the UK, higher education (what Americans call "college") is known as “university.”

“College” actually has another meaning in the UK — it’s where many students go for two years after completing compulsory schooling at 16 in order to prepare for exams to get into university. You can also take vocational courses at college.

University, or “uni” for short, is where British people go for a bachelor’s degree.

2. The three-year degree

British students only go to uni for three years to obtain a bachelor’s degree, unlike the common American term of four years, according to US News and World Report. The shorter timeframe has its pro and cons — sure, you’re done faster, but think about all of the fun and lack of responsibility you’re missing out on for that last year. Personally, I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

This might explain the popularity of the “gap year” among UK students — a year off before starting uni to travel, find themselves, and have fun. A gap year often leaves students with a rolodex of crazy party stories and, at least in my husband's case, an oddly large collection of bar crawl tank tops — or as the Brits call them, “vests.” 

3. Major pressure early on

In the UK, students apply to a university and a course (or in US terms, a major) at the same time, US News reports. So, there’s no great existential debate over what you should study while in school. It’s already settled before you move out of mom and dad’s.

I may not have finished school on time in the UK, with my shift in major from music to international studies to French to communications. I have to side with the US on this one. What 18-year-old really knows what they want to be when they grow up?

• Elon Musk bought about $25 million worth of Tesla stock on Tuesday and Wednesday.
• On Tuesday, Musk told Tesla employees the company was cutting 9% of its workforce.
• The share purchases could be a signal to employees and Wall Street that he's still optimistic about the future of Tesla. 

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk has purchased about $25 million worth of stock in his own company, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

Before these purchases, Musk owned about 19.8% of the company, MarketWatch reported. With the 72,500 shares he bought this week, he owns about 34 million Tesla shares.

The timing of Musk's purchases is noteworthy. On Tuesday, Musk announced via an email to employees that Tesla planned to let go of 9% of its total workforce. The filing shows he bought the shares on Tuesday and Wednesday.

It's possible this was a strategic move on Musk's part to reaffirm to workers and critics alike that he's still optimistic about the future of the company — an important signal as Tesla works to hit crucial production targets of its next-generation Model 3 electric vehicle.

It wouldn't be the first time Musk has undertaken such a gambit. As recently as May, Musk spent about $10 million on Tesla shares to counter growing concerns about the company's ability to meet those targets.

Also of note is that Musk has a somewhat unconventional pay package at Tesla in which he'll be granted additional stock options as the company hits milestones. Tesla's board of directors pegs the value of that package at about $2.6 billion over 10 years.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's new Tesla pay package could make him $55.8 billion — and it's a case study in what's wrong with executive compensation

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Straker is an Australian street artist who paints unique murals that appear to light up the streets. His pieces look just like real neon signs, but they are actually 2D and created using only spray paint and a special technique that makes them pop off the wall. We spoke with Straker about his work and watched him create one of his pieces. Following is a transcript of the video.

Straker: My name's Straker, I'm a graffiti artist from Perth, Australia. I'm best known for my neon style that replicates the look of neon signs using spray paint.

I started painting back in late '95 as a graffiti artist working mainly with lettering. I was painting a sports bar. I figured neon would be a fitting style. That kind of led to doing one kind of cheerleader piece. I liked the look of it, and then kind of kept going with it.

It always, for me, starts with like a black background. The best kind of surface for the neon style would be one that's flat. No brick mortar joints interrupting the flow.

I start by painting what becomes the reflection of the neon. Then layer that with the color, creating the glow. Then come back and do an offset outline, which becomes the kind of neon tube, so to speak. And then mist color back over the top to kind of finish it off.

Whenever I'm creating a neon piece, I'm doin' it true to how a neon sign maker would create it. You don't have an infinite length of line, you kind of have to think about if I were bending this, how would it work? So I like to, yeah, really kind of put myself in their shoe.

As far as planning a wall goes, I generally take a photo of the site that's it's gonna go, and more recently, been using the iPad where I then essentially do the same process, but just kind of like, finger painting on the tablet. It's almost like I'm spray painting, but just digitally.

This style is fast. I spend more time getting the design right than panting itself. I'm a fast painter though, you know, I grew up painting at nighttime under, you know, pressure. It takes about five to 50 minutes, I'd say, depending on colors and size.

I use a variety of materials when I'm painting, it all depends on the size of the wall. The bigger the wall, the more I'm gonna use bucket paint, rollers, anything to apply paint, you know? Getting clean lines with the spray can's a lot easier than it ever has been, due to the brands of paint made specifically for that kind of art. It really comes down to can control, how much you press that nozzle down.

