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If you listen to the many artificial, automated voices that have become prevalent online, the answer doesn’t really matter, as long as she’s helping you.

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Connections: Sports Edition is a new 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.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable 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.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

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.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

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.

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:

• Yellow: Baseball nicknames

• Green: Heard at the gym

• Blue: Popular in women's sports

• Purple: The first half of these words is the same

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections Sports Edition categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: MLB teams, familiarly

• Green: Weightlifting terms

• Blue: U.S. women's soccer players

• Purple: Score___

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 #224 is...

What is the answer to Connections Sports Edition today

• MLB teams, familiarly - D-BACKS, JAYS, SOX, YANKS

• Weightlifting terms - BARBELL, CLEAN, JERK, SNATCH

• U.S. women's soccer players - COFFEY, FOX, RODMAN, SONNETT

• Score___ - BOARD, BUG, CARD, KEEPER

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? 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 yesterday's Connections.

The Last of Us Season 2 is moving from Jackson to Seattle, and with that move come several new characters.

SEE ALSO: 'The Last of Us' Season 2, episode 4: Who is Isaac?

We've already met Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her crew, but Season 2, episode 4 introduces other major players in Seattle, including Washington Liberation Front (WLF) leader Isaac Dixon (Jeffrey Wright, reprising his role from The Last of Us Part II).

Gamers already know Isaac, but episode 4 also introduces a character who will be new to gamers and show-only fans alike: Hanrahan (Alanna Ubach).

Who does Alanna Ubach play in The Last of Us Season 2? Jeffrey Wright, Ben Ahlers, and Alanna Ubach in "The Last of Us." Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

Hanrahan is a character created solely for The Last of Us show, meaning we don't have any in-game lore to guide us on her role. However, based on her brief appearance in episode 4, we have enough context clues to piece together key aspects of her character.

Episode 4 opens with a flashback to Seattle in 2018. Back then, the city was still under FEDRA rule, and the WLF were an underground resistance group, as opposed to the militia they are in The Last of Us' present-day.

The flashback (which features an appearance from Josh Peck as a FEDRA soldier) primarily serves as an introduction to Isaac, then a FEDRA Sergeant. The truck he and his soldiers are riding in stops in front of a school bus blocking the road, at which point a group of WLF members begins walking to the bus. Dressed in civilian clothes and without a weapon in sight, they're a far cry from the military force we see by the end of episode 4.

Leading the pack is Ubach's Hanrahan. When Isaac gets out of the truck to speak to her, all she says is: "You Isaac?"

He nods and replies, "You Hanrahan?"

When she nods back, Isaac throws a grenade into his truck, killing all his men and officially defecting to the WLF.

"Welcome to the fight," Hanrahan tells him.

That's the extent of Hanrahan we get in this episode, but even that small interaction gives us a lot of insight into her relationship with Isaac. Clearly, Hanrahan was a leader of the WLF in its early days, and while Isaac occupies that role now, she may still hold a position of power in the current WLF.

Hanrahan also likely served as one of Isaac's point people within the WLF as he was planning to leave FEDRA. They may not have seen each other's faces, but the fact that they know each other's names suggests prior communication. Perhaps the two of them collaborated on the plan for Isaac to kill his men, or maybe Hanrahan arranged it as one last test for Isaac to prove his loyalty to the WLF.

Either way, The Last of Us presents both Hanrahan and Isaac as faces of the WLF, so you can bet we haven't seen the last of them this season.

New episodes of The Last of Us Season 2 premiere on HBO and Max Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.

Watching The Last of Us and want to play the games? Here's how.

As a TV adaptation of Naughty Dog's games, The Last of Us includes more than a few hidden references and overt re-creations of the gameplay and cutscenes from The Last of Us Parts I and II.

Music references, in particular, are threaded through both seasons, from the Hank Williams connection to Season 1, episode 4; Crooked Still playing at the dance in Season 2, episode 1; to Ashley Johnson's cover of "Through the Valley" to end that brutal second episode.

