Entertainment
Exclusionary Gatekeeping Is The Future Of Entertainment
By Joshua Tyler
| Updated
Even the most optimistic pundits are now willing to admit that the quality of entertainment produced by Hollywood has declined. Many reasons have been put forward for this flagging level of competence, but there’s only one solution: exclusionary gatekeeping.
For more than a decade, the entertainment industry has run entirely on inclusivity. Hiring both in front of and behind the camera has been done with a representation-first mindset, which means everyone must be allowed in to whatever you’re doing, whether they’re a qualified fit for your audience or not.
The Death Of Differences
The same transformation happened in entertainment journalism. When the online movie news world emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was run almost entirely by obsessive fans. I know because I helped build it as the founder of CinemaBlend in 2000.
Sites like CinemaBlend, Ain’t It Cool News, Dark Horizons, Film Threat, The Movie Blog, and others were operated by individual owners who were deeply knowledgeable about the topics they covered. These weren’t corporate brands managed by committees. They were passion projects run by people like Vic Holtreman, Chris Gore, John Campea, Garth Franklin, Christopher Null, and Harry Knowles.
They weren’t trying to represent everyone. They were writing for their audience: hardcore male genre fans.
Over time, those independents were either iced out by algorithms that were sued into promoting mainstream media (this actually happened), or bought out by corporate conglomerates (including Cinema Blend, which I exited in 2015) who ditched the genuine, knowledgeable, gatekeeping fan owners in favor of creating something inclusive. Where those original owners had only hired other fans who shared the interests of their audience, the new owners hired opinion makers who represented everyone and everything, which in reality means they hired people who stood for nothing and no one.
This same process was happening in Hollywood itself. It’s why John Lasseter was fired for giving a hug, and Pixar hasn’t made a truly great movie since. The result in both the entertainment creation and the entertainment reporting space has been a disaster. Box office numbers are plummeting. Viewers now use positive Rotten Tomatoes scores as an indicator for which movies to avoid.
Gatekeeping Is The Answer
There’s only one solution, and that solution is gatekeeping. Gatekeeping is the act of controlling access to an idea, community, opportunity, or resource by deciding who is allowed in and who is excluded.
As part of the push towards radical inclusivity by big corporations and activists, the term gatekeeping has become a pejorative. It’s used as an emotionally charged attack against meanies. Being called a gatekeeper is the kind of thing that gets people cancelled.
But nothing of any worth happens without some form of gatekeeping. Gatekeeping is just another way of saying quality control. Quality control isn’t mean, it’s sensible.
Without gatekeeping, we’d end up with unqualified pilots crashing planes maintained by unqualified mechanics. Without gatekeeping inspectors, the quality of the food you eat degrades, the drugs you need aren’t potent, and nuclear reactors go into meltdown.
Creative endeavors are no different. Without gatekeeping a new Star Trek show hires writers who know nothing about Star Trek, and then its scripts end up filled with obvious mistakes and terrible plot holes which any fan could have spotted if they’d done some gatekeeping to hire one.
Inclusivity Is Lazy And Destructive
If you have standards and want to keep them, you must exclude people or things that do not meet them. Enforcing standards is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.
I require my son to get As in math. To make that happen, I check his grades and help him with his homework when he struggles. If he doesn’t study and fails a test, I have to enforce consequences.
If I remove my requirement for an A, I no longer have to do anything. My son also won’t learn math, but I’ll save a lot of time.
Radical inclusivity is a way of removing standards, a way of deferring responsibility for maintaining quality. It’s lazy and destructive.
Exclusion Maintains Differences And Diversity
Exclusion maintains the integrity of your work, your idea, and your brand. Samurai swords are only Samurai swords as long as Claymores are excluded from being classified as Katanas. Pepsi is only Pepsi as long as you exclude lemonade from Pepsi cans. It’d be easier to fill Pepsi cans with whatever liquid is cheapest and most available, but then it wouldn’t be Pepsi anymore, and eventually people would stop buying it.
Maintaining unique differences is hard, so homogenization disguised as inclusivity allows corporations to take an established universe like Star Trek or Star Wars and wear it like a skin suit, puppeted by inclusive hires (hiring done without relevant standards) who have no idea what they’re a part of, and because they don’t care are totally willing to treat fans like fat, juicy, pay pigs to be farmed for maximum profit. They fill Star Wars up with whatever happens to be lying around, and then play the Star Wars theme music in front of it.
