Watches, Stories, & Gear: A Profile of RaMell Ross, the Year of the Smart Lock, and Death of a Unicorn Gets a Trailer

“Watches, Stories, and Gear” is a roundup of our favorite content, watch or otherwise, from around the internet. Here, we support other creators, explore interesting content that inspires us, and put a spotlight on causes we believe in. Oh, and any gear we happen to be digging on this week. We love gear.

Share your story ideas or interesting finds with us by emailing [email protected].

A Special Edition of a Great Pack from Triple Aught Design 

We are at the point where time is, frankly, not on your side if you’re looking for last minute holiday gifts. But we couldn’t help but include this new edition of the highly regarded FAST Pack Litespeed from Triple Aught Design as a last minute holiday gift for the gear and EDC enthusiast, Or for yourself, no judgement, we promise. The Black Magic Edition is, as you’d expect, a completely blacked out rendition of the 22 liter pack. It features Challenge Sailcloth’s ULTRA™ 400 fabric, an uncommonly lightweight, strong, and waterproof material. The retail price is $550, and more information can be found here.

The Year of the Smart Lock is Coming 

The end of the year always brings a slew of think pieces from many of our favorite publications on what to look for in the new year in terms of trends, tech, and just about everything else. Over at The Verge, they’ve got a story on 2025 being the year of the smart lock that caught our attention. Smartlocks make a lot of sense – they can be tied to an app on your phone, and have the ability to be a lot more secure than a key that can fall into the wrong hands. And of course because they’re inherently online, they offer opportunities for monitoring and data collection that might be helpful to owners. It’s a market that seems to be maturing, with plenty of new locks introduced in 2024 that were improvements over what came before, and it seems like 2025 could be the year that prices, features, and tech all line up to make wide adoption possible. 

Death of a Unicorn Gets a Trailer 

There were several trailers for upcoming 2025 movies that got our attention this week, and Death of a Unicorn might be the staff favorite around here. The horror-comedy has a fantastic cast led by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, and the concept (which appears to be how a group of people deal with the accidental death of the mythical creature, and the realization that the creature exists at all) feels completely original. 

Steven Soderbergh’s Latest, Black Bag, is Coming Soon 

The other trailer we can’t stop watching is for the next film from Steven Soderbergh, Black Bag. This one is a spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett, Michael Fassbender, Pierce Brosnan, and others, and a slew of other great character actors. Fassbender plays a spy charged with investigating his wife, played by Blanchett, when she’s suspected of betraying her country. We’re huge fans of everyone involved, so this is high on our 2025 lists already. 

RaMell Ross Profiled in the New York Times

Nickel Boys, the film based on Colson Whitehead’s highly praised novel, is getting serious Oscar buzz and a lot of attention from critics as they prepare their year end lists. It’s the debut feature from RaMell Ross, a director who has already carved out a niche for himself making experimental documentaries. His debut has been highly anticipated by many in the film community for some time, and many are celebrating Ross as one of the most talented emerging voices in American independent cinema. This is a great profile published this week in the New York Times that finds Ross uniquely focused on his characters and their point of view, and the unique ways that can be communicated to his audience.