I use as many fluorescent spray cans as possible to create my work. The downside to fluorescent colors is they fade really quickly, so the work has a pretty short life span when it's outdoors.

A lot of people always ask like, "Does it glow, does it glow, you know?" and I'm like, oh, no, it doesn't, but I guess that's kind of almost thinking it's real. And if you put a blacklight on these, they fully pop out and look like they're glowing. I think people are attracted to it, you know? It's designed to catch your eyes.

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• Apple CEO Tim Cook recently disclosed an interesting detail about Apple Park, the company's new headquarters: Everyone gets a standing desk.
• "It's much better for your lifestyle," Cook said in a recent interview.
• Cook has previously cited doctors who say "sitting is the new cancer."

Most of what happens inside Apple Park, the iPhone company's stunning new headquarters, is top secret.

But Apple CEO Tim Cook recently disclosed one new detail about the work environment: everyone gets a standing desk. 

"We have given all of our employees, 100%, standing desks. If you can stand for a while, then sit, and so on and so forth, it’s much better for your lifestyle," Cook said in a recent interview with the Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein published on Wednesday.

He then encouraged the billionaire financier to stand with him — just like a prominent feature on the Apple Watch. 

Cook has previously cited doctors who say that "sitting is the new cancer." 

"We have a lot of people using the Apple Watch at Apple, and ten minutes before the hour, suddenly they all get up and move. It took a little to get used to, but it’s great," he said at a Goldman Sachs conference in 2015. 

Apple Park 

The ability to use a standing desk is only one of a slew of perks available to lucky Apple employees at the company's new headquarters, which was rumored to cost over $5 billion to construct. 

Apple Park is built to blur the lines between the largely glass "spaceship," or "ring" building, and the carefully landscaped campus outside. 

That campus is full of fruit trees and the on-campus "Caffe Macs" cafeterias actually use those fruits in its lunches and dinners. There's also a massive gym and a shuttle service to take workers to satellite offices and the company's old headquarters, which is a 10-minute drive away. 

That's not even counting the furniture inside Apple Park, which has been carefully hand-selected. Here are some of the pieces we know about: In addition to a standing desk, workers get desk chairs made by Vitra, which cost $1,200. Common areas and cafes are dotted with chairs designed by Nauto Fukasawa that cost $2,500. Many tables are 18-foot long oak slabs, which are custom as well. 

Apple didn't respond to a question from Business Insider about the specific model of standing desk its employees use. Interior photos published in the Wall Street Journal don't depict any standing desks.

One reason why a company would invest so much in a new building is to help it recruit highly-paid software developers and tech workers, who have other options for employment, but who might want to work in a beautiful architectural landmark.   

Cook and Apple seem happy with Apple Park. "Steve [Jobs] had the vision that the workplace should facilitate people working together … having these common areas that people could work together and run into each other without planning on doing it … and that the level of ideas and creativity and innovation that would come out of that would be phenomenal," Cook said in the interview with Rubenstein. "And we're seeing that."

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• Billionaire PIMCO founder Bill Gross allegedly used dead fish and prank smell sprays to make his ex-wife's life miserable following their divorce.
• The couple split in October after 31 years of marriage, with his ex getting their 13,000-square-foot Laguna Beach mansion.
• Sue Gross also created a fake Picasso painting to fool her ex-husband, according to court documents.

Bill Gross, the billionaire cofounder of PIMCO, allegedly left dead fish and other vile smelling liquids in the Southern California mansion he once shared with his ex-wife Sue Gross, the New York Post first reported Sunday.

Court documents reported by the paper outline how the Los Angeles bond king — who later joined Janus Capital— left the six bed, eight bath home in Laguna Beach "in a state of utter chaos and disrepair" following the couple's divorce that was settled in October. California's tax assessor values the home at more than $11 million.

Photos published by the paper from the case show a lineup of foul smelling sprays, including "puke smell" and "fart prank," that were allegedly used by Bill.

Sue also alleges the 74-year-old hired an "army of spies" to monitor and harass her and her family members, the paper reported. It also reported that a source close to Bill "denied the house was left in disarray."

Janus Capital did not return messages seeking comment in time for publication. 

Last month, Sue testified that she fooled her ex-husband into thinking he was sleeping in the presence of a Picasso painting for several months after she swapped the priceless piece of art for a fake she had created herself.

Read the full New York Post report of the proceedings here. 

SEE ALSO: Ex-wife of Wall Street titan Bill Gross reportedly replaced a $35 million Picasso painting with a replica she had created herself

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• Americans have garnered several negative stereotypes around the world.
• They include beliefs that Americans are entitled and arrogant and that Americans are obsessed with their jobs.
• Here are the worst stereotypes I heard while traveling to 25 countries.