Giant Freakin Robot Is An Exclusionary Publication
Late last year, I relaunched Giant Freakin Robot with a renewed determination to avoid these pitfalls by making this the most exclusionary geek site on the internet. What does that mean? It means we will not work with writers who have bad ideas or ideas that are in direct conflict with the values and interests of our readers. That doesn’t serve them or us.
Specifically, Giant Freakin Robot’s readers are geeky men, and always have been, so that means finding commentators who have the same fundamental world view that most geeky men have. Engaging Alex Kurtzman fans to write for Giant Freakin Robot would make about as much sense as investing in Giant Freakin Robot makeup tutorials.
To serve our audience in this way requires gatekeeping. So we’re contracting with talented freelancers based on exclusion, rather than inclusion, and we’re doing it using this simple ad:
There’s only one required question in the application process, which pops up after you read the ad. That question is: Do you hate Starfleet Academy? Yes/No
We’ve received hundreds of applications from writers, most of them recently laid off by struggling, inclusive corporate publications. 95% of those applicants checked No and failed this rather simple IQ test. Their applications were automatically sent to a trash bin.
Before we bring on anyone new, in addition to correctly answering that single question, they’ll have to meet the standards of quality and creativity established by our crack team of genius geek culture commentators. We’ll continue to exclude anyone who doesn’t measure up.
If you want a world free of gatekeeping, go to X for random opinions and watch endless AI slop on YouTube. But if you’re looking for a place that throws out the bad and only keeps the good, then read Giant Freakin Robot. Gatekeeping is our business; it’s what we do.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 14, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is easy for people who like golf.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
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Yellow: Baseball no-no’s
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Green: Teams in the Peach State
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Blue: Winners on the green
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Purple: Famous college matchups
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #537 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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Banned in Baseball – BETTING, CORKED BAT, SPITBALL, STEROIDS
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A Georgia Athlete – BRAVE, FALCON, HAWK, YELLOW JACKET
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Golf Awards – CLARET JUG, GREEN JACKET, SOLHEIM CUP, WANAMAKER TROPHY
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College Football Rivalries – BACKYARD BRAWL, BEDLAM, EGG BOWL, THE GAME
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for March 14, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, the Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move onto the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity for how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible – and common – for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:
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Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
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Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
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Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
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Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
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Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for March 14 Pips
Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 6-5, placed horizontally.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 6-5, placed horizontally; 5-1, placed vertically.
Equal (1): Everything in this space must be equal to 1. The answer is 5-1, placed vertically; 4-1, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically.
Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically.
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Medium difficulty hints, answers for March 14 Pips
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Number (14): Everything in this space must add up to 14. The answer is 4-4, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.
Number (15): Everything in this space must add up to 15. The answer is 6-6, placed vertically; 3-3, placed vertically.
Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically; 0-3, placed vertically.
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for March 14 Pips
Number (15): Everything in this space must add up to 15. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed vertically.
Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically; 2-1, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically; 0-3, placed horizontally.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically.
Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically.
Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally.
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 0-1, placed vertically; 2-4, placed vertically.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
Sora video generator is coming to ChatGPT, insiders say
Ask ChatGPT to make you a short film, and it soon may be able to do just that.
Inside sources told The Information that OpenAI is planning to integrate its video generator tool, Sora, directly into ChatGPT, only a few months after launching Sora’s standalone app.
While the TikTok-style app would still remain available to users, insiders say, the move suggests OpenAI is putting most of its effort into beefing up ChatGPT. Sora’s integration and the processing demands that come with it would cost the company money — OpenAI estimates it will spend $225 billion to run its models between now and 2030 — but it would stand to recoup those costs if ChatGPT remains the dominant chatbot on the market. OpenAI could also monetize video generation itself, a strategy they floated to users on the Sora app.
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Sora 2 has had its highs and lows since its launch last year. OpenAI received a $1 billion investment from Disney in a deal that included licensing the entertainment giant’s characters for use by ChatGPT and Sora users. This followed widespread criticism of the model after it generated numerous problematic deepfakes of historic figures and infringed on Hollywood IP.
In February, a judge ordered OpenAI to cease using the term “cameo” to describe its in-app AI likeness tool after it was sued by the eponymous social media app Cameo. Broadly, the app has seen a dip in popularity among users.
The company has adjusted its priorities for its tentpole chatbot over the last few months, including pivoting away from its proposed shopping integration and launching native advertising for ChatGPT as a reinvestment aimed at boosting the chatbot’s user base and profits. The company is pushing ChatGPT’s multimodal capabilities. Last week, OpenAI announced new dynamic visuals for chatbot users, providing more detailed, interactive visual references for math and science questions.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 14, 2026
NYT Pips hints, answers for March 14, 2026