SEE ALSO: 'The Last of Us' Season 2: What are the differences between the game and the HBO show?

In the fourth episode of Season 2, Ellie (Bella Ramsey) plays a tune right out of the game, in what's sure to be a moving moment for fans familiar with the TV show's source material. But what song does she play, and how is it connected to the game?

Which song does Ellie play in The Last of Us? Suffice to say, Dina (Isabela Merced) loves the song. Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO

In Season 2, episode 4, Ellie and Dina (Isabela Merced) are en route to Seattle when they need shelter. They find the one place they can fit their horse Shimmer through the door, Valiant Music Shop, an abandoned record store that's still fully stocked with Bob Marley and Tears for Fears vinyl and requisite Pearl Jam posters.

Ellie heads upstairs and finds the guitar section, where many an instrument has been eroded by the elements. But fortune smiles on an unopened case, and Ellie finds a pristine acoustic guitar within. She picks it up, takes a seat, and plays a truly beautiful, quietly romantic version of A-ha's 1985 track "Take On Me."

Why does Ellie play "Take On Me"?

Music is a crucial link between Ellie and Joel (Pedro Pascal) in The Last of Us, in life and after his death. Joel gave Ellie the butterfly-necked guitar and was restringing it for her before he died, despite their rocky relationship.

Featured Video For You Bella Ramsey and 'The Last of Us' team talks Season 2's new characters and Joel in therapy

The song Ellie picks to play is the same one as in The Last of Us Part II, when you play the chords yourself (this feature of the second game is a polarising one). Ramsey performs the song in the show in much the same style as Johnson does in the game, with both scenes showing Dina listening with shining eyes to Ellie's rendition.

In the game scene, Ellie actually starts to play Pearl Jam's "Future Days", a song Joel plays to Ellie at the beginning of The Last of Us Part II when he gives her a guitar, and a song that's become synonymous with the franchise for fans. But then Ellie stops when Dina enters, then moving into A-ha's "Take On Me."

Ellie plays the song for Dina in "The Last of Us Part II." Credit: Naughty Dog

The thing is, you could completely miss this cutscene in the game if you don't investigate the guitar room. It's not part of the main storyline, but instead it's more of a private side moment for Ellie, who is still grieving the loss of her guitar-teaching father Joel, and for Dina, who is becoming more aware of her feelings for Ellie — you try watching someone you might like playing music live and not falling head over heels.

But it's particularly poignant because of A-ha's lyrics, which match The Last of Us' glimmer of hope for our protagonist, with Ellie singing, "Needless to say / I'm odds and ends / But I'll be stumblin' away / Slowly learnin' that life is OK."

The Last of Us Season 2 is now streaming on Max. New episodes air weekly on Sundays 9 p.m. ET on HBO.

Watching The Last of Us and want to play the games? Here's how.

If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.

There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.

An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.

If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.

SEE ALSO: Hurdle: Everything you need to know to find the answers Hurdle Word 1 hint

Brand new.

SEE ALSO: Apple’s new M3 MacBook Air is $300 off at Amazon. And yes, I’m tempted. Hurdle Word 1 answer

FRESH

Hurdle Word 2 hint

16 ounces.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 5, 2025 Hurdle Word 2 Answer

POUND

Hurdle Word 3 hint

A young girl.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 5 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for May 5, 2025 Hurdle Word 3 answer

MISSY

Hurdle Word 4 hint

A weird trait.

SEE ALSO: NYT Strands hints, answers for May 5 Hurdle Word 4 answer

QUIRK

Final Hurdle hint

A belief.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Games available on Mashable Hurdle Word 5 answer

TENET

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

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.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable 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.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

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.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

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.

