Entertainment
10 Reader Comments on Friendship
Have you read Kate Baer’s newest poem, The Bridesmaid’s Speech? It’s a beautiful ode to friendship. Is there anything more powerful than a friend-turned-sibling? Reader, I think not. Here are 10 reader comments on the subject…
On offbeat hangs:
“I attended a PowerPoint party, and it was hilarious. People presented on everything from bad ’80s movies to Phil Collin’s obsession with the Alamo (it’s real! He wrote a book!). We laughed and learned a lot; it was an amazing way to spend a winter weekend in the Midwest.” — Blythe
“My six closest friends and I sat for a formal studio portrait — coordinated outfits and all! The (very patient) photographer let us be our weird selves and even hold a printed out photo of one friend who couldn’t make it. Highly recommend capturing and proudly displaying images of deep friendship.” — MRM
“During quaratine, four of us (living in Salt Lake, Zurich, and London) started a Marco Polo chat where we’d randomly go through areas of our homes — like our bathroom cabinets, our fridges, our bedside tables. I loved getting to see these parts of my friends’ lives. Details that matter to them matter to me.” — Tanner
On unexpected friendships:
“When my sister and I were young, all the neighborhood kids were afraid of an elderly couple across the street — Rowland because he seemed grouchy and Nancy because she had health issues. I don’t remember how it happened, but my sister and I befriended them and went over several times a week. Rowland was the nicest, and Nancy seemed like she would have been a great mom. They gave us Dum-Dums, let us play in their backyard, and gave us each $5 for Christmas.They both have passed on now, and I will never see a Dum-Dum and not think of them. I hope someday to be a cool old person to a young neighbor.” — Margie
“My adult son, Wallace, is everyone’s not-so-stranger in our mid-sized city. He has developmental disabilities, and he’s the most joyful, friendly ’12-year-old’ in a 25-year-old body! We can be at a mall, or in the hardware store, or across town somewhere different, and out of nowhere, someone will wave, shout, or smile at him. Wallace will grin big and reply with an excited ‘Hey!’ When I ask who it was, he always gives the same answer: ‘My friend.’ I know he doesn’t know their names, but I’ve concluded that he’s the kind of not-so-stranger that makes everyone’s day brighter.” — Jo
On familial bonds:
“My best friends now have kids, and I’ve happily taken on the role of fun aunt. This summer, that meant attending the sports games that my friends’ kids played. It was fun to have a standing date once a week for six weeks, and when the kids were on the field, we got to hang as adults! And six-year-olds playing t-ball? Adorable.” — Amy
On looking out for each other:
“I’m an incredibly messy person (I’m neuro-spicy, and the executive functioning difficulties are REAL), but also an extrovert and stay-at-home parent. So, I’m frequently starved for adult interaction but ashamed about the state of my house. Recently, I responded to a neighbor’s text with ‘yeah I haven’t done [thing we were discussing] because I’m in a depression hole.’ Y’all, my hair was so dirty it was probably flammable, I was wearing a huge, old T-shirt with no bra, and my partner was on a work trip, so I was parenting and person-ing by myself. We were basically feral. Twenty minutes after I sent that text, my neighbor showed up with a cupcake. It was *not* a situation where a past version of me would have opened the door. But I took a breath and did, and this new friend hugged me, told me she’d been there, and asked permission to clean my kitchen while I took a shower. I wept with gratitude in that shower, and when I came out, my kitchen was clean and my kids had snacks. If you’re afraid to let people see past your polished self, maybe challenge that fear a little. There are really lovely things beyond it.” — Kara
On saying ‘I love you’:
“I once hung out with a new friend and had the best time. I felt the urge to say ‘love you!’ when we parted, but I wasn’t sure if that would weird her out. Then she beat me to it: ‘Love you, see you again soon!’ I had the biggest smile on my face the rest of the day. So, lesson learned: there’s a lot of unkindness and volatility in the world, and if a simple ‘love you’ from a new friend improved my day that much, I can only imagine how much sweeter things could be if we all said it more.’ — Claire
On friendships-turned-soulmates:
“My bestie and I have been friends since we shared a dorm room 15 years ago. We live in separate states now — and while I wish I could drop off cookies or run dumb errands or just watch old Disney Channel movies, when we do chat on the phone or get together, we pick up right where we left off. More than my husband, or my mom, she gets me. We joke that we are each other’s soulmates, and we actually mean it.” — Rebekah
“She was nine, I was nine and a half. My family had just moved to the neighborhood, and I was missing my old friends, so my mom took me to a field to fly kites. Soon another mom and daughter came over, and before long, the girl and I were off running, and our moms were left with the kites. I am now 80 years old, she is 79 and a half. We have shared our lives, ups and downs, good and bad. Have no idea where or who I would be without her. She feels the same. Just amazing.” — Barbara
What friendship stories would you add? We’d love to hear.