Every country has its stereotypes, both good and bad.

As one of the biggest populations in the world, Americans have garnered an outsize number of negative stereotypes, like the belief that all Americans are rich or that Americans are way too obsessed with their jobs. That's what I learned after traveling to 25 different countries, ranging from South America to Europe to Southeast Asia.

Read on to see what non-Americans really think of people from the US.

SEE ALSO: There are only 11 phrases travelers need to get by in any language

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All Americans are rich

One of the most widely believed stereotypes I encountered while traveling was that all Americans are rich. Not just "I can afford to not haggle at the night market" rich, but "multiple cars and houses back home" rich.

This stereotype is fueled in part by America's powerful global economic standing. But despite the country's reputation, plenty of Americans know that the wealth of the country doesn't always transfer to all its citizens, and there are millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet.

Americans are overly patriotic

Americans have a reputation for being overly patriotic. Many first-time visitors to the US are surprised by the preponderance of American flags waving from our schools, offices, and homes, and it's pretty common to hear Americans proclaim their country the greatest on Earth.

Americans are ignorant about the world

Hand in hand with Americans' supposed superiority complex is an ignorance about the rest of the world, according to the stereotypes I heard while traveling.

It's an unfortunate reality that many Americans who travel lack knowledge of the culture and customs of the country they are visiting, and worse yet, sometimes they don't seem to care enough to learn.

Americans can combat this stereotype by engaging with people from other cultures abroad and making an effort to see things from their perspective.

Movies will often use live bugs on camera instead of CGI to make their story feel more real and to get your skin crawling. But getting these insects to do what you want requires lots an understanding of how they function.  That's where Steven Kutcher comes in. He's an entomologist who has worked with insects on over 100 major projects including "Spider-Man, "Arachnophobia," and "Jurassic Park."  We spoke with Kutcher about how he gets these tiny actors to do what the directors want and how no one gets hurt during the production. Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator: Some of the biggest stars in Hollywood are some of the smallest creatures on the planet. Real live insects like spiders, locusts, and butterflies play crucial roles in many memorable blockbuster films. But getting them to perform on camera is no easy task.

Steven Kutcher: Rosie, lift up your leg. This leg. Come on. Oh see, she did this one. Oh, there she goes. And that's just a little trick of putting a little pressure on her back leg that causes her front leg to come up.

Narrator: That's Steven Kutcher. He's an entomologist and the go to guy for all things bugs in Hollywood. He's worked with a variety of insects on over 100 films in his career including "Arachnophobia,""Jurassic Park," and "Spider-Man."

Kutcher: Understanding insect behavior is really the key. It's not training them because you don't have time to train them in the film industry. When you work with insects, you wanna corral the insects. You wanna be able to control them.

Narrator: He's used a number of different techniques to get the bugs to move in the right direction involving lights, air, and temperature.

Kutcher: Let's say you're a bug. How can I make you move? Well, I could blow air at you, like 60 miles an hour air. You're going to move. I could light a little fire under you or set you on something that's really hot. You're gonna get up out of your seat and move. I could chill down the room. 

Narrator: For example, let's take a look at one of the most famous and terrifying spider films of all time, "Arachnophobia."

Kutcher: The great thing about that film was it was before CGI. So we had to do everything real except for one shot.

Narrator: He devised a clever yet simple rig to get all the spiders where they needed to be.

Kutcher: They would say, "We want a spider to crawl into a slipper "from four feet away." So I came up with this idea of invisible vibrating wires. Chance of vibrating wires that you couldn't see, the camera couldn't see. But I could make the spider go directly to the spot I wanted it to go.

Narrator: Kutcher's first big Hollywood gig was on the "Exorcist II" and it involved working with three thousand live locusts.

Kutcher: There's a scene where James Earl Jones has to look at a cage of locusts and the locusts were all on the ground. But how do you move hundreds of locusts up on the screen? I said, "Get a light, a studio light that gives off heat "and shining against the side of the cage." And they did and all the locusts moved up onto the cage to be near the heat. Then they took the light away.

Narrator: In "Jurassic Park," Kutcher was the man responsible for the iconic dead mosquitoes in amber.

Kutcher: So it's supposed to be a mosquito. First, it's really a crane fly. And I put antenna from another insect on the crane fly. I took a bent insect pin and made it for its mouth part. I created the wings.

Narrator: And he worked with a live mosquito in the DNA Explainer video.

Kutcher: So I would chill the mosquito down so that it wouldn't move. And then I would drip honey on it. And then it got tumbled down with the honey.