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for May 5 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:

• Yellow: To move smoothly

• Green: Related to a popular vampire

• Blue: To even out

• Purple: They have the same shape

Featured Video For You Connections: How to play and how to win Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Glide

• Green: Associated with Count Dracula

• Blue: Stop changing

• Purple: Things that are long and cylindrical

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 #694 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Glide: COAST, CRUISE, DRIFT, FLOAT

• Associated with Count Dracula: BAT, CAPE, CASTLE, FANG

• Stop changing: FLATTEN, LEVEL, PLATEAU, SETTLE

• Things that are long and cylindrical: BATON, CIGAR, HOAGIE, TORPEDO

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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 5

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 yesterday's Connections.

Oh hey there! If you're here, it must be time for Wordle. As always, we're serving up our daily hints and tips to help you figure out today's answer.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: Hints and answers for May 5 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT's The Mini crossword answers for May 5, 2025 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

To quiet someone.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letters S and H appear twice.

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter S.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

SHUSH.

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle 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.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 5

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

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 Wordle.

If you're reading this, you're looking for a little help playing Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game.

Strands 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.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

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 preferrined pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for May 5 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for May 5 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: On the side

The words are types of potato dishes.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words styles of fried potatoes.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is U-shaped.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is French Fries

Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for May 5

• Shoestring

• Steak

• Curly

• Home

• French Fries

• Waffle

• Crinkle

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.

Joel may have left us, but new faces are arriving in The Last of Us universe to take his place.

Episode 4 saw yet more new arrivals, one of which marks the first onscreen appearance for a character who is briefly mentioned right at the beginning of the season.

So who is Isaac (Jeffrey Wright), and what part is he going to play in the action going forward? Let's unpack it.

SEE ALSO: 'The Last of Us' Season 2: What are the differences between the game and the HBO show? Who is Isaac in The Last of Us Season 2?

If the name sounds familiar, it's because Isaac first gets a mention in the opening scene of Season 2.

When Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) and her gang are standing at what remains of the Firefly base and trying to decide what to do next, Isaac's name is dropped by Owen (Spencer Lord).

"Ed has a brother who runs an outfit in Seattle," Owen says. "A guy named Isaac. Supposedly, he'd take us all in."

As we learn five years on, when Abby and her crew appear outside Jackson to kill Joel, they are part of a military outfit known as the Washington Liberation Front (WLF) — but we don't see Isaac, one of the outfit's leaders, until episode 4.

As the start of the episode reveals via a flashback to 2018, Isaac is a former FEDRA sergeant who joins the WLF because he's become disillusioned with how FEDRA is treating people in Seattle (so disillusioned that he casually murders his entire platoon, in fact).

The next time we see him is in present-day 2029, still in Seattle — and now clearly one of the WLF higher-ups, locked in an endless war with the forest-dwelling Seraphites.

Credit: Liane Hentscher / HBO Isaac's character reenforces a depressing Last of Us message.

The cycle of violence is a theme that crops up a lot in The Last of Us, and is perfectly encapsulated in Isaac's character. When we first see him, he's marked out as different from his FEDRA colleagues by his apparent disgust at the way they think of people who aren't FEDRA.

"We took away their right to vote, and somebody started calling them 'voters' to mock them," mutters a younger Isaac in response to a story told by one of his soldiers about civilians being murdered by FEDRA.

"I didn't mean anything by it, Sarge," the soldier replies.

"'Course you didn't," comes Isaac's response. "You're thoughtless."

We don't know what exactly has happened to Isaac in the 11 years since that flashback and the present day, but it's clear that his experiences have hardened him. When we first meet modern-day Isaac, he's torturing a naked Seraphite in a kitchen by burning him repeatedly. When the man doesn't give him the answers he wants, he shoots him dead.

As a leading figure of the WLF, it seems likely that Isaac will play a larger role in the story ahead. But for now, his character is the embodiment of a depressing message: People in The Last of Us may start out with a certain set of ideals, but they ultimately turn into the monsters they're trying to leave behind.

The Last of Us Season 2 is now streaming on Max. New episodes air weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.

Watching The Last of Us and want to play the games? Here's how.