P.S. How to navigate friendships with disabled folks, and easy dinners to make when friends come over.
(Photo from Somebody Somewhere.)
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for May 2, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, 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 on to 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 with 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 May 2 Pips
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 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.
Less Than (6): Everything in this space must be less than 6. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally.
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Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically; 2-5, placed vertically.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.
Number (15): Everything in this space must add up to 15. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically; 1-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally.
Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally; 0-1, placed horizontally.
Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally.
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
New rules for the Oscars: AI actors are out of the race
The Academy won’t be handing over the golden statuette to robots anytime soon.
In new rules announced May 1, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has ruled that AI performances are not eligible for an Oscar. Filmmakers can still utilize AI tools in their submitted works, but only human actors and human-authored screenplays will be considered for the body’s highest honors.
The move aligns with AI agreements won during the 2023 Writers’ Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA strikes and addresses growing tension over the presence of generative AI tools across artistic industries.
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For example, a recent trailer for the upcoming historical adventure film As Deep as the Grave, featuring an entirely AI-generated recreation of the late Val Kilmer, caused widespread furor among fans who recoiled at the on-screen digital likeness. Prior to his death, Kilmer created an AI version of his speaking voice with UK tech company Sonantic. Other celebrities, like Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine, have worked with AI company ElevenLabs to clone their voices, as well.
But while some celebs are getting ahead of their AI counterparts, others are fighting back against nonconsensual deepfakes writ large. Pop star Taylor Swift recently filed for trademark of her voice and image — including the phrase “Hey, it’s Taylor.” — amid a surge of synthetic AI likenesses of her proliferating across the internet, including ones used in data phishing scams.
The Academy announced additional rule changes for international film and acting categories, generating buzz online after several contentious Oscar campaign races in recent years. For non-English films, a country can now have multiple nominated entries instead of the previous limit of one. Similarly, actors can receive multiple nominations in the same category if their performances rank in the top five.
Topics
Artificial Intelligence
Oscars
Entertainment
Instagram will stop recommending accounts that dont post original content
Serial Instagram reuploaders are about to be hit hard in the algorithm, as the platform announces new content ranking guidelines intended to boost original content creators.
Accounts that primarily aggregate content or repost others’ content without meaningful alterations or additions won’t be recommended to other users, Instagram explained in a recent Creators blog post. The platform announced the same algorithmic guidelines for Reels uploads in 2024. Now they’ll apply to photos and carousel posts, too.
“Original content” is defined as “work that you wholly created or reflects your unique perspective,” Instagram explains. That includes original photos and designs, as well as third-party content that is materially edited by the user. “Some examples include adding unique text on the content itself that provides more context than just describing what’s happening, adding creative graphics that offer new information, or using our remix feature to transform the original,” the blog post reads.
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The platform recommends that accounts that frequently reshare content share other users’ posts to their stories, use the repost button, or enable collab posts to avoid being marked ineligible.
Aggregator accounts that are marked ineligible for recommendations under the new guidelines can regain their place in the feed by pivoting to original posts. Instagram says “most” of an account’s posts, carousels, and reels need to feature original content over a 30-day period to have the decision reversed. Users can also remove unoriginal content and appeal the decision.
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