With the release of "The Meg," shark movies are hot right now. So we looked at the Metacritic score for each of these films (not including direct-to-video or made-for-TV movies — sorry, "Sharknado") and critic's reviews to see how these shark movies rank. 

Here are the best shark movies of all time, ranked. 

14. "Jaws: The Revenge" (1981) wasn’t the best.

"‘Jaws: The Revenge’ is not simply a bad movie, but also a stupid and incompetent one — a ripoff." - Roger Ebert

13. "Shark Lake" (2015) seemed like it was edited for broadcast.

"Shark Lake lacks bite. Its audience doesn't even get to revel in blood and guts; the whole thing seems like it was edited for broadcast." - Martin Tsai, Los Angeles Times

12. "Shark Night 3D" (2011) had some disappointing shark attack scenes.

"Unlike his ‘Snakes on a Plane,’ director David R. Ellis' sharks-in-a-lake thriller displays little sense of its scenario's camp potential. Gore, too, is in short supply on account of the pic's PG-13 rating, which renders the attack scenes nearly toothless." - Rob Nelson, Variety

It's hard to believe, but women simply aren't on an equal playing field with men yet … and it's even less equal for women of color, trans women, and women of other marginalized groups. 

And it's not just the wage gap — there are lots of ways that people who identify as women are not treated equally to people who identify as men. 

Here are ways women still aren't equal all over the world.

The wage gap still exists everywhere.

According to Pew Research Center, women now make 82% of what men make in the United States, and they’d have to work 47 extra days to catch up. Globally, the World Economic Forum reported in 2017 that the gap is 68%.

Women are far less likely to hold positions of power in the US and globally.

Obviously, America has yet to elect a president who isn't a man, but in our government as a whole, women are underrepresented. Only 20% of women hold seats in United States Congress, which is a massive disparity, and according to the Washington Post, there are three men for every woman who holds a political office in the US.

And it's not just America; most nations have never had a female leader, according to The Pew Research Center.

A little something called the "pink tax."

Products geared toward women that cost more than similar products toward men are called "the pink tax," and this method of pricing is still rampant, especially in the US.

As USA Today pointed out, girls’ and women’s clothing and personal care items all cost more than men’s, and so do toys aimed at girls. In fact, in a study by The New York City Office of Consumer Affairs found that items aimed at women and girls cost 7% more on average. 

Going to Blockbusters was a cherished event for kids and parents alike. For many people in the '90s, a trip to the video store was the highlight of their weekends, and there's no doubt that Blockbuster Video was a pivotal part of American culture.

There might only be one Blockbuster left in the country, but there are certain things its loyal members will never forget.

Here are 19 things anyone who used to go to Blockbuster will remember.

You had to get a membership card.

Becoming a Blockbuster member felt like joining an elite club.

The store sold giant buckets of popcorn.

You could fill your own bucket with popcorn, which actually tasted like authentic movie theater popcorn.

It also had a huge candy section to make it feel like you were in a movie theater.

The candy section was expertly placed so you couldn't resist buying something before you checked out.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

Online marketplace eBay is home to a seemingly endless amount of products at great prices on a daily basis. Now, as summer comes to an end, eBay is giving people an even better reason to shop with a wide selection of deals. 

For a limited time, you can save up to 70% on clothes and shoes for men and women, home and garden tools, and pool and patio accessories. Prices in the eBay end of summer sale are as marked, so you can effortlessly shop and save.

Since eBay's interface isn't always so intuitive or easy to use, we combed through all the deals to pick out the best ones. You'll find bargains on polos, jeans, activewear, sneakers, sandals, lawn mowers, grills, fire pits, and so much more. 

Whether you're looking for a solid deal on stylish clothing or you need some backyard essentials for your last party of the summer, you can find it here.

Even if you don't find something you've been looking specifically included in this sale, you can probably still find that same thing discounted elsewhere on eBay. You can learn more about shopping with confidence on eBay here.

Shop the eBay end of summer sale now.

Check out some of the best deals, below: 

Men's Nautica Ivy Polo Shirt

$23 (Originally $59.90), available in eight colors [You save $36.90]

Women's Cole Haan Open Toe Casual Slide Sandals

$47.99 (Originally $211) [You save $163.01]

Coleman XTR3 3 Burner Outdoor Grill

$387.29 (Originally $699.99) [You save $312.70]

Music icon Aretha Franklin died on Thursday, August 16 at age 76. Her decades-long career included dozens of awards and honoree performances that ranged from personal to political and celebratory.