Narrator: In the 2002 movie "Spider-Man," there's a scene where Peter Parker first gets bitten. Kutcher was actually above Toby McGuire with a paint brush.

Kutcher: And what the spider will do is it will crawl along the edge until it reaches this part and then it will hang on. And I would just tap it like this which would cause the spider to web down.

Narrator: While he says he rarely ever gets bitten or stung, he takes precautions to protect the other human actors. In "Roadhouse 66," Judge Reinhold is driving a car and I had to have a scorpion crawl over his shoulder. So I put a little cap on the scorpion's stinger that looked like the stinger so it wouldn't hurt him.

Narrator: And there's also a rule on set that no bugs are hurt during production. - In making of a movie, you can't harm a cockroach, or a fly, or a maggot. But if the fly flies to craft service, you can swat it. 

Narrator: He can get some of his bugs from pet suppliers, but most he goes out and collects himself. And Kutcher's home is also full of bugs, by choice.

Kutcher: Right now, I have mosquitoes, crane flies, caterpillars in my refrigerator. The world is filled with people who do not like insects which is a great opportunity to teach those people the joys and wonders of all of the arthropods in the world and how you can relate to them. And when you understand how they work, the world is a better place.

Kutcher: To make the spider go, I just tap her back legs. And this gets her to crawl up. To make her stop, I cover her eyes. She has eight eyes. She's just looking for a dark place.

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• Find your new show before the pain of "Westworld" season 2 coming to an end sinks in.
• From "Mr. Robot" to "Altered Carbon," here are 10 AI-infused shows that are sure to fill the void.

We have to face the inevitable: Westworld Season 2 is coming to an end. Soon, we'll be going through painful withdrawal from the show. It leaves a massive Westworld-shaped void that only sentient androids and cowboy hats can fill. Luckily, television is a vast treasure trove of programs, and some of them are just as gripping and mind-bending as the HBO sci-fi thriller.

If you, too, have a love of AI-infused shows, take your pick from the titles below. Each will happily serve as your host until Season 3 comes around.

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"Mr. Robot"

Where to Stream: Amazon Prime Video, USA Network

Starring: Rami Malek, Christian Slater, Portia Doubleday, Carly Chaikin, Grace Gummer, Martin Wallström

Elliot Alderson lives a double life. He's an in-house cybersecurity engineer during the day, and at night, a vigilante who uses his exemplary hacking skills to apprehend felons. His life turns upside down when an underground group of hackers called "fsociety" seeks his help to abolish E Corp (or as Elliot calls it, Evil Corp), a greedy, multinational corporation.

Psychological plot twists aside, Mr. Robot depicts an eerie near-future dystopia that's a tad too realistic. It'll send chills up your spine.

"Humans"

Where to Stream: Amazon Prime Video

Starring: Gemma Chan, Katherine Parkinson, Emily Berrington, Colin Morgan, Tom Goodman-Hill, Ruth Bradley

Just as Westworld has "hosts," Humans has "synths." Synths are embedded in society, and are comparable to near-future smartphones. They're built to be robotic assistants, and exist to serve humans in a variety of ways — from carrying out household chores to driving (even romancing!). But things take a turn when a small crop of synths start to exhibit human-like behavior and mental independence. Should humans still treat them as gadgets?

"Black Mirror"

Where to Stream: Netflix

Starring: Hannah John-Kamen, Michaela Coel, Bryce Dallas Howard, Daniel Kaluuya, Jon Hamm, Hayley Atwell

Black Mirror presents the opportunity to bend your mind and question your relationship with technology. A modern-day Twilight Zone peppered with dystopian elements and technological advancements, this anthology explores a medley of disastrous, tech-related scenarios. You'll see gadgets like a memory-erasing headband, a machine that allows you to interact with comatose patients, a digital DNA scanner, and more. These stories were created to remind us the technology we lose ourselves in could be the cause of our destruction. Creepy, right?

• Christian Bale yelled at several members of the crew and threatened to leave the production of "Terminator Salvation."
• Jeremy Renner was so frustrated by playing the brainwashed version of Hawkeye that he asked the producers to off his character.

There was an infamous incident on the set of Terminator Salvation where Christian Bale snapped at the director of photography for changing the lighting levels during the filming of an important scene. Bale proceeded to yell at several members of the crew (including the director) and threatened to leave the production if things didn't change.

Christian Bale's tirade on the set of Terminator Salvation may sound like an overreaction to most people, but it can come off as just another day at the office to those who have worked on a movie set.

This is due to how stressful such productions are for all involved, especially as the length of time spent on set is costing the project more money with each passing hour.

