Entertainment
Extreme Mystery Thriller Is A Perfect Case Of Second-Hand Revenge
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Vigilante justice is often portrayed in films through masked superheroes or hardened but well-intentioned police officers who are tired of always seeing the bad guys win. 2023’s Walden introduces its quirky brand of vigilante justice through a frustrated stenographer who has access to countless court records and starts noticing the coincidences that pile up through his millions of keystrokes. It’s the story of a man with a front row seat to some of the worst crimes that pass through the courtroom, who finally snaps after watching enough guilty people walk away without receiving the punishments they deserve.
Between the acts of brutality found in Walden is an underlying sweetness from its titular protagonist (Emile Hirsch), who simply wants to see bad people go away. The problem is that he’s such a nice guy that he doesn’t quite know how to carry himself in heightened situations, which lands him in more trouble than even the most hardened private eye could reasonably handle.
Documenting Cases Leads To Cynical Places
When we’re first introduced to Walden Dean, there’s literally nothing to dislike about him. He speaks softly, with a gentle Southern drawl, and he’s excessively polite to everyone he encounters, not because he’s trying to pull one over on anybody, but because he’s genuinely kind.
A true master of his craft, Walden is well on his way to accomplishing the unthinkable by typing 360 words per minute with startling accuracy. This particular skillset becomes the catalyst for his transformation, because those skilled hands are responsible for documenting every grisly case that passes through the courtroom under Judge Boyle (David Keith).
When a fainting spell leads to a potential terminal brain tumor diagnosis, Walden starts thinking about his purpose in life, and it doesn’t take long for him to find one. After learning that murderer Norman Bolt (Ben Bladon) walked free on a technicality after burning his own daughter to death in an oven, he springs to action, deciding he has nothing left to lose. Convinced he’s found his calling, Walden pulls out old case files with the intention of tracking down guilty parties and delivering the punishments he believes they deserve.
What Walden doesn’t anticipate, though, is a larger conspiracy that surfaces when his mentally handicapped friend George (Luke Davis) is wrongly implicated in a string of child disappearances and arrested by detectives Bill Kane (Shane West) and Sally Hunt (Tania Raymonde). As Walden’s brand of vigilante justice escalates, the stakes climb quickly. His days are numbered. His friend is in serious trouble. Authorities are catching on to his totally justified but still totally illegal slayings. And looming over everything is a much bigger case that has been brushed under the rug for years.
You Can’t Not Like This Guy
Walden works so well because Emile Hirsch dials the wholesomeness up to 11. He’s a typing nerd who suddenly finds himself way in over his head after learning he might not have much longer to live. He has seen firsthand how often people avoid justice for their horrific crimes, and he has the paper trail to prove it. He carries out acts of violence that mirror the ones committed by his targets, and he does it all with near childlike innocence and Southern charm.
Even if Walden is technically the bad guy for taking the law into his own hands, it never feels like he’s in the wrong. His intentions are pure. He still shows up week after week trying to hit that per-minute word count that would make him a legend, because at the end of the day, he takes pride in his work, and he’s simply on a side quest.
They say nice guys finish last, but in Walden, Walden Dean gets the last laugh, and it’s so satisfying to watch. If you want to type along to the subtitles while solving this murder mystery, you can stream Walden for free on Tubi as of this writing.
Entertainment
YouTube outage cause revealed: What we know
Updated on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 9:15 p.m. ET — As of this writing, YouTube appears to be working again. So far, Google and YouTube have not announced the cause of the outage, or confirmed that the problems are resolved.
Updated on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 9.26 p.m. ET — YouTube has revealed the cause of the outage. In a statement on X, the company said it was due to an issue with their recommendations system, which stopped videos from appearing. “The homepage is back, but we’re still working on a full fix – more coming soon!”
Updated on Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 10:19 p.m. ET — YouTube has announced that the issue has been solved.
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Original story follows.
If you can’t watch YouTube videos right now, you’re not alone. A Tuesday evening YouTube outage affected users across the globe, with problems starting around 8:00 p.m. ET. Early reports are sketchy, but here’s what we know.
The platform DownDetector received 837,973 user error reports (and rising) in the U.S. alone, with 46.7 percent of users reporting problems accessing the YouTube app and 21.1 percent reporting problems with the website. Users in Canada, Brazil, the UK, and Germany are also reporting problems. (Disclosure: Mashable and Downdetector share the same parent company.)
Mashable Light Speed
Mashable editors in both the U.S. and Australia were unable to access YouTube’s website and app. Attempts to access the website resulted in a blank black screen with only YouTube’s sidebar and search bar appearing.
The YouTube homepage goes dark…
Credit: Amanda Yeo / Mashable
YouTube acknowledged the outage on X, urging users to check the Google Support page for more information.
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The initial update from YouTube simply read, “Hi everyone, We’re aware some of you are having issues accessing YouTube right now. Our teams are aware, and we’ll provide updates as soon as we have them.”
An additional update from YouTube read, “We are aware of the ongoing issue impacting YouTube homepage, recommendations, search and uploads and are working to fix it. Please follow along in our Community for updates. Our support agents do not have any additional information to share with you at this time.”
YouTube is the largest streaming service by far in the U.S.
At this time, the cause of the outage is unknown. Mashable reached out to Google for more information (YouTube is owned by Google), and we’ll update this story if we receive more information.
This is a developing story …
Entertainment
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for February 18, 2026
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you keep up with the latest styles.
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: Old-school do’s
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Green: Awesome
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Blue: Cluck
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Purple: Lotion
Here are today’s Connections categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: Retro hair directives
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Green: Retro slang for cool
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Blue: Chicken descriptors
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Purple: ___ Cream
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 #983 is…
What is the answer to Connections today
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Retro hair directives: CRIMP, CURL, FEATHER, TEASE
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Retro slang for cool: BAD, FLY, RAD, WICKED
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Chicken descriptors: BANTAM, CRESTED, FREE-RANGE, LEGHORN
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___ Cream: HEAVY, SHAVING, SOUR, TOPICAL
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new 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? 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.
Entertainment
NYT Strands hints, answers for February 18, 2026
Today’s NYT Strands hints are easy if you’ve been watching the Olympics.
Strands, the New York Times‘ elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There’s always a theme linking every solution, along with the “spangram,” a special, word or phrase that sums up that day’s theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.
By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.
If you’re feeling stuck or just don’t have 10 or more minutes to figure out today’s puzzle, we’ve got all the NYT Strands hints for today’s puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.
NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Cold competition
The words are related to sports.
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Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained
These words describe cold activities.
NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?
Today’s NYT Strands spangram is vertical.
NYT Strands spangram answer today
Today’s spangram is Zodiac Signs.
NYT Strands word list for February 18
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Luge
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Hockey
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Curling
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Winter Sports
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Bobsled
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Snowboarding
Looking for other daily online games? Mashable’s Games page has more hints, and 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 Strands.
YouTube outage cause revealed: What we know
NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for February 18, 2026