From singing at Martin Luther King Jr.'s funeral in 1968 to performing at President Barack Obama's first swearing-in ceremony, Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin participated in major historical moments.

Here are 17 photos that demonstrate Franklin's illustrious life and career.

This photo captures a moment during Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s memorial service when Coretta Scott King was listening to Aretha Franklin sing.

According to the Associated Press, Franklin performed in Memphis, Tennessee on August 16, 1968 during memorial services for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Four years later, Aretha Franklin appeared at an event with Reverend Jesse Jackson in New York.

Franklin was engaged in politics early on in her career. Here she was with Jackson at an event for PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity), an organization founded by the Reverend with the aim of "expanding educational, business and employment opportunities for the disadvantaged and people of color."

Franklin broke record after record at the Grammy Awards.

In 1975, she won the award for for best rhythm and blues performance (female). Franklin won every Grammy Award in that category for the first eight years after it was introduced in 1968.

• The 2019 BMW X4 is a "sport activity coupe," a fastback SUV that strives to combine sporty driving with crossover versatility.
• The styling is a bit confusing, but the X4's peppy 248-horsepower four-cylinder motor and crisp handling won me over.
• The BMW X4 has a pretty firm ride, so it might be the best highway cruising choice.

One of the more perplexing vehicles I've tested at Business Insider is the BMW X6.

Back in 2015, I sampled the X6 M, a high-performance version of the vehicle, a "sport activity coupe."

"It's certainly the oddest segment in the motoring world, outside of 'shooting brakes' (two-door station wagons) and limos with hot tubs," I wrote. 

That impression has long stayed with me, even as this weird segment has grown. It was the first thing I thought about when BMW was kind enough to loan me a X4 for a week. Would this smaller, less burly version of the X6 M, this fastback revamping of the stalwart X3 SUV, strike me as strange?

As it turned out, I had a good test lined up: a 250-mile round-trip run to my daughter's sleepaway camp in New York's Catskills. There would be highway driving and some nice twisty, windy roads to put this sportif SUV through its paces.

That's what these vehicles are all about. The idea is to combine crossover SUV versatility with sports-sedan styling and that whole "ultimate driving machine" vibe. I daresay, for the Bayerische Motoren Werke chariot to be all things to all people — but mainly something different from buyers who can't accept a sedan but don't want the stigma of an SUV.

A word on the "coupe" part of "Sport Activity Coupe." A coupé, of course, should have just two doors, not be a convertible, and historically not be a utility vehicle. Times change, obviously. You have to abandon your allegiances to traditional automotive nomenclature. Why? Because BMW says so.

This SAC, a 2019 X4 xDrive 30i, also arrived with all-wheel-drive, which again sort of bucks the whole coupé ideal, giving life to the notion that two-doors with sporting pretensions should be rear-wheel-drive machines.

But anyway, we must address the contraption before us, and so onward. Here's what I thought:

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Behold! The 2019 BMW X4 xDrive 30i! The paint job was a handsome "Dark Graphite Metallic." Styling? A sort of oomphed-up sedan, with a sloping fastback.

The signature BMW kidney grille dominates the front fascia.

A closer look at those bold chrome blades, framing the legendary BMW badge.

• The Volvo XC40 is the newest and smallest addition to the Swedish automaker's SUV lineup.
• It arrives at the perfect time for Volvo, as the luxury compact SUV segment evolves in the US.
• The XC40 is a tasteful, high-quality and exceptionally well-packaged small SUV for a starting price of around $33,000. It's also available via subscription through the Care by Volvo program, which lumps the car payment, insurance, and scheduled maintenance into one monthly fee.

The Volvo XC40 is the newest addition to the Swedish automaker's SUV lineup and it joins a growing segment of compact sport-utility vehicles and crossovers currently dominating the market.

Now eight years into its relaunch as a luxury brand under the Chinese automotive conglomerate, Geely Holding Group, Volvo has launched seven new models, three of which are SUVs: the XC90, XC60, and now the XC40.

The 40 is built on Volvo's proprietary small-car skeleton, denoted as the Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) platform which was co-developed with Geely.

As automobiles go, being the smallest and least expensive model in a lineup usually means you'll have to make some compromises — the evidence of which might manifest itself in lower-quality materials and fewer options than the pricier models.

That is not the case here. The XC40 feels nearly every bit as premium as a compact luxury four-wheeler should.

