Entertainment
Stephen King Was A Part Of Playboy's Most Controversial Issue
By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
Playboy was one of the most influential magazines of the last 60 years. The men’s magazine founded by Hugh Hefner rode the sexual revolution of the 60s on the back of its Playboy Bunnies, the Playboy Clubs, and choosing to add articles in a magazine that would have sold as well without them. “I read Playboy for the articles” was a long-running joke, but the truth is, some famous authors have contributed stories to the magazine, including multiple time contributor, the Master of Horror, Stephen King.
Stephen King’s Playboy Articles
King has published six original works for Playboy over the years, starting in 1983, mostly short stories but a few poems as well, starting in 1983 with “Word Processor of the Gods” in the January 1983 issue. The story, the first King wrote on an electronic word processor, is about an electronic word processor that can alter reality, giving a disgruntled writer the opportunity to remove his ungrateful son and wife from existence. Collected in 1985’s Skeleton Crew, the original Playboy printing is a collector’s item for King fans to this day.
It wasn’t until the December 2006 issue that Stephen King contributed another work of fiction to Playboy, “Willa”, his return to the format following his recovery from a nearly fatal accident. The haunting love story is one of his personal favorite works. Under a year later, “Mute” was published in November 2007, bringing a King crime story to the men’s magazine. In addition to the short stories, King had contributed articles over the last few decades, including an early one in 1982 about the importance of horror movies. When he finally submitted a poem, no one knew it would be overshadowed as badly as it was by the issue’s cover model.
Sharing The Cover With Marge Simpson
In November 2009, Stephen King published the poem, “The Bone Church,” in Playboy. The poem follows a group lost in the jungle encountering a strange, cosmic horror. Yet the most horrifying part of the issue, which also included an interview with King, was the cover model: Marge Simpson. It’s one of the most infamous covers in Playboy history, and Marge has since been replaced on the cover by Victoria’s Secret model, Alina Puscau.
For obvious reasons, finding an original print of “The Bone Church” is very difficult, and very costly. King’s next two contributions were his last, coming in March 2010 with “Tommy” and December 2016 with “The Music Room,” which, perfectly in line with King’s prolific writing, he forgot he wrote. “The Music Room” was left out of a short story collection until the paperback version of You Like It Darker. Notably, both issues featured real women on the cover.
Playboy may be known for the centerfolds,but over its long and storied history the magazine has featured other famous authors including Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming, Arthur C. Clarke, and Margaret Atwood. The monthly print magazine may be no more, but it lives on, as of 2025, with quarterly issues. If Stephen King somehow finds the time, he can still keep the tradition going for a new generation.
Entertainment
How to watch Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship online for free
TL;DR: Watch Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship for free on ITVX. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
It’s week two of the 2026 Nations Championship, and we’re getting another stack of northern vs. southern hemisphere fixtures.
Both Japan and Ireland scored wins last week and will enter this weekend’s contest with some momentum. Japan scored the bigger win last week, beating Italy 27-10, but arguably had easier competition. Ireland finished with a two-point lead over the formidable Australia. But which team will keep the momentum going?
If you’re interested in watching the 2026 Nations Championship from anywhere in the world, we’ve got all the information you need.
When is Japan vs. Ireland?
Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship kicks off at 11:10 a.m. BST on July 11. This fixture takes place at the McDonald Jones Stadium, Australia.
How to watch Japan vs. Ireland for free
Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship is available to live stream for free on ITVX.
Mashable Top Stories
ITVX is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can secure access with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can livestream the 2026 Nations Championship for free from anywhere in the world.
Livestream Japan vs. Ireland in the 2026 Nations Championship for free by following these simple steps:
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Sign up for a streaming-friendly VPN (we recommend ExpressVPN)
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Download the app to your device of choice
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Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK
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Visit ITVX
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Watch Japan vs. Ireland for free from anywhere in the world
$12.99 only at ExpressVPN
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but they do tend to offer generous money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch the 2026 Nations Championship without committing your cash. This is obviously not a long-term strategy, but it gives you enough time to stream multiple weekends before recovering your investment.
ExpressVPN’s regular 30-day money-back guarantee is not available for any subscriptions purchased during the FIFA World Cup between June 10 and July 11. ExpressVPN remains our top pick for sport, but you will need to pay the monthly rate until that offer comes back into play. Alternatively, Proton VPN still offers that all-important money-back guarantee.
What is the best VPN for ITVX?
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on ITVX, for a number of reasons:
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Servers in 105 countries
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Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
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Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
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Fast connection speeds free from throttling
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Up to 10 simultaneous connections
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30-day money-back guarantee (after FIFA World Cup)
A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and usually offers a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99.
Live stream the 2026 Nations Championship for free with ExpressVPN.
Entertainment
The Very Adult Space Sci-Fi Killed By Hollywood And Buried By Its Own Name
By Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Modern sci-fi owes a lot to the 1967 one-season wonder, The Prisoner, a surreal masterpiece that left the viewer wondering what the hero did to be trapped in such a bizarre seaside village, why he was trapped, and how he’d get out. Referring to its hero as only Number Six, The Prisoner’s influence can be felt in countless other series, but one of the best to pull from it aired on the SyFy channel for three seasons, from 2015 through 2017: Dark Matter.
