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CAA vet Wendy Smith has joined Rockstar Games co-founder Dan Houser’s Absurd Ventures as chief operating officer of the media and entertainment company.

Absurd Ventures was launched in June by Houser, who spent more than 20 years as lead writer and creative director for Rockstar’s games and game series, which sold more than 500 million units, including Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption.

Smith will oversee business operations, finance, communications, legal, Hr, external partnerships and philanthropy for the new company, which has a focus on creating characters and worlds that can be expressed in many different forms, including video games, TV, film and a wide range of multiplatform content.

“Introducing new IP into the world is hard — games take a long time to produce and are very expensive,” Smith told Variety. “We mitigate that risk through smaller outputs on projects – whether it’s graphic novels, podcasts or television. Our...

A Texas teenager lost part of his leg and may permanently lose his eyesight after attempting to set off a self-made explosive device of 180 sparklers Saturday night, multiple outlets report. According to Click 2 Houston, 15-year-old Rowdy Radford bent down to light the homemade "sparkler bomb" tied together with tape when the creation blew up in his face. A GoFundMe page set up to help with Radford's medical expenses says the teen is on a breathing machine at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital after having part of his left leg amputated. Doctors are working to save the rest of the leg.

A Texas teenager lost part of his leg and may permanently lose his eyesight after attempting to set off a self-made explosive device of 180 sparklers Saturday night, multiple outlets report. According to Click 2 Houston, 15-year-old Rowdy Radford bent down to light the homemade "sparkler bomb" tied together with tape when the creation blew up in his face. A GoFundMe page set up to help with Radford's medical expenses says the teen is on a breathing machine at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital after having part of his left leg amputated. Doctors are working to save the rest of the leg.

Ashley said goodbye to Ben, but Ben’s saying hello to increased sales of the wines he makes at Evolve Winery!

While the financial world faced a major crisis as the stock market dropped by roughly five percent on Aug. 4, one business man — Bachlorette loser Ben Flajnik — seemed to be unaffected. In fact, the 28-year-old winemaker — who was the runner up in Ashley Hebert‘s season of The Bachelorette — says fans are showing more interest in his wines! And Ashley’s rejection may just be the catalyst for his Evovle Winery‘s recent spike in popularity!

“There have been quite a few submissions to the Evolve Winery website,” Ben tells Sonoma’s Press Democrat. “I think I have thousands of emails, but I haven’t looked at them.”

In fact, Ben and his partners Mike Benziger and Danny Fay are trying to make their wines affordable to a broader market.