From the moment you pull open its hefty doors, plant yourself into the sculpted, leather and Alcantara-wrapped driver's seat, and grip the thick-rimmed steering wheel with the stoic chrome-plated Volvo badge planted dead-center, you realize you're about to pilot a very capable, exceptionally well-built machine.

At the same time, it's also quaint. And comfortable.

Unlike its larger siblings, the XC40 has no plug-in hybrid variant yet. It can only be had with one of two versions of the company's four-cylinder, turbocharged, gas-powered engines — available with 187-horsepower, or a more energetic 248-horsepower variant. An all-electric version is currently in development.

Volvo recently loaned us a fully loaded XC40 R-Design for a weeklong drive in Los Angeles. These are our impressions:

In pictures, the XC40 looks deceptively small. In reality, it's compact enough for city driving but has plenty cargo and passenger room for longer trips.

The Volvo family resemblance here is unmistakable. By now, you've seen what Volvo lovingly calls the "Thor's hammer" effect prominently featured in the automaker's signature headlights. Up front on the XC40, it gives the car a subtle, unique flair that makes it instantly memorable.

The inscribed "VOLVO" badge on the reflector lens is a nice touch.

Striking shots of the Milky Way under a thunderstorm, snow reflecting the northern lights, and the International Space Station flying between sun spots are among the photographs shortlisted for this year's Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year award.

The Milky Way lights up the night sky in this shot taken in New Zealand's Cable Bay. Photographer Mark Gee stitched 42 photographs together to create this panoramic image.

"In today’s light-polluted cities, it’s becoming harder and harder for most of us to see the full glory of the night sky but [this competition] reminds us that we live on a very beautiful planet, in a universe full of wonders," Kulula told Business Insider.

The Eagle Nebula, also known as Messier 16, is a young cluster of stars surrounded by hot hydrogen gas lying 7,000 light years from earth. Marcel Drechsler captured the famous Pillars of Creation — collections of interstellar dust — in the center of his photo.

"The camera can see things that the human eye can't," Kulula said. "It can take long exposures, gathering light over minutes or hours until incredibly faint and distant objects become visible."

"Holding Due North" captures a weathered juniper tree in Montana's northern Rocky Mountains, surrounded by star trails. At the very center is Polaris, the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor.

It took photographer Jake Mosher several test shots to make sure that Polaris was in the right position, but things lined up while the moon provided enough light to illuminate the foreground.

• The Dele Alli challenge is infuriating people all over the UK.
• It looks so simple, but is agonisingly difficult to get your head around.
• Scroll down to see the author break down how it's done.
• Read all of Business Insider's coverage for the 2018-2019 European soccer season here.

In the UK, the "In My Feelings" challenge is already dead and buried.

Instead, everyone is trying to replicate the soccer celebration of Tottenham Hotspur's mercurial midfielder Dele Alli.

Like most viral challenges, Alli's celebration looks simple at first glance — like an upside down "OK" gesture — but it's infuriatingly difficult to master.

Over the last few days, celebrities and the general public alike have tried with varying levels of success to recreate the celebration.

The #DeleChallenge has even made it across the pond to the US:

Some people have even speculated that you need to be double-jointed to master the post — but that's not the case.

If you're still struggling to get your fingers in the right place, scroll down to see the author show you how it's done...

SEE ALSO: Dele Alli rapped about being overpaid as he landed a private jet in LA for an 8-day party

Start off with a regular "OK" gesture...

... Then, push your thumb upwards so that your thumb and your index finger are now above your third, fourth and fifth finger...

... Now, flip your hand, rotating about 180 degrees towards you.

Earlier this year, financial services firm Deloitte released its annual Football Money League, charting the massive revenues of Europe's biggest football clubs.

As the wallets of the continent's biggest teams continue to grow, so too do their online presences.

Social media has become a crucial part of the way the largest clubs connect with their fans around the world, with some even hosting foreign language Twitter accounts.

Social media is also increasingly driving revenue for clubs as brands target players with large followings for sponsorships.

There is still some disparity, though, between the clubs with the most money and the clubs with the most fans (on social media, anyway).

Scroll down to see who are the most popular teams from Deloitte's rich list, ranked in ascending order of combined followers on Facebook, Instagram and their biggest Twitter page — rounded to the nearest hundred thousand.

SEE ALSO: The 20 richest football clubs in the world

20. Schalke 04 — 4.1 million followers

Followers (millions):

Facebook: 2.9

Instagram: 0.5

Twitter: 0.7

The "04" stands for when the Club was founded… in 1904. With that much history, you can bet the team has built up a huge fanbase, and much of that has migrated online.