For over a year, Josh Peck has had to keep a major secret: He is in The Last of Us Season 2.

The Drake & Josh and Oppenheimer actor joins the ranks of notable Last of Us guest stars, which include Melanie Lynskey, Nick Offerman, and Murray Bartlett, as well as actors from the original Last of Us game like Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, and Jeffrey Pierce.

SEE ALSO: 'The Last of Us' Season 2: Who is Hanrahan?

Before auditioning for The Last of Us, Peck had little familiarity with the show or its source material. "I knew how beloved the show was and how well done it was, but I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to intense shows like this," Peck told Mashable in a phone interview. "Honestly, my audition for the show made me give it a look so I could make sure I was honoring the tone and energy of it. Then of course, I watched the first episode and binged all of it in two days. I was like, 'Oh my God, this is excellent.'"

A particular stand-out for Peck? Season 1, episode 3, "Long Long Time," which focuses on the love story of Bill (Offerman) and Frank (Bartlett).

"That's a game-changing episode," Peck said. "I don't think I've seen a love story — a straight love story, a gay love story — that was that prolific and real and just honest in my life."

SEE ALSO: 'The Last of Us' changed Bill and Frank's story, here's why

Peck's part in The Last of Us — which he described as a "pinch-me role" in the vein of Oppenheimer — looks very different from Bill and Frank's tender love story, though. Introduced in Season 2, episode 4, Peck plays a FEDRA soldier stationed in the Seattle Quarantine Zone in 2018. In the episode's opening moments, his character (who goes unnamed in the episode) spins a tale of FEDRA's oppressive brutality. But from his point of view, it's just another funny story — a chilling reminder of FEDRA's dehumanization of the QZ civilians.

For Peck, the key to getting in the soldier's mindset was thinking back to times when he and his friends shared stories of their own.

"Obviously, the subject matter is incredible intense and dark. I try not to judge the fact that this guy is getting a rise out of something pretty despicable. That doesn't serve me," Peck explained. "But what I can mine from my own life is telling a great story for me and my boys growing up, like something that tickles me still or a funny trip I can look back on. That's real, and the fact that this character is having that real moment about an experience that is totally unacceptable is not of my interest. I just need to make it personalized and connected to something that I genuinely get a kick out of."

Peck filmed the soldier's monologue for his audition tape. "It was a really great scene, and to [showrunner] Craig [Mazin's] credit, great writing," he said of the experience. "I had a great time making the tape, which is rare, because it's usually an agonizing time making an audition tape."

SEE ALSO: 'The Last of Us' Season 2: What are the differences between the game and the HBO show?

Peck also recalled worrying about how little the script changed from the audition to the shoot in Vancouver.

"I'll never forget, a day before filming my stomach dropped because I hadn't gotten any updates," Peck said. "In TV, over a month you can get six revisions, and on the day when you get there, they might say, 'We wrote all of this last night.'"

Not so for Peck's scene in The Last of Us. After double-checking with the assistant director that he hadn't missed any updates the night before shooting, Peck remembered meeting showrunner Craig Mazin on set. "He looked at me and was like, 'What if I had changed everything on you last night?'" Peck laughed.

Peck was in Vancouver for five days for the shoot, but learned nothing about the season beyond his own scene. Even the death of Joel (Pedro Pascal) came as a surprise to him when watching the show as it aired.

Another surprise for Peck? That he would be sharing the screen with Jeffrey Wright, who plays Washington Liberation Front (WLF) leader Isaac Dixon, something he learned when he saw Wright's headshot on set during a costume fitting.

"I was like, 'Oh damn,'" Peck recalled. "Jeffrey Wright is by far one of my favorite actors, from Broken Flowers to Basquiat, which is a movie that means so much to me. He's just one of our finest actors, and he couldn't have been a lovelier guy. Remember, we're spending like 10 hours doing this monologue over and over again, so eventually we would just start laughing about it, because it's an intense scene."