The production of a major Hollywood movie can be stressful for all involved, so it's no surprise that certain scenes can cause actors to want to quit the movie industry altogether. There have even been times when scenes have been so hard to film that the actors have risked their career by walking off the set and going home.

We are here today to look at the movie scenes that caused famous actors to rethink their career options.

From the wizard of Middle-Earth who almost got on the boat to the West a few years early to the member of The Avengers who wanted to bow out during the team's finest hour, here are the 15 Movies That Made Actors Want To Quit!

"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" - Jessica Alba

The Fantastic Four movie franchise seems to be cursed due to the numerous behind-the-scenes drama that has plagued each new entry in the series.

The Roger Corman Fantastic Four movie was a low-budget affair that was created to keep hold of the movie rights, while the recent Fantastic Four movie was critically panned and dogged by rumors of director Josh Trank acting like a lunatic during its production.

The two Fantastic Four movies that were made in 2005 and 2007 had their fair share of behind-the-scenes drama. There was one particular incident that almost made Jessica Alba quit acting altogether.

The incident involved a scene in the second Fantastic Four movie where Sue Storm was supposed to cry. According to Jessica Alba, Tim Story (the director of the movie) told her that her crying acting looked too real and too painful.

He wanted her to cry in a way that still made her look pretty, so he asked her to keep her face flat, as they could add the tears in later using CGI.

It was during the filming of this scene that Jessica Alba began to doubt her acting ability and was worried that Tim Story didn't trust enough in her instincts to work with her properly.

"Interview with the Vampire" - Brad Pitt

One of the most difficult aspects of making any vampire-centric movie or TV show is the lack of natural light. Vampires are burned by sunlight, which means that they exclusively hang out at nighttime or in dark venues. This can be tricky for movie productions, as it costs more money for film crews to work at night.

Brad Pitt has talked about how much he suffered on the set of Interview with the Vampire due to how he spent almost six months working in the dark.

Pitt spent the bulk of the production wearing an uncomfortable costume, as well as thick yellow contact lenses, but these were only a minor annoyance compared to his time in Pinewood Studios.

The production of Interview with the Vampire used the legendary Pinewood Studios in London for the scenes involving the Théâtre des Vampires, as well as the resting place of the Parisian vampires.

It was during the filming of these scenes that Brad Pitt seriously considered quitting the production, to the point where he called David Geffen (one of the producers of the movie) and asked how much money it would cost to quit the movie.

Geffen told Pitt that it would personally cost him over forty-million dollars to leave the movie at that late stage, which convinced Pitt to stay.

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" - Ian McKellen

The Fellowship of the Ring was made up of members that varied greatly in size, as Frodo and the hobbits were as small as children, while the rest were of a regular height.

This led to Peter Jackson and his crew using several forced perspective tricks in order to make it seem like the hobbit actors were a lot smaller than they actually were.

The Hobbit movies were filmed using specal cameras that recorded at forty-eight frames-per-second, which meant that a lot of the tricks used on The Lord of the Rings would no longer work. This meant that a lot of the trilogy had to be filmed using green screens in order to facilitate the higher quality of the visuals.

The increased usage of green screens came as a shock to Ian McKellen, who was now given a lot less material to work with as an actor.

He almost quit the production within the first few days of filming, as he felt that he couldn't do his job if he was acting on his own.

The crew of The Hobbit did their best to keep Ian McKellen's spirits high, which resulted in a "Gandalf Appreciation Day" for him. McKellen remained with The Hobbit movies and is considered to be one of the highlights of the trilogy.

• From the movies to driving, these are seemingly normal tasks us citizens take for granted.

Have a normal phone call/video chat with friends

Go to the movies

Go out to dinner

• Housing in San Francisco is so costly, restaurant workers are leaving the city for more affordable regions, according to a report in The New York Times.
• Some of the city's restaurants can't find — or can't afford — front-of-house workers. They're finding solutions for operating without helping hands.
  
• Some restaurant that look like full-service spots have diners seat themselves, fetch their own water, bus their table, and more.

There's something different about San Francisco's restaurant scene these days.

Its workers are vanishing.

A new report in The New York Times posits that in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in America, rising rents and labor costs have forced some restaurants to go without servers. In their absence, diners at popular restaurants such as Souvla and RT Rotisserie seat themselves, fetch their own water, bus their table, and more. 

Restauranteurs call it the "fast-fine" or "fine-casual" model of dining.

Part of the problem is that restaurant owners can no longer afford staffing their front-of-house. Commercial rent prices have soared alongside housing costs.