Though the club is one of Germany's wealthiest and most stable, its place in the Money League is under threat because of its absence from UEFA competitions this season.

19. West Ham United — 4.3 million followers

Followers (millions):

Facebook: 2.3

Instagram: 0.6

Twitter: 1.4

A surprisingly low Facebook following puts East London's West Ham near the bottom of the list.

Their most-followed player is the Mexican forward Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, who has 5.2 million followers on Instagram.

18. Southampton FC — 4.5 million followers

Followers (millions):

Facebook: 3.1

Instagram: 0.3

Twitter: 1

This is Southampton's first ever appearance in the Money League and it is largely because of broadcasting revenue, which accounts for £143 million of the club's total revenue.

The club signed Danny Ings during the transfer window who has almost 700,000 followers on Instagram.

• The Boeing 747 jumbo jet's days as a passenger plane are numbered. In fact, Boeing admits that the future of the 747 is as a cargo plane. 
• Over the past few years, many 747 operates have either retired or made plans to retire their jumbo jet fleets.
• Airlines have elected to go with smaller aircrafts from Airbus and Boeing. 

The jumbo jet's days as a passenger plane are numbered. The Boeing 747, once the go-to passenger jet for airlines around the world, is destined to live out its days as a cargo jet. 

"The future of the 747 is in the cargo business,"Boeing vice president of marketing Randy Tinseth told Business Insider at the 2018 Farnborough International Airshow.

According to Boeing, of 42,730 passenger jets customers are expected to order over the 20 years, only 60 will be aircraft similar in size to the jumbo jet. That works out to three Boeing 747-8s or Airbus A380s a year. 

And even then, they are mostly expected to be VIP transports, Tinseth said. 

Through July, Boeing has just 22 unfilled orders for the 747 and all of them are for the cargo variant. 

Over the past decade, Boeing did manage to sell 47 747-8 Intercontinental passenger jets that are currently in service with Air China, Korean Air, and Lufthansa. 

Korean Air and Lufthansa operate both the Boeing 747 and the rival A380 Superjumbo. 

According to Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr, the decision operate the 747 instead of smaller aircraft has to do with the amount of room the plane affords its premium cabin. 

"No airline in the world sells as many premium seats as Lufthansa," Spohr told us in a recent interview. "When we talk about an XL aircraft, we need 100 first and business class seats which nobody else has."

"That's why we operate the 747-8 on routes where others operate the (Boeing) 777," Spohr added. 

Unfortunately, there are way more airlines retiring their 747 fleets than there are adding to them. Last year, both Delta and United Airlines sent their aging 747 fleets to the scrap yard — marking the first time in nearly five decades that no US network carrier will fly passengers in a jumbo jet. 

Smaller and more affordable twin-jets like the Boeing 777 have taken over as the industry's passenger carrying workhorses. Their ability to deliver great range and performance at a fraction of the 747's operating costs make them virtually unbeatable.

The Boeing 747-8I lists for $402.9 million while the 747-8F is a few hundred grand more at $403.6 million.  

Sadly, this means the writing is on the wall. The Queen of the Skies will likely go out with a whimper rather than a bang. Here's a closer look at the planes airlines are using to replace the Boeing 747 jumbo jet:

SEE ALSO: I flew Virgin Atlantic from London to New York to see if Richard Branson's airline is still one of the world's best — here's the verdict

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1. Boeing 777: The Boeing 777-200's arrival in 1995 marked the beginning of the end of the jumbo jet.

However, it is the arrival of 777-300ER in 2002 that really sealed the deal. The 300ER can hold as many as 550 passengers with a range of up to 8,500 miles.

United,...

College football is nearly back and, as usual, a ton of teams will have changes to their uniforms.

The changes range from minor tweaks to full uniform makeovers as teams seek new excitement on the field. The big winner appears to be Adidas who added a bunch of FBS schools to their program.

Here is a rundown of the changes we have seen so far, with a lot of assistance from the invaluable Uni-Watch.

AIR FORCE — The Falcons have a new alternate uniform honoring the AC-130 aircraft.

ARIZONA STATE — The Sun Devils have a new head coach in Herm Edwards, and it appears they are going with a cleaner jersey. The sleeve stripes are gone, as well as the wordmark on the chest. Like several other schools, ASU has added a sublimated pattern as a reference to the state flag. Not seen here is white pants that can be worn with the white jersey and a dark grey jersey.