As Isaac, Wright ends up killing Peck's soldier — and the rest of his FEDRA squad — when he joins forces with the WLF. It's a brutal introduction not just to Isaac but to the world of Seattle, which Ellie (Bella Ramsey) enters in episode 4. And while the death of Peck's character means he won't be returning, he's very aware of the audience's love of the show.

"I want to stay away from the internet; I'm sure people are going to have opinions!" Peck laughed. "When you're entering into such a beloved thing, people are very protective of it, understandably. But I imagine it'll be a nice welcome."

New episodes of The Last of Us Season 2 premiere on HBO and Max Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.

In some huge gaming news, rumors suggest that Valve Software’s long-dormant Half-Life 3 not only exists — it’s playable from start to finish. And if the leaks are to be believed, the company could be gearing up to announce it later this year.

SEE ALSO: 'Half-Life: Alyx' trailer reveals a VR story before the events of 'Half-Life 2'

As always with Half-Life 3 rumors, skepticism is warranted. The latest report comes via Valve insider and longtime leaker Tyler McVicker, who teased a series of pointed hints during a recent livestream. According to McVicker, the information surfaced because the game is now in such wide playtesting that some testers have started talking.

The claims track with previous speculation from last summer, including McVicker’s own datamining of recent Valve code drops. Additionally, in February, datamining sleuths uncovered code references to “HLX” buried in update files for Valve’s upcoming MOBA-style game Deadlock, adding further speculation that something Half-Life-related is in active development.

"This is the furthest [HLX] has ever been. Period," McVicker said during the stream. "The game is playable—end to end. Period. Other HL3 or Episode 3 projects never got that far. They’re optimizing, polishing. It’s probably content-locked, or at the very least mechanic-locked."

Still, until Valve breaks its silence, treat this like every other Half-Life 3 whisper over the past 15 years: with cautious optimism. Based on the details provided by McVicker on stream, this Half-Life 3 is not to be confused with Half-Life 2: Episode Three, an announced sequel to Episode Two way back in 2007.

Development on Half-Life 3 reportedly began around 2013 or 2014, with a 2020 leak suggesting the game would have featured procedurally generated level design — an approach McVicker reaffirmed during his recent Q&A session.

Either way, something’s moving inside Valve. If it does launch, it would mark the first mainline Half-Life entry since Episode Two dropped in 2007, and the first release in the franchise since the 2020 VR-exclusive Half-Life: Alyx.

Ever gotten a random text that starts with a name that’s not yours, in a scenario you’ve never been in? Maybe someone thinks you’re "Emily from the gym" or "Daniel from the yacht club." You reply with the classic "wrong number," but instead of backing off, the stranger suddenly wants to chat. Friendly. Curious. Weirdly persistent.

Congratulations: you’ve just been targeted by a scam — and no, you’re not the only one. According to cybersecurity firm McAfee, as cited by CNBC, a staggering 25 percent of Americans have received these mystery messages. The scam isn’t new. In fact, it first started gaining traction back in 2022. What is new is how it’s evolving.

SEE ALSO: E-ZPass toll scams are back. What to do if you're targeted.

These are called pig-butchering scams — a grotesque name with grotesque intent. Borrowed from the farming world, the term describes how scammers "fatten up" victims emotionally and psychologically before the financial slaughter. They operate like long-con romance scams: someone pretending to be rich and important, who just so happens to find you fascinating. Over time, they build trust, often steering the conversation toward crypto investments or too-good-to-be-true opportunities.

Experts told CNBC that the rise of generative AI is supercharging these operations. It's letting scammers craft messages that feel more personal and making it easier to change up the script to sound more like a real person. And the numbers show it's working.

In 2024 alone, text message scams cost Americans $470 million, according to the Federal Trade Commission. That’s five times what it was in 2020.

