Entertainment
Raunchy End-Of-Days Comedy Is A High-Stakes Game
By Robert Scucci
| Published
The idea of playing video games until the world ends may sound like a lot of fun in the right setting, but 2018’s Relaxer will make you think twice. Set in 1999, just before the Y2K apocalypse, Relaxer isn’t one of those feel-good stories about getting together with your friends, chugging Mountain Dew, eating pizza, and going on an epic multiplayer adventure. Instead, it’s a solitary trudge through an isolated world of apathy and decay. It’s a tough watch, even nauseating at times, but if your video game habit is causing problems in your day-to-day life, Relaxer may be the wakeup call you’ve been looking for because it pulls no punches.
Set almost entirely on one man’s couch, Relaxer is claustrophobic, filthy, and enough to make you want to turn the Nintendo off and step on some grass. If you can make it through this one without tasting that metallic, “I’m about to throw up,” flavor on the back of your tongue, give yourself a pat on the back for being strong willed and possessing the kind of intestinal fortitude that escapes me.
The Ultimate Slacker Comedy
Relaxer begins with our hero, if you could call him that, Abbie (Joshua Burge), playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and chugging milk whenever his older brother, Cam (David Dastmalchian), looks up from his stopwatch. This “challenge,” as they put it, is the latest in a long line of failed attempts where Abbie taps out because he makes himself sick chasing whatever high score or record is in front of him.
Sitting in a pool of his own vomit, Abbie promises Cam, who’s rightfully frustrated with his slacker brother’s lack of contributions to rent and utilities, that he’s going to do the unthinkable. Legend has it that if he can document himself passing level 256 of Pac-Man, something that has only been done once before, he’ll win $100,000 and stop being such a burden. Cam reluctantly agrees to support him through the challenge, under one condition: Abbie cannot even think about leaving the couch until he accomplishes what he set out to do.
Taking Cam’s conditions seriously, Abbie gets to work but quickly runs into logistical problems. At some point, he has to eat, drink, and use the bathroom, and he has to make do. At multiple moments throughout Relaxer, Cam throws on a pair of 3D glasses that he believes give him telekinetic powers when the moment is right. It’s never made clear whether Abbie actually gains anything mystical while wearing the glasses, but enough strange coincidences encourage him to lean into the idea as he attempts to beat the unbeatable Pac-Man level.
Know What You’re Getting Into
While Relaxer’s premise is ridiculous on its own, the execution is absolutely nauseating. Abbie is dressed only in underwear, which are obviously soiled thanks to the conditions of his wager. When plumbing pipes burst, he gets sprayed with their contents. When the windows break, the elements pour inside. When somebody stops by, it’s either an acquaintance offering expired food from the fridge or an exterminator about to bug bomb the place even though Abbie refuses to leave.
Abbie sits through all of it, for months, maybe even years. He uses a reaching stick to collect rainwater from the broken window, nearly asphyxiates himself with noxious chemicals, and wallows in so much filth that if he ever beats the game, he’ll either be stuck to the couch or physically unable to stand. It’s all so disgusting. To make matters worse, every single character in Relaxer is catastrophically unlikeable.
While Relaxer may feel like an endurance test in every conceivable way, it does an excellent job of getting its point across. It’s meant to be unappealing to all senses. It’s meant to show how desperate Abbie becomes in pursuit of his challenge. It’s meant to be uncomfortable and claustrophobic. It’s almost as if writer-director Joel Potrykus made this movie specifically to bother people, and if so, he succeeds in every measurable way.
As of this writing, Relaxer is streaming for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
This $10 upgrade transforms your PC — but it’s only on sale until midnight
TL;DR: Upgrade a PC affordably with this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro license, on sale for just $9.97 (reg. $199) through tonight at midnight.
Want to get the feeling of a new computer without having to shell out all the money for one? A new operating system gives your device a whole new feel, and if you’ve got a PC lying around, it could probably use this Microsoft Windows 11 Pro upgrade. If you act fast, you can get it for only $9.97 through tonight at 11:59 p.m. PT.
Windows 11 Pro breathes new life into an old computer, extending its lifespan for less than the cost of your lunch. Unlike older operating systems, this one was made with the modern professional in mind.
Mashable Deals
Rest easy knowing Windows 11 Pro is filled with features that can improve your workflow — from an easy-to-use interface that enhances usability to snap layouts, seamless redocking, a more powerful search experience, and improved voice typing.
Take advantage of unique professional tools like Azure AD, Hyper-V, Windows Sandbox, and BitLocker device encryption. Then take a break and check out the impressive gaming experience offered by DirectX 12 Ultimate graphics.