ARKANSAS — Some minor changes for the Razorbacks, and it appears they no longer have a matte helmet.

• With an uptick in news about food-poisoning outbreaks, pregnant women need to be aware of which foods carry certain risks.
• Foodborne illnesses such as listeria can be riskier for pregnant women and their unborn children than the average person. 
• Food-poisoning expert Bill Marler advises people to avoid foods including sprouts, raw eggs, and pre-cut fruits and vegetables while pregnant.

Food-poisoning outbreaks seem to be sweeping the United States this year. And, with news of outbreaks on the rise, expectant mothers need to be especially careful. 

While foodborne illnesses are rarely pleasant, certain types can hit pregnant people and newborns especially hard. According to food-poisoning expert Bill Marler, listeria should be a top concern for any expectant mother. 

"Listeria illnesses in moms pass to the baby in uterus and can kill or damage the baby," Marler, who is an attorney specializing in foodborne-illness cases, told Business Insider.

More than 200 people died in a listeria outbreak stemming from a meat-production plant in Polokwane, South Africa, earlier this year. Newborns were the most likely to be impacted by the outbreak, with 91 babies under the age of 28 days old dying as a result of listeriosis. 

To reduce the risk of foodborne illness, pregnant women should avoid eating certain foods, according to Marler. Here's what the food-poisoning expert says to cut from your diet, according to a list Marler wrote for Food Safety News and shared in conversations with Business Insider. 

SEE ALSO: Here's what a food-poisoning expert says you should avoid buying

Raw or undercooked meat

Rare meat is one of a number of things that Marler himself doesn't eat and advises against pregnant women consuming. If meat isn't cooked to 160 degrees, he says, bacteria can thrive and cause E. coli or Salmonella poisoning.

Imported soft cheeses like brie and feta

Listeria concerns mean that pregnant women shouldn't consume cheeses including brie, Camembert, Roquefort, feta, and Gorgonzola. 

Prewashed and precut fruits and vegetables

Precut and prewashed fruits and veggies have caused a number of issues already in 2018. McDonald's salads were linked to a parasitic illness outbreak that sickened more than 390 people, and an E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce sickened at least 197 and killed five people.

"Not every lettuce leaf in the field is contaminated with E. coli, but some of them are," Marler said earlier this year regarding the risks of prewashed, bagged lettuce."And when you mix and match it at a processing facility and chop it up, you get what you get."

Canada recently became the second country — and the first Group of Seven country — to legalize marijuana for adults.

As cultural attitudes change, governments around the world are looking to update their policies on drugs more generally. 

Uruguay, a small nation of around 3 million people in South America, set a global precedent when former president Jose Mujica signed a law to legalize marijuana in December of 2013. 

Nine US states — starting with Colorado in 2012 — have since developed mature recreational marijuana markets, powering a whole new industry. 

The global shift on drug policy even includes conservative countries like Lebanon, which is seeking to legalize medical marijuana after the consulting firm McKinsey suggested it as an approach to revitalizing the country's sluggish economy.

Colombia, which has suffered from decades of narco-related violence, took a different approach: rather than legalizing marijuana and other drugs outright, the country made it unconstitutional to criminalize the consumption of any drug.

"There is a major shift in approaches to medical marijuana across the Americas," Robert Muggah, the co-founder and research director of the Igarapé Institute, told Business Insider. "Almost every country in the Americas recognizes the medical potential of the plant. This is more radical then it seems." 

These are the five countries with the most progressive drug policies in North and South America according to the Igarapé Institute, a Brazilian think tank that focuses on drug policy and security:

SEE ALSO: Beer giants like Heineken and Constellation Brands are duking it out in the billion-dollar market for marijuana-infused drinks

Uruguay

Uruguay became the first country to legalize marijuana in December 2013 after former President Jose Mujica signed the legislation.

While it broke new ground as the first country to legalize the drug at the federal level, Uruguay's roll-out of a recreational marijuana industry has been bumpy, to say the least.

According to John Hudak, an expert on cannabis policy at the Washington D.C.-based Brookings Institution, Uruguay's legal cannabis providers have been marked by supply shortages and distribution problems, forcing some consumers to rely on the illegal black market. 

Canada

Canada made history in June when it became the first G7 nation to legalize marijuana at the federal level. While the law doesn't go into effect until October 17, countries around the world are watching Canada's rollout closely.

"Canada's decision to legalize marijuana is unprecedented among wealthy nations," Muggah, the co-founder and research director of the Igarapé Institute said.