The bleaker reality behind these scams is that many are fueled by forced labor. Large-scale operations based in Southeast Asia are often behind the messages, with workers trafficked from across the region under false promises of legitimate employment. Once there, they’re coerced into running scams under constant surveillance and threats — essentially trapped in digital sweatshops.

Not all participants are victims, though. Some of these operations are run by shady online gambling groups, staffed by people who know exactly what they’re doing.

The simplest and most effective way to protect yourself? Don’t respond. If a text pops up from "Emily from the gym" or "Daniel from the yacht club" and you have no idea who that is, ignore it. If the number’s from an unfamiliar area code or a region you’ve never set foot in — ignore it. That’s it. No need to engage, correct them, or play along. Just block the number and move on.

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Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost are thriving in Trump’s second term, with no shortage of absurd headlines to skewer.

SEE ALSO: Quinta Brunson gets into charades fight in 'SNL' ferry sketch

They opened with the surreal news of Trump posting an AI-generated image of himself as the pope, barely two weeks after the actual death of Pope Francis. Jost joked that Trump apparently attended the funeral, walked past the open casket, and thought, “Oh, we should do a ‘who wore it best.’”

Che followed up with a dig at Attorney General Pam Bondi, who claimed the amount of fentanyl seized at the border was enough to prevent 75% of Americans from dying. “Don’t threaten us with a good time,” he joked.

The duo also poked fun at Elon Musk, who reportedly stepped back from his role at DOGE. "As always," Che quipped, "Elon pulled out a little too late."

Abbott Elementary star and creator Quinta Brunson returned to Saturday Night Live this week, reviving the popular "Traffic Altercation" sketch from her 2023 hosting debut.

SEE ALSO: 'SNL' Cold Open turns Trump’s 100 days into a bizarre executive order bonanza

In the sketch, Brunson and Mikey Day play strangers stuck on a ferry, with Day’s character launching into a petty feud over a bad parking job. What starts as a tense exchange quickly unravels into a chaotic pantomime, with both characters expressing their outrage through exaggerated gestures.

Chloe Fineman appears as Day’s daughter, attempting to support her dad but ultimately adding to the confusion and making things worse for both of them.

The sketch ends with a surprise cameo from "Weekend Update" co-host Colin Jost, who enters trying to offload an actual Staten Island ferry. In 2022, Jost and Pete Davidson bought the decommissioned vessel for $280,000. Jost has since described it as the "dumbest purchase" he’s ever made.

President Donald Trump has officially crossed the 100-day mark in office for his second term — an occasion that feels less like a milestone and more like a never-ending fever dream. To honor the moment, Saturday Night Live kicked things off with a Cold Open featuring James Austin Johnson’s pitch-perfect (and deeply weird) impression of the president.

SEE ALSO: Trump casts himself as pope in AI-generated image

Much like FDR, but in exactly one, extremely specific way, Trump has a deep affection for signing executive orders. Sure, legally and constitutionally, some of Trump's executive orders have been little more than glorified press releases (like that time Trump made everyone female), but SNL Trump’s executive orders veer into absurdist fun.

Among the highlights from the Cold Open is an order reinstating Columbus Day — something that real Trump plans to do, even though it's already a federally recognized holiday.

Another, dubbed the "Belichick Law," makes it socially acceptable for men over 70 to date women barely out of college. Then there’s the one demanding fewer interracial couples in TV commercials, and another aimed at making the New York Times Connections game easier (honestly, we get it, Mr. President).

Oh, and one executive order bans Hispanic babies from getting their ears pierced. Trump, of course, blames that one on Marco Rubio.

There are a few more gems in the sketch we won’t spoil — but what makes the satire hit differently is the gnawing feeling that, yeah… he might actually try some of this. And that’s the part that’s not so funny.

Professional Bull Riding was meant for TikTok fame.

