Entertainment
The Greatest Star Trek Icon Just Created A Vulgar Heavy Metal Band
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
To this day, the greatest Star Trek icon is William Shatner. As Captain Kirk, he taught all of us the importance of boldly going where no man had gone before. In many ways, the actor has led his life by this philosophy: after dominating sci-fi, he killed it in other genres, including cop dramas, legal procedurals, documentaries, and so much more. Heck, he even headlined some infectiously charming commercials for Priceline. After a while, it looked like there might be no new worlds for Shatner to conquer. However, he’s about to boldly go into his own final frontier with the project of a lifetime: leading his own heavy metal band!
I’ll be the first to admit that this news feels like something out of a fever dream. But as William Shatner’s colleague Avery Brooks once said so memorably on Deep Space Nine, “it’s real!” Shatner has assembled a heavy metal band called The *uckers, and they will be making their debut on September 20th at Chicago’s Riot Fest. This will be the group’s first live performance, but in a truly bizarre twist, their appearance took nearly two decades to arrange.
Captain Kirk Gets Heavy
While Riot Fest is mostly about established musical acts, they have a charming tradition of trying to woo various celebrities into attending and performing. For example, after a decade of increasingly wacky invites, the festival eventually convinced Full House star John Stamos into performing alongside the Beach Boys. Similarly, Riot Fest has courted Shatner for the last 17 years. He finally said yes, but instead of performing with a well-known band, the Star Trek legend decided to assemble his own group, the equivalent of a musical away team.
Apparently, both the actor and the festival know how silly it is to have William Shatner playing heavy metal, and they collectively decided to lean into the humor by publishing a hilariously outlandish rider by the actor. The rider includes demands for Chicago to let Shatner co-anchor the local weather, name some local food after him, let him sing “Take Me Out To the Ball Game” at a baseball game, and name a boat after the actor that he can then captain.
Let’s Open Up This Pit!
Additionally, the rider requests a dressing room themed as “Shatner’s Shag Shack,” a bunch of adoptable puppies, an intro video from Gwar, and a bunch of Faygo that is not to be shared with the Insane Clown Posse. Oh, and he wants his artist’s golf cart replaced by a Delorean. Believe it or not, these are just a few of the winking, outrageous, and almost certainly fake demands.
Obviously, most of this is tongue-in-cheek, and as a Star Trek fan, it’s great to see Shatner playing along. But he also expressed some real sincerity in an official statement, writing that, “I’ve always believed that music, like space, is about exploration. Riot Fest is exactly the kind of place where anything can happen.” Continuing, he wrote, We’re bringing volume, intensity, and a few surprises. I can’t wait to share this experience with the fans.”
Somehow, Mr. Tambourine Man Returned
While Shatner is new to heavy metal, he’s not new to music, having released several albums in the past. Instead of taking on Riot Festival solo, the Star Trek actor assembled a band, The *uckers, consisting of several well-known musicians. This includes Marcus Nand on guitar, Phil Soussan on bass, Britt Lightning on guitar, and Fred Aching on drums. Together, they will play reimagined songs from Shatner’s musical history as well as songs from their amusingly titled debut album, What the F Is Heavy Metal. As he told People, “That’s the name of the album because I know nothing or didn’t know anything until I found out how little I do know.”
Want to see William Shatner make his inexplicable heavy metal debut? Be sure to save up your latinum and snag tickets to Chicago’s Riot Fest, which runs from September 18-20. On Instagram, the actor claims it will be an event that fans will want to tell their grandchildren about. We’re inclined to agree: one way or another, Shatner beaming into his metal era is something nobody will ever forget!
Entertainment
Learn up to 25 languages for $127 with this new Rosetta Stone Sapphire deal
TL;DR: New users can get a one-year Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription — 25 languages, pronunciation feedback, and real conversation practice — for $127.20 (reg. $159).
If you want to learn languages, it’s best to go to a trusted source. Rosetta Stone has over 30 years of expertise, coupled with new technology that helps you travel like a local. A one-year subscription to the Sapphire platform covers all 25 of its offerings, and for a limited time, you start for $127.20 (reg. $159).
Rosetta Stone Sapphire builds fluency through the Dynamic Immersion® method, which teaches you via context, imagery, listening, reading, and speaking — instead of boring drills you’ll give up on by next week. There’s also TruAccent speech recognition that can help improve your pronunciation thanks to advanced technology designed for language learners. This one-year subscription gives you access to their structured programs in Spanish, German, Mandarin, Arabic, and more.
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Rosetta Stone’s quick-hit lessons let you work at your own pace. You can also learn across platforms, with synced progress across your desktop, smartphone, and tablet.
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Entertainment
Netflix bought Ben Afflecks AI startup for $587 million
Netflix paid over half a billion dollars for Ben Affleck’s AI startup InterPositive, which he founded in 2022.
According to Variety, Netflix’s Form 10-Q report with the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed that it paid $587 million in cash for an acquisition in March. While the company they acquired goes unnamed in the report, the InterPositive acquisition was announced on March 5, and a Bloomberg report estimated that Netflix could have paid up to $600 million.
According to the March 5 deal announcement, Netflix viewed its acquisition of InterPositive as “investing in creator-led innovation that keeps filmmakers at the center of the process.”
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In that same announcement, Affleck wrote: “In 2022, I spent a lot of time observing the early rise of AI in production. As a filmmaker, I could see how these models came up short. For artists to apply these tools towards telling the stories we dedicate our lives to, they need to be purpose-built to represent and protect all the qualities that make a great story.”
In a video released alongside the acquisition announcement, Affleck emphasized that InterPositive was “not about text prompting or generating something from nothing.”
Instead, he explained, InterPositive’s tools build a model specific to the film being made, which then gets employed during post-production for processes like mixing and coloring. According to Affleck, this would allow filmmakers to focus on performances in the moment.
As reported by Deadline in April, a 2024 patent application filed by Affleck stated that InterPositive’s technology would yield “substantial” savings. It could potentially “replace” costs tied to everything from background artists to splinter film units to reshoots, leading to a “20% reduction in schedule and physical production,” as well as a 50% reduction in VFX cost.
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Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 19, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you’re good at reading people.
Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that’s captured the public’s attention. 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 today’s Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications’ Games section. 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 categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
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Yellow: Electrical
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Green: To match
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Blue: Using the john
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Purple: Body language
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Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: Circuit components
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Green: Digital coupling verbs
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Blue: Things toilets do
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Purple: ___ face expressions
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 #1134 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Circuit components: BREAKER, FUSE, RELAY, SWITCH
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Digital coupling verbs: CONNECT, JOIN, PAIR, SYNC
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Things toilets do: DRAIN, FLUSH, REFILL, SWIRL
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___ face expressions: GAME, LONG, POKER, STRAIGHT
Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today’s puzzle.
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 yesterday’s Connections.
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