Six strangers wake up on a spaceship with no memory of who they are or how they got there. They use the order they woke up in for names and start working together to solve the mystery. Unlike The Prisoner, they eventually figure everything out, but once they have all the answers, the questions are changed.
Dark Matter Opens With A Twist
Dark Matter opens up with a dark, beat-up ship as one by one, the six passengers, four men, one woman (The Rookie’s Melissa O’Neil), and a teenage girl, wake up, each with no memory of who they are. On the ship designated Raza, they find a cache of weapons and an android, and learn that the last destination was a mining colony where the workers need protection from the Ferrous Corporation. On any other sci-fi series, this would be a no-brainer, except the first big twist of the series is revealed at the end of the pilot: the passengers are the bad guys.
Learning from the android that all of them are wanted criminals, except for Number Five, puts the recovered cache in a new light. They stole it from the group contracted to help the miners, and it’s up to them to kill the miners. It’s the first of many, many twists that Dark Matter throws at viewers during its three seasons, and as far as even the Season 1 reveals go, it’s fairly tame.
The question remains: who wiped their memories, and why? For as long as that goes unanswered, the crew is left wondering, who can they trust? Who knows more than they are letting on?
The Prisoner Influence Goes Beyond The Pilot
The universe of Dark Matter is small, as far as sci-fi universes go, with the story placing more emphasis on the characters themselves than any universe-shattering conflict. It has that too, but watching the group of bad guys grapple with their past actions, develop into better people, or fail to become better and embrace being the villain of someone else’s story, drives the story forward more than a hunt for a technological MacGuffin.
The Prisoner was significantly smaller in scale, while Dark Matter lets the passengers out into the world, and yet, they can’t escape their past. From the pilot to the final episode, who they were will always define them.
Had the Patrick McGoohan classic series been allowed to continue, that was what was going to come next. Number Six would journey across the world but always remain under close watch, control, and unable to escape his fate as a prisoner.
Dark Matter And Stargate Share The Same Creative DNA
Dark Matter is heavily influenced by another sci-fi series: Stargate. The series was created by Joseph Mallozzi, one of the most prolific writers for the other Star franchise, contributing to SG-1, Atlantis, Universe, and the upcoming Amazon series. If you’ve seen the back half of SG-1, you’ll feel right at home in the world of Dark Matter.
Like Stargate, Dark Matter was also treated unfairly by SyFy, which picked up the series but didn’t develop it, relegating it to the network’s lower-priority original programming in terms of budgets and marketing.
There’s a good chance you haven’t ever watched the series, or even heard about it. Those who have given it a chance, though, have fallen in love with the ragtag crew.
A Sleeper Hit Streaming For Free
Finding Dark Matter is both easy and surprisingly difficult. It’s streaming for free on the CW website, but try to find anything about it, and you’ll wander into the 2024 Apple TV series, Dark Matter.
It’s such a common problem that even the Reddit for the SyFy series has been overtaken by fans of the new series. Like “Redemption” or “Rise of,” it’s time for the words “Dark Matter” to be retired from Hollywood for a few decades.
Once you find it, you’ll enjoy Dark Matter. Yes, there are a lot of plot holes explained away by the memory wipe, but there are also a lot of expertly crafted character development and further twists to the story. For better or for worse, this is the type of sci-fi we always need more of: a crew, a spaceship, and morally dubious missions that may or may not save the day.
Entertainment
Get a free month of streaming on Fox One with this BOGO deal
BUY ONE GET ONE FREE: Through July 19, when you sign up for a month of Fox One for $19.99, you’ll get a second month for free. That means you’ll keep $20 in your pocket and get two full months of streaming live sports and beyond.
$19.99 for 2 months (save $19.99)
Watching live sports is one of the most frustrating things about the streaming era. Well, that and how often we see price increases. But Fox One, the direct to consumer streaming service Fox launched last year, has made things a bit easier for sports fans.
For a limited time, you can get a month of the streaming service for free.
Through July 19, when you sign up for a month of Fox One for its usual $19.99 per month, you’ll get a second month for free. That’s two months of streaming for the price of one, saving you $19.99.
If you want to tune into the final matches of the FIFA World Cup 2026, this is the best way to do so in the U.S.
Mashable Deals
Fox is America’s home for the World Cup, so if you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still time. Previously, the only way to watch live Fox channels without cable was through a pay TV provider like YouTube TV or Fubo, which cost upwards of $90 per month. Now, Fox One is the one-stop shop for the entire Fox TV portfolio, allowing you to tune into live local Fox stations, Fox Sports, FS1, and FS2. And $19.99 certainly beats paying $90.
Once the World Cup has wrapped up, you’ll have access to select NFL games (including preseason), live Fox TV shows, Big Ten college football games, local news and weather, and so much more. If you don’t want to stick around after the two-month promo period, be sure to cancel before your subscription auto-renews for the following month.
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