But the Bay Area also faces a dire shortage of restaurant workers, as those who can't afford to live near their place of work move away to more affordable regions.

Restaurant workers in San Francisco earned a median income of just over $30,000 in 2017. That makes them some of the highest-paid restaurant workers in America, according to a study by real-estate site Trulia. But their income still isn't enough to buy a home.

Approximately 0.1% of homes on the market are affordable for the city's restaurant workers, Trulia found. The median list price in San Francisco was $1.477 million at the time the study was conducted. By comparison, restaurant workers in Detroit can afford 50% of homes on the market, while only 2% of homes are affordable in New York.

"We can sit around here, and we can complain and whine and moan," said Charles Bililies, owner of Greek restaurant Souvla. "We can be very negative about this."

"Or we can sort of turn this on its head and see an opportunity," he told the Times.

At Souvla, the counter-service restaurant has the look of a full-service spot. Diners sit at copper tables and wood counters under the windows, which flood the airy, high-ceilinged dining room with natural light. Copper pans and fresh herb sprigs hang on the walls.

A simple menu offers just two entrées — a sandwich and a salad — made with diner's choice of meat or vegetables. Prices range between $12 and $15 a plate.

There are no servers at Souvla, though runners do bring food to your table.

"Souvla was the beginning of this whole new onslaught of things that in every single way look like a full-service restaurant — nice décor; good wine list; tasty, healthy foods. It's much more chef- and ingredient-driven," Gwyneth Borden, the executive director of the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, told the Times. "But it's 'take a number and go to a table.'"

One restaurant in San Francisco has hatched a more surprising way to operate without restaurant workers. The buzzy new burger joint, Creator, which soft-opens for lunch on Wednesday, uses a robot to prep, cook, and assemble hamburgers with no human help.

Founded in 2009, the startup formerly known as Momentum Machines has been quietly tinkering with its mechanical line cook out of a vacant retail space in SoMa for almost two years. Its robot uses an array of sensors and computers and makes up to 130 burgers an hour.

It eliminates the need for line cooks, though as many as nine "robot attendants" will be on the floor to take orders, deliver burgers and drinks, and restock ingredients.

Creator isn't the only restaurant putting robots to work. Cafe X relies on a robotic coffee bar to take your order and make your drink — no human interaction required.

SEE ALSO: This robot-powered burger restaurant says it's paying employees $16 an hour to read educational books while the bot does the work

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For years, Silicon Valley has tried to engineer methods for living better, longer and easier, with mixed results. 

Some have even opted out of real food altogether, instead relying on products like Soylent— a bland but nutrient rich liquid.

But for those looking to not just simplify their eating, but also lose weight and curb their appetite, the ketogenic diet ("keto" for those in the know) has become something of a cult-favorite eating plan, even attracting the likes of the Kardashian sisters and LeBron James.  

People credit the fat-fueled diet craze with helping them lose weight and stay full, because it turns on the same metabolism mode (called "ketosis") triggered by starvation. It moves the body into a fat-store-burning state, instead of relying on carbohydrates for energy.

But as I recently discovered, the keto diet is not easy to follow.

It's true that by sticking to a low-carb, high-fat routine you're allowed to eat some traditional diet no-no's like bacon, eggs, butter, and plenty of creamy salad dressing. However, keto dieters are limited in what else they can eat: Not too many carrots, watch the berry intake, and forget about quinoa. 

Ketolent (though not the same brand as Soylent) theoretically takes all the work out of the keto diet, with a ready-to-mix shake. When I found out about the product, I thought it was worth a try.

I had no idea what kind of wild ride I was about to endure.

SEE ALSO: An exercise scientist says Silicon Valley's favorite diet is a scary 'experiment that the population is doing on itself'

The recipe for Ketolent was developed by 35-year-old Ted Tieken, who's been on the keto eating plan since 2014. Tieken says the high-fat diet has turned around his chronic pain, left him more energized, and helped him lose 35 pounds.

"When I first started making the shakes, I loved that I didn't have to worry about what to eat for lunch and I could focus on everything else going on in my life," Tieken told Business Insider in an email.  

He started selling Ketolent in December 2014, and now says he averages one shake a day, (sometimes two) and recommends other keto fans with a busy schedule do the same.

"I usually either have one for breakfast and skip lunch, or skip breakfast and have one for lunch," he said. "Too many calories is a real problem in the modern food system, and we've engineered our product to give our customers as much satiety as we can so we can give them control over their calories."

His company, Sated, says the insta-blend isn't just designed for time-pressed techies; it's a for anyone who wants to avoid the difficult work of figuring out what to eat on the keto meal plan.