It’s short, intense, and impossible to look away. A rider adorned in thick gloves, a protective vest, and a helmet hops onto a bull from the side of the fence that surrounds the ring. A stock contractor tightens a flank strap around the bull's sensitive stomach, which makes the bull buck. The gate opens, and the bull instinctively jerks out into the arena. As soon as the bull's shoulder or hips clear the gate, the timer starts. The rider’s goal is to stay on the bull for just eight seconds — and it's as hard as it looks, with the rider holding onto the beast with one hand (if they touch the bull with the second hand, they're disqualified) and two legs. Not only do they have to hang on, riders also have to demonstrate their own personal style and fluidity, which they'll be judged on. Eight seconds later, sometimes sooner, the rider is typically bucked off and flees for safety.

Finish recording and immediately upload. It's not just a sport, it's a TikTok worth millions of views.

PBR — the sport, not the beer — has made big waves on TikTok in 2025. Since January, Professional Bull Riding has gained 650,000 followers across social media accounts, just 200,000 short of the growth they saw in the entirety of 2024. This recent popularity has jettisoned them to the upper echelons of social media, with 2.9 million followers on TikTok. Mitch Ladner, the social media lead for PBR, told Mashable that most of that growth is thanks to followers between 18 and 35 years old.

"We've seen a massive spike in our followership across all of our platforms, but definitely more so on TikTok and Instagram, and I definitely attribute that to a younger audience," Ladner said.

SEE ALSO: Is 'castlecore' the aesthetic of our technofeudal future?

Once a symbol of conservative Americana, cowboy culture — from rodeo-inspired fashion like Pinterest’s Western Gothic to the visceral thrill of professional bull riding — is being reimagined by Gen Z. On one end of the spectrum is Beyoncé, whose Grammy-winning Cowboy Carter album and tour shine a spotlight on a long-overlooked side of the cowboy narrative. On the other are tradwife influencers in prairie dresses, reviving idealized visions of ranch life. Together, they signal a shift: cowboycore is no longer just a fleeting aesthetic; it's a full-blown lifestyle, and it defies political binaries. Nowhere is this cultural collision more vivid than at PBR events, where Chappell Roan and Morgan Wallen tracks spin back-to-back; newbie influencers cozy up to livestock while rodeo athletes put their bodies on the line; and American identity feels up for grabs. Suddenly, cowboycore isn’t just a style — it’s a statement, and everyone wants a piece.

Make no mistake: Cowboys are not strictly American. Their roots trace back to Spain and Portugal, and many of the riders who joined the cattle drives of the late 19th century were African, Mexican, and Indigenous. The vaquero traditions in northern Mexico likely spurred much of what we consider cowboy culture today, and, during the late 1800s, 25 percent of workers in the range-cattle industry in the American West were Black cowboys, a truth rewritten in many portrayals of the American West in order to favor a settler-colonialist tilt. But the reality of past American life is often forgotten when aesthetics take over.

"If you go around the world and ask, 'What's your idea of an American?' a lot of people would say a cowboy," Joshua Garrett-Davis, the H. Russell Smith Foundation curator of Western American History, told Mashable. Whether or not it's based in simple historical reality, cowboy culture "is a shorthand for what America is."

Now, in a time of national uncertainty, Millennials and Gen Z are reshaping cowboy aesthetics through a new lens, incorporating ideas about identity, danger, nostalgia, digital performance, and the influencer economy, often with very different results. PBR is ground zero for that transformation.

Cowboycore’s complicated dual identity

As more young people flock to a sport with conservative roots, you might presume an immediate political line has been drawn. And it’s true that Gen Z, once seen as a progressive and digitally native generation, has surprised pollsters by, in some cases, actually leaning conservative. According to a new poll out of Yale, while voters aged 22 to 29 years old favored Democrats in the 2026 congressional elections by 6.4 points, those aged 18 to 21 years old leaned Republican by 11.7 points — an 18-point swing within a single generational bracket. 