Canada's legal marijuana industry has already given rise to large public corporations that are inking billion-dollar deals to sell and export Canadian marijuana all over the world. And because of the federal government's coherent stance on marijuana, big banks, and major institutional investors are jumping into the industry.

It remains to be seen, however, whether Canada's marijuana policy can achieve the stated goals of reducing youth access and keeping marijuana consumers from turning to the black market.

USA

Colorado became the first US state to legalize marijuana for adults over the age of 21 in 2012, followed by nine other states— including California and Massachusetts — by the beginning of 2018. 

On top of that, another 30 states have some form of medical marijuana laws on the books, including Oklahoma, one of the most conservative states in the US.

Neither Congress nor President Donald Trump's administration have legalized marijuana at the federal level (though there are a number of bills circulating around the House and Senate), so some questions still remain over whether the US will legalize marijuana outright. 

While multiple states have set up successful markets for recreational marijuana, Muggah said that some policies lack proper consideration for communities who were hurt most by drug prohibition. 

"While there have been important advances on the public health front, states and cities across the US are still lagging when it comes to criminal justice reform," Muggah said. 

• Buying a house has become more expensive than ever — home prices have increased significantly since the 1960s, when the median price of a home was less than $100,000 in today's dollars. 
• Today, the median home listing price in the US is nearly $280,000, according to Zillow, but that varies by state.
• We ranked the most affordable and most expensive places to buy a house according to median listing price.

In today's housing market, where you may have to save as long as ten years to afford a down payment, buying a house is a big deal.

The cost to buy a home has increased significantly since the 1960s, when the median price of a home was $11,900, or $96,681, when adjusted for inflation, according to a Student Loan Hero report. Today, the median home listing price in the US is $279,500, according to Zillow. 

But that number can vary depending on where you buy a home. Using data from Zillow, we took a look at the median home listing price in every state, including Washington, DC. 

Coastal states, such as Massachusetts and California, comprised the majority of the top ten most expensive places to buy a home. Meanwhile, Southern and Midwestern states, such as Ohio, Mississippi, and Iowa, are the most affordable places to buy a house.

Below, see how much a typical house costs right now in every state, ranked from least to most expensive.

SEE ALSO: What a $250,000 home looks like in the biggest city in every state

DON'T MISS: How much you need to earn to live in the most expensive zip code in every state

51. West Virginia

Median listing price: $159,000 

Median listing price per square foot: $94

50. Ohio

Median listing price: $169,900

Median listing price per square foot: $106

49. Arkansas

Median listing price: $174,900

Median listing price per square foot: $99

With nearly 200 million monthly users — of which a staggering 83 million are paid subscribers — Spotify is one of the most popular music services in the world. 

It's easy to understand why Spotify is so big. As a longtime paid subscriber, I have universally positive things to say about the streaming service. It has a huge music library, it's easy to use, and it works with every device I operate daily — a Pixel 2 smartphone, a MacBook Air, and Sonos speakers. It even integrates into my PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

But there's one function of Spotify that truly sold me on the service: The ability to upload music into my library on one device, and for that music to become available on most devices I own.

It's a little known convenience of Spotify that made the service far more useful to me — here's how it works:

SEE ALSO: We compared Spotify and Apple Music subscriptions — and the winner is clear

1. Uploading music to Spotify.

The process of uploading music to Spotify is super simple. First, click on this little drop-down menu, right next to your username (seen above).

Then select Settings, and scroll down to the area that says "Local Files":

From here, you can select "Add a Source," which allows you to select whichever folders on your computer contain audio files. I've selected iTunes, Downloads, Music, and Local Music, which can then be toggled on and off depending on what I want to show up in my Spotify library.

2. Add local music to playlists, like you would any other music.

Once you've added various directories to Spotify on the desktop, it's simply a measure of creating playlists so that you're able to save those playlists for offline listening.

Highlight whatever tracks you want, right-click while hovering over those tracks, and select the "Add to Playlist" option — like so:

You can add them to an existing playlist, or you can create a new one.

Either way, get whatever tracks you want into a playlist (or several separate ones — you do you), and grab your phone/tablet/whatever device you want to save those tracks on.

3. Navigate to your playlists section, find and select the playlist you just made, and click the "Downloaded Songs" toggle.

At this point, all you've got left to do is grab your favorite mobile device and download the playlist for offline listening. 