Windows 11 Pro includes Copilot, Microsoft’s very own AI-powered assistant, which can assist you with a wide range of tasks. Get some help kickstarting your writing process, summarizing web pages, changing your settings, or even opening your apps.
You can also enjoy improved cybersecurity with Windows 11 Pro, as it adds biometric logins, encrypted authentication, and enhanced antivirus protection.
Mashable Deals
Get your PC a Microsoft Windows 11 Pro license for only $9.97 tonight through midnight.
StackSocial prices subject to change.
Entertainment
3 AdultFriendFinder red flags — how to avoid scams on AFF
Depending on who you ask, AdultFriendFinder is either the Wild West of hookup sites, an “anything goes” paradise for adult fun, or a total scam replete with bots, fake profiles, and inactive accounts.
After months of personal testing, I can confidently say which AFF you experience ultimately boils down to how you use the site. If you approach it naively, without a strategy, you’re probably going to have some frustrating experiences. On the other hand, if you exercise a modicum of caution and common sense, you’ll discover a huge, fun, and kink-friendly community.
Here are three red flags to look out for as you use AFF, to help you spot potential scammers and separate the authentic users from the fake profiles.
Hookup apps for everyone
AdultFriendFinder
—
readers’ pick for casual connections
Tinder
—
top pick for finding hookups
Hinge
—
popular choice for regular meetups
Credit: AdultFriendFinder
Unverified accounts
AdultFriendFinder already offers a fantastic first step in combatting fake profiles that they call ConfirmID. Once you’ve created an account, you can, at any time, upload a clear scan of a government-issued ID card and then, using a webcam, undergo a quick face verification scan to confirm that you are indeed the person identified in the government document.
This step strikes the perfect balance between not being onerous enough to annoy the average user but still requiring enough effort to deter scammers, who notoriously go after the low-hanging fruit.
Mashable Trend Report
Once you’ve completed the ConfirmID sequence, you’ll be rewarded with a verification badge on your profile, and we strongly recommend that you limit your one-on-one interactions on the site to other verified users.
Perfect profile photos
Alright, admittedly this one requires some personal judgment, as everyone should strive to upload good, high-quality photos of themselves to dating websites. But if every photo looks like it belongs in a magazine, or if the person in the photo looks a little too good to be true, you should exercise caution.
In the age of generative AI and filters, it’s trivially easy to create a fake photo or series of photos, so you should also be on the lookout for what isn’t in the photos. Are there recognizable local landmarks (clubs, restaurants, well-known parks, or street corners) in the photos, or are they all equally generic?
Over-eager chatters
Ever since chat bots became a thing, dating sites have become plagued with them, and as AI improves more and more, it’s not always easy to know, right away, if the “person” you’re talking to is really human. One dead giveaway, though, is how much they chat and how quickly they reply.
Real people go off on tangents, employ non sequiturs, and sometimes stumble with awkward questions or comments. Chat bots, on the other hand, are typically always chipper and extremely fast-talking, so much so that a paragraph-long answer can come back to you in seconds.
They also almost always have an agenda, too, whether that’s directing you to click on a link (“Follow my Instagram profile”) or getting you to divulge some potentially compromising bit of personal information about yourself.
Entertainment
SNL opens with another Pete Hegseth press conference
Saturday Night Live returned from a brief hiatus Saturday with a cold open depicting a joint press conference between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, with “Master of None” creator Aziz Ansari playing the latter.
Colin Jost’s Hegseth hit the familiar beats at the podium — performative machismo, military bravado, and repeated jabs at the secretary’s well-documented drinking habits. This time, Hegseth arrived at the mic hauling an oversized pitcher of scotch, which he assured the room was his one for the day. He then fielded questions from the press about the administration’s handling of U.S. strikes on Iran, dismissing each reporter with the particular brand of smug confidence that has become central to Jost’s portrayal of the character.
Ansari’s Patel proved to be the sketch’s standout, arriving to defend his tenure at the FBI and proceeding to do so poorly. The bit’s centerpiece involved Patel simultaneously denying and admitting that he had locked himself out of his work email for 36 hours after forgetting he had changed his password to “kashmeoutside69.”
Funnily enough, Patel was reportedly locked out of his FBI email in real life and believed, at least momentarily, that he was being fired. As the sketch demonstrated, the distance between SNL’s Cold Open and the actual news cycle has rarely felt smaller.
This $10 upgrade transforms your PC — but it’s only on sale until midnight
Wild D Jonas Brodin out for Game 1, F Joel Eriksson Ek also ailing
