Entertainment
Catherine O'Hara's Raunchy, Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Is A Forgotten 1980s Gem
By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
The world recently lost comic actress Catherine O’Hara, known for classics like Beetlejuice, Home Alone, and the series Schitt’s Creek. She has been endlessly memed and mimicked, and her work is constantly viewed by fans all over. In the 1983 Canadian animated feature Rock n’ Rule, she makes an unexpected appearance as an unusual character in a place nobody expected to find her.
Rock n’ Rule takes place in a post-apocalyptic future that is now populated by intelligent anthropomorphs and abominations mutated from the remains of a nuclear war in the distant past. A rock band led by Omar strives for fame in Ohmtown, but when Omar is upstaged at their big show by his girlfriend Angel, it causes a rift between the two.
However, Angel has caught the attention of the sinister superstar Mok, whose evil plot to raise an eldritch demon requires a very special singing voice. When Mok kidnaps Angel to raise his demon, Omar and his bandmates Izzy and Stretch head off to Nuke York City to rescue her and fight the rock star on his own turf: the stage.
I’ve been a huge fan of this movie since I saw it in the late 1980s, and I had never noticed that Catherine O’Hara plays Izzy’s aunt Edith, a grizzled Nuke Yorker who runs a tattoo parlor and helps the band while they’re in town. It features a smorgasbord of celebrity voices and musical appearances, including Cheap Trick and Debbie Harry as Omar and Angel’s band, Lou Reed and Izzy Pop as Mok; the dialogue voice talent is a little less well-known but stars Paul LeMat, Susan Roman, and Don Francks.
The story is a fun rock n’ roll romp about the rise and fall to stardom. The soundtrack definitely delivers on the magic and majesty of music, even when it’s not intentionally being used for occult purposes. Debbie Harry absolutely delivers with her performance, and it is easy to see why it would get Mok’s attention. The fantastical blend of magic and technology Mok uses for his sorcery ignites the imagination in ways that a more traditional story about a demonic summoning doesn’t accomplish.
The lingering aura of nuclear war is constantly emphasized throughout the movie, from the names of places to the smoggy and desolate settings the characters inhabit. Mutant creatures that evolved from waste are looked down upon by mainstream society, as illustrated by warnings and security measures at the venues visited during the film. In this respect, the movie is very dated, as the early 1980s were a time of such fear of nuclear war that we had “civil defense drills” against bombs rather than the “active shooter drills” of today.
The movie also saw pushback from Rolling Stones superstar Mick Jagger. Mok was originally supposed to be called “Mok Swagger” and was drawn to resemble the strutting singer with a dash of fellow musical collaborationist David Bowie thrown in. Mok is portrayed as being narcissistic and drunk on his own stardom, a portrait that Jagger didn’t seem to appreciate, even fictionally. He succeeded in having the character’s surname dropped, but otherwise, as he sings in the movie himself, “My name is Mok/thanks a lot.”
Rock n’ Rule may be a throwback to previous social trauma, but it’s still a worthwhile watch today, and I watch it every time I find it because it is just that much fun. It’s raunchy, with slapstick comedy and a thoughtful premise, and most importantly, great music that keeps you coming back to hear it again.
Check out this secret Catherine O’Hara gem, streaming free on Tubi.
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