As you can see above, I've jumped to a smartphone where I'm logged in to the same paid Spotify account that I use on my computer. I'm connected to the same WiFi network as that computer, and ... well, that's pretty much it. 

I toggled the "Downloaded Songs" option, and that's that — the playlist is now on my Pixel 2, ready whenever I want to hear it.

• The Economist Intelligence Unit released its annual Global Livability Index, measuring the most livable cities in the world.
• For the first time in eight years, Melbourne, Australia, did not finish in the No. 1 spot.
• The cities were judged by metrics like crime rates, healthcare quality, infrastructure, and levels of corruption. 
• The US had several cities on the list, but none in the top 20.

When it comes to choosing a place to live, there are several factors to consider — climate, transportation options, and crime rates, to name a few.

Although it's hard to find a perfect match, a few select cities have the perfect combination of factors that make them the most livable in the world. 

The Economist Intelligence Unit released its annual Global Livability Index, and for the first time in eight years, Melbourne, Australia, did not take the top spot on the list.

The Economist ranked 140 major cities by averaging the results of five metrics:

• Stability, including the prevalence of petty and violent crime, the threat of terror, and the threat of military conflict
• Healthcare, including the availability and quality of healthcare, both public and private
• Culture and environment, including climate, level of corruption, level of censorship, and sporting availability
• Education, including the availability and quality of private education
• Infrastructure, including the quality of road networks and public transport, the availability of good quality housing, the quality of telecommunications, and the quality of water and energy provisions

If you're looking for an American city, you won't find one near the top — Honolulu was the highest American city on the list at 23, and the next one on the list was Pittsburgh at 32.

Read on to see the 50 most livable cities in the world for 2018.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best places to live in America for 2018

DON'T MISS: The most surprising things about America, according to a Silicon Valley engineer who moved from India 7 years ago

T-50. Los Angeles, USA

Overall rating (out of 100): 88.6

Stability: 75.0

Healthcare: 91.7

Culture and environment: 94.4

Education: 100.0

Infrastructure: 89.3

T-50. Atlanta, USA

Overall rating (out of 100): 88.6

Stability: 75.0

Healthcare: 91.7

Culture and environment: 91.7

Education: 100.0

Infrastructure: 92.9

49. San Francisco, USA

Overall rating (out of 100): 88.7

Stability: 85.0

Healthcare: 91.7

Culture and environment: 94.4

Education: 83.3

Infrastructure: 85.7

Over the past decade, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has built an expansive set of films while raising the critical and commercial expectations for ongoing movie series.

But extensive film franchises have been around for awhile, and several older series, like the film adaptations from J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books, have received more positive critical acclaim on average than Marvel's. And some are only getting better as time goes on, like "Mission: Impossible," which reached its critical zenith with "Fallout."

Stretching from the first James Bond film, 1962's "Dr. No;" to the latest MCU and "Star Wars" entries; this list we compiled from Metacritic data ranks prominent film franchises by their average critical reception (derived from the critical scores for each movie in a franchise).

Note: Metacritic only included franchises that had more than four films with scores on its site, and it excluded horror films and animated series.

Here are the 27 greatest movie franchises of all time, according to critics:

SEE ALSO: The 100 best science fiction movies of all time, according to critics

27. "Die Hard"— 58.4%

"Die Hard" (1988) — 70%
"Die Hard 2: Die Harder" (1990) — 67%
"Die Hard: With a Vengeance" (1995) — 58%
"Live Free or Die Hard" (2007)  — 69%
"A Good Day to Die Hard" (2013) — 28%

26. "Alien"— 59.5%

"Alien" (1979) — 83%
"Aliens" (1986) — 84%
"Alien 3" (1992) — 59%
"Alien Resurrection" (1997) — 63%
"Alien vs. Predator" (2004) — 29%
"Aliens vs. Predator - Requiem" (2007) — 29%
"Prometheus" (2012) — 64%
"Alien: Covenant" (2017) — 65%

25. "Jack Ryan"— 59.6%

"The Hunt for Red October" (1990) — 58%
"Patriot Games" (1992) — 64%
"Clear and Present Danger" (1994) — 74%
"The Sum of All Fears" (2002) — 45%
"Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" (2014) — 57%

• Teens are obsessed with Supreme, a skater brand that has seen mainstream success in recent years.
• Supreme has garnered a lot of attention in the past week after copies of the New York Post with Supreme ads on the cover flew off the shelves. Almost all Supreme products sell out instantly.
• Because of how quickly new products sell out, product launches, which fans call "drops," have become heavily hyped-up events.
• We went to the first big drop of the Fall/Winter 2018 season to see what it was like. 