It costs $90 for a 30-serving supply, which means that a single keto shake comes out to $3 per meal.

The shake consists of Sated-branded powder mixed with water, plus a fatty oil blend. It includes olive, flax, and coconut oils and packs a whopping 280 calories per scoop, providing the heft of my 400 calorie breakfast shake.

People on the keto diet usually get at least 60% of their calories from fat — nearly double the recommended daily dose.

When prepared as a 12 ounce shake, Ketolent packs 35 grams of fat into my breakfast, providing nearly half of my recommended total fat for the day (45%), and 60% of my daily saturated fat.

It's not even 10 a.m. They weren't kidding about this eat more fat business.

The keto diet is focused on healthy fats. But when I'm not slurping shakes, it can be a confusing eating plan, because some healthy foods like carrots and beans are banned.

I freaked out on day one of my new experiment when I realized that I'd inadvertently added half and half into my coffee.

A couple teaspoons added to mellow out my morning cup amounts to more than one additional gram of carbohydrates a day, which is a lot when trying to stay under the rigid 20-grams-of-carbs-a-day version of the keto plan. 

And I have to completely ban carbohydrate-rich foods that are staples of a cheap, healthy diet — like beans, quinoa and whole grains. 

It all makes me glad I don't have to worry about what keto-approved food to eat for breakfast, before my brain (and caffeine) kicks in. Instead, I just mix up a Ketolent shake.

If you've ever commuted on New York's subways in rush hour traffic, you may have found your eyes drifting to the open cellphone of the person seated beside you. 

This total stranger and fellow commuter might be texting a friend about dinner plans. They might be reading a book on their phone. They might be watching a movie, or browsing the web, or scrolling through Spotify. 

But other times, you'll find that the person seated beside you— their cellphone held out openly in their hand for all to see — is engaged in an activity that's a tad more intimate than dinner plans. Sometimes, you'll find that the person is sexting, or sending deeply personal text messages, or browsing Tinder, or sending dick picks. 

As a New York commuter, I've seen all of the above. Often, I've found it difficult to look away. 

New York-based photographer Jeff Mermelstein also has trouble looking away.

Mermelstein has dedicated a large part of his street photography to capturing these intimate, fleeting messages.

The images reveal deeply personal messages taken when the subject is unaware. Closely cropped, the photos reveal few identifying details other than a lacquered fingernail or a hand tattoo. 

"She likes ruff [sic] sex," one person types out. 

"Trust me we look like our pics for sure," writes another. "Tell your lady my wife has the same desire she has."

Other messages are more emotionally wrought. 

"This past weekend I did Ayahuasca and you came," a person writes. "It's taken me all week to figure out how I deeply regret not taking ownership for my actions and in hindsight I treated you with extreme disregard."

"Start your chemotherapy from tomorrow, please," another message reads. "I know this is very unfair of life. I wish I could do something to take away your pain abd [sic] sickness...if I could I would do anything to save you."

Here's some of Mermelstein's photos:

"We need to really investigate the Illuminati."

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"I miss you."

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"She likes ruff sex."

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One of the scariest and most disturbing movies of the year centers around an artist, played by Toni Collette, who makes miniature models while dark things start happening all around her. While there's plenty of stuff in "Hereditary" which will make you uncomfortable, these models play a big role in the creep factor. We spoke with Steve Newburn, the owner of Applied Arts FX Studio in Canada, to find out what was involved in making these tiny, detailed works of art. Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator:"Hereditary"" has been called, "The Scariest Movie of the Year"

Mom? - I don't like this. Dad, I don't like this. - What's Happening? - Peter! 

Narrator: And one reason for that is these creepy model houses.

Steve Newburn: In this movie, the models almost became a character in the movie in a sense.

Narrator: Steve Newburn is the owner of Applied Arts FX Studio in Canada. He's done visual effects for "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Inception."

Newburn: My team and I, we built all the prosthetics and models for "Hereditary."

Narrator: If you haven't seen it yet, turn back now, because there's some possible spoilers ahead.

Minature models are used all the time in movies. Filmed in a way to make them look like a life-sized object.

Newburn: Usually with miniature work, the intent is not to see it. It's intended to duplicate a real thing.

Narrator: But in "Hereditary", the miniatures were actually part of the story. Toni Collette's character creates the models in preparation for a gallery. Steve and his crew were tasked with making about 15 of them to match the life-sized film sets.

Newburn: We had a thousand pieces at one point and really didn't know exactly how they went together.

Narrator: The whole process took quite a bit of time to complete.

Newburn: Ten weeks with a crew of about half a dozen people.

