It’s no secret that the cultural landscape of America and beyond is shifting at the speed of light. It’s becoming all too common for businesses, organization, and brands to publicly flounder in the current of change, either by not changing fast enough with the times, or through misappropriating cultural movements in lame attempts to appear relevant.

In this epoch of social media, the discourse around games is ruled by the hot take. What works, what’s broken, how much worse a game is than its competition, and a heaping helping of shade thrown on the company that made it, to boot – nothing is off-limits when it comes to picking apart the latest release.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t want you to be a cynic.

Let’s get the elephant in the (Austin Convention Center) room out of the way first – no one can truly “replace” political satirist godfather Jon Stewart. His acerbic wit and genuine passion – and rage! – helped us get through the nightmare that was the Bush years. (And for that we are eternally grateful.)

Media literacy has always been an important skill in navigating a world filled with politicians comfortable with bending the truth to fit the audience they’re currently talking to, or to service a policy goal. But in the era of President Trump, identifying “fake news” has become vital.

It’s easy to forget in our little Austin bubble that the housing crisis we negotiate every day is something communities across the country are also grappling with.

Jonah Peretti recently oversaw layoffs at BuzzFeed that resulted in 200 staffers losing their jobs, but at his Friday SXSW Conference keynote speech, he declared his optimism about the future of digital media publications, as well as for the future of the internet as a whole.

One of Hollywood’s most subversive icons has just been added to the SXSW Conference with the addition of a masterclass by Jodie Foster. She is part of a roster announcement that also includes reporter Katie Couric and futurist Malcolm Gladwell, while Austin filmmaker PJ Raval will deliver this year’s Film keynote speech.

As e-sports continues to grow beyond its insulated walls and make its way into the consciousness of the uninitiated SXSW does what it does best: sees the trend and capitalizes. In this case they’re bringing e-sports pros to town for some top-tier Halo play.