Supreme, once a niche skater brand, has become Gen Z's latest obsession. 

Supreme was founded in 1994 by James Jebbia and has since grown from a skater-centric brand to a mainstream apparel brand with its own cult following. The brand ranked seventh among upper-income teens' favorite brands in a spring 2018 survey by Piper Jaffray, and in 2017, Supreme received a roughly $500 million cash infusion from The Carlyle Group, which valued the brand at $1 billion.

Earlier this week, loyal fans snatched up copies of the New York Post that featured a wraparound Supreme ad on the cover. The papers flew off the shelves, with copies of it now listed on eBay for many times its normal listing price. The paper typically costs $1.50.

It isn't just the branded newspaper that fans are willing to pay for — most Supreme products sell out almost instantly, oftentimes ending up on eBay for as much as eight times the retail price. 

Because of how quickly Supreme products sell out, the launches, known as "drops," have become some of the most anticipated events of the year for its followers. Supreme drops happen each Thursday throughout the Fall/Winter season and Spring/Summer season, both online and in stores. And if you're lucky, you'll be able to buy a product or two before the website crashes and everything sells out.  

We went to the highly anticipated first drop of the Fall/Winter 2018 season at the Supreme store on Lafayette Street in New York City. Here's what it was like:

SEE ALSO: These are the 20 biggest retailers in America

If you want to get into Supreme the day of a drop, which is every Thursday of the season, you have to register online for a spot in line in advance. The registration times are typically leaked by Supreme fan accounts like Twitter user @DropsByJay, who has over 115,000 followers.

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1029041339751575552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Supreme in store registration for NYC/LA

Happening Tuesday August 14th at 11am Eastern

Rt for good luck 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/raclk74SMM

Registration opens promptly at 11 a.m. I tried to register to get into this week's drop, but the registration portal was already closed by 11:01 a.m. because all of the spots were taken. I couldn't believe how fast registration had closed, especially because in order to register, you have to type in your name, email, phone, address, and credit-card number.

I went to the drop anyway to see what it would be like. Supreme has two stores in New York City: one in Brooklyn, and one in SoHo. I went to the location on Lafayette Street in SoHo.

• Summer blockbuster "Crazy Rich Asians" is set in Singapore, which is known worldwide for its extravagance and wealth.
• The Gardens By The Bay, featured in "Crazy Rich Asians," is a major landmark in Singapore, featuring more than a million plants, the world's largest glass greenhouse, and a grove of 160-foot tall 'supertrees.'
• I recently visited the Gardens By The Bay to see what it was like and found myself marveling at the beautiful park.

Singapore is known worldwide for its extravagance and wealth, and it's the setting of "Crazy Rich Asians," the summer blockbuster everyone's talking about based on the bestselling novel by Kevin Kwan.

The wedding at the heart of "Crazy Rich Asians" takes place at one of Singapore's most iconic sites: the $700 million futuristic botanic garden known as The Gardens By The Bay.

Built in 2012 on 250 acres of reclaimed land, Gardens By The Bay is a nature park built as part of the government's initiative to turn Singapore, long known as “the garden city,” into a “city in a garden.”

But to call Gardens By The Bay simply a park or a garden is a massive understatement. The site is an architectural, technological, and natural marvel, consisting of 1.5 million plants of over 5,000 species, the world's largest glass greenhouse, and a grove of 160-foot tall 'supertrees' that look like they popped out of a science-fiction movie.

I got a chance to visit the Gardens By The Bay this spring. Here's what it was like:

SEE ALSO: I stayed in the $6.6 billion mega-hotel in the heart of Singapore, and it wasn't anything like 'Crazy Rich Asians'

The idea for the Gardens By The Bay was conceived by Dr. Kiat W. Tan, a botanist and now CEO of the park. He wanted to turn reclaimed land on Singapore's Marina Bay into one of the world's best gardens. You can get a good view of the Gardens' two seashell-shaped biodomes from the Marina Bay Sands, the landmark hotel that overlooks the park.

Source: BBC

I also visited the Marina Bay Sands »

But most people know about the Gardens By The Bay because of the Supertree Grove, 12 tree-like structures that act as vertical gardens and range from 82 feet tall to 160 feet tall.

When you enter the Gardens By The Bay, you can see some of the smaller Supertrees at the entrance, as well as the biodomes. There are six scattered outside of the main grove.