Narrator: The buildings included a funeral home, a preschool, a hospice and an accident scene. The largest of the models was a copy of the family home. And its exteriors were modeled after a real house.

Newburn: Yeah, I went down in 6-8 weeks before they started filming and just kind of surveyed the house. Took several hundred photos, a bunch of measurements, that sort of thing.

Narrator: He worked with the director to nail down all the details.

Newburn: Flooring, they'd sent us samples, wallpaper, they would send up samples. All that stuff would be taken and scaled down to the appropriate scale.

Narrator: The house was built in nine separate pieces. 

Newburn: We built the entire thing as a giant puzzle where you could remove sections of it to shoot from that location.

Narrator: The models that didn't need to resemble the set, were built using generic images online as a guide. Like the preschool. All of the furniture was either handmade or 3D printed depending on the complexity.

Newburn: If they were a wood finish, odds are we actually made them out of wood. If they were something that was metal or super detailed, 3D printed quite often.

Narrator: They had multiple in-house 3D printers working simultaneously, while outsourcing some of the work. They also had to create some creepy looking figurines of the characters.

Newburn: The people were, they were all 3D printed. Some of them were sculpted. Toni Collette for example, we took that from a digital scan of Toni we did in New York. The grandmother was a scan of somebody else.

Narrator: The car used in the most disturbing scene in the movie also had to look just like the one in the film.

Newburn: The car we modeled and 3D printed. It was a Volvo, I believe it was a V70. It's the exact model car they used in the movie.

Narrator: Some of the models were finished and then taken apart to make them look like they were in progress. 

Newburn: There was a lot of pieces of furniture, for example, that we made that we just like, let's leave that out on the side and it's on a shelf somewhere. She hasn't quite finished it. That kind of thing.

Narrator: Another important set piece was a house sinking into the ground. It was made with card foam and covered in real dirt and soil.

Newburn: Supposed to be showcasing time passing. And like, these things have been sinking into the ground like quicksand kind of thing. And as they get further down, they're also a lot more deteriorated.

Narrator: After all the hard work, many of the models were ultimately destroyed by Toni Collette's character as she starts breaking down.

Don't you ever raise your voice at me! I am your mother!

Newburn: They were all built to be smashed.

Narrator: Steve says that they actually filmed the scene for smashing the models, which ended up being cut from the film.

Newburn: Some of the ones that were actually intended to be break-away and come apart and get squished were built out of basswood and balsa wood. Other ones that weren't intended to be smashed where MDF, which is ahigh-density fiber, like cardboard kind of wood.

Narrator: But Steve says watching his masterpieces get destroyed is all just part of the job.

Newburn: It's kind of run of the mill for the miniature side of things. Most of the time when you're building a miniature, it's for the purpose of it being blown up, or smashed, or destroyed in some respect. It's actually the thing you kind of look forward to.

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• Kim Kardashian West captioned a recent photo with Chicago "💕 Chi 💕 Noel 💕." 
• The caption most likely insinuates that Chicago's middle name is Noel.
• If that's true, that would mean that Kim and Chicago share the same middle name.

Does Chicago West, 5 months, have a middle name? Taking to Instagramon July 2, Kim Kardashian, 37, seemed to reveal that baby Chi is in fact her and Kanye West‘s, 41, first child to have three monikers! Sharing a sweet selfie of herself with her daughter, Kim wrote, “💕 Chi 💕 Noel 💕,” most likely insinuating that Chicago’s middle name is Noel. And if the name sounds familiar, it should! Kim’s own middle name is actually Noel, so it makes perfect sense she’d want her daughter to carry on the legacy.

“Pretty like mum noel,” one Instagram commenter wrote. Another gushed, “She has a Middle Name 😍.” In the photo, Chicago is making a hilarious face with her mouth in a pout and one eye slightly more closed than the other. SO cute! Meanwhile, Kim appears makeup-free in a tracksuit in the background. However, while it is a surprise Chicago has a middle name, the fact that it’s Noel was fairly expected from eagle-eyed fans. After all, some believed Chicago’s first name would be Noel, before her actual name was announced.

For one, fans thought Kimye would stick with the “N” theme for their girls, as their first daughter is named North West. And since Chi was due around Christmastime, others did in fact suggest Noel. Like Kim and Chicago, Kanye too has a middle name, Omari. However, North and Saint West, 2, do not.

When Kim first announced Chicago’s name in January, there was no mention of Noel — or a middle name at all for that matter. In fact, when Chi’s birth certificate was revealed, there was no middle name at all. However, it’s entirely possible to give your child a middle name after the fact. If your baby is under one-year-old, parents can change or add a middle name by submitting a request, according to Legal Zoom.

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