Still, it’s complicated, and the fact is, people of all political stripes are finding resonance in cowboy Americana. Take Chappell Roan's queer anthem "The Giver," which debuted at no. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs Chart, and Stud Country, a line dancing and two-stepping event specifically for queer people that has taken off in big cities. Palestinian supermodel and activist Bella Hadid is a literal cowgirl. Pharrell Williams, who showcased embroidered suits, cowboy hats, and bolo ties for Louis Vuitton's 2024 menswear presentation, told GQ that "it was an honor" to create a collection "around the West and Western workwear vibes" because cowboys "look like us, they look like me, they look Black, they look Native American." And of course, there’s Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, along with movies like The Harder They Fall, Concrete Cowboy, and Queen & Slim, which all push against the narrative that cowboy culture is inherently white. 

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But there’s also a more conservative (and highly popular) romanticization of cowboy culture. For instance, tradwife influencer Hannah Neeleman, aka Ballerina Farm, whose Instagram bio reads, "city folk turned ranchers," has 10 million followers.

PBR officials, for their part, hope to keep their version of Americana apolitical as much as possible. "If loving your country and honoring your veterans and the heroes and those that sacrifice before us is a political issue, then you could paint us with a political brush, because we've done that from day one," PBR CEO and Commissioner Sean Gleason told Mashable.  

PBR doesn't have a political arm or any official donations to candidates, though it has encouraged its viewers to vote. And although its leadership has emphasized keeping the organization apolitical, the cultural and economic realities around rodeo often place it at odds with liberal politics. For example, some Democratic politicians have introduced bills that would ban rodeo and PBR in their states because of the effect it can have on the animals involved. At the same time, affiliations and moments in PBR's recent history lean more conservative — the Border Patrol has been a sponsor since 2016, and that same year, when Colin Kaepernick kneeled to protest racial injustice, PBR athletes countered with a public pledge to stand during the national anthem.

"Our mantra is: Be cowboy," Gleason said. "It doesn't matter where you live, what you drive, how you dress, the color of your skin, or your gender. If you live honestly with integrity, hard work, and an appreciation for the history and heritage of America, you're a cowboy."

Meanwhile, the "American" sport is not actually that American — just 10 of PBR's top 25 bull riders hail from the U.S. Fourteen are from Brazil, and one is from Australia; a Brazilian rider won the sold-out MSG series.

In uncertain times, Americans reach for ‘Americana’  

Historically, Western nostalgia tends to achieve new heights during times of national uncertainty. Consider the presidency of "California cowboy" Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, when the country was experiencing its worst recession since the Great Depression, IBM released the first personal computer, more than 100,000 people died from the AIDS epidemic, the Cold War was ending, and conservatism was on the rise. Reagan didn't have any red hats, but his slogan was "Let's Make America Great Again," which sounds awfully familiar. The American Cowboy Culture Association was created in the 1980s, and, of course, there was a resurgence of country music and Westerns — albeit completely whitewashed versions of the true Wild West. 

Garrett-Davis said the resurgence of cowboycore is "almost always making a claim about America or the United States as a nation, even if it's in a fun, playful, ironic, or satirical way. There's both this appropriation of cowboy imagery and an appropriation of Native American imagery," Garrett-Davis said. "I'm psychoanalyzing here, but when things feel so unmoored, it makes sense that you would grab onto something that feels 'authentic.'"

It seems like that's happening. In January, for the first time in nearly two decades, a PBR event sold out three days at Madison Square Garden, attracting a record-breaking 42,257 fans.

'We've been making eight-second content for 30-plus years' 

PBR’s massive uptick in social media followers didn’t happen by accident. A few years ago, their biggest audience was on Facebook, but the sport, with each ride lasting for a maximum of eight seconds, was built for short-form video content. It’s a spectacle, with thrilling, fast-paced content perfect for capturing short attention spans and TikTok virality.

The scoring is simple. Each ride is worth up to 100 points — 50 for the rider and 50 for the bull. Two judges score the rider, two judges score the bull, and each judge can award up to 25 points, with the score then tallied together. At the end of each event, the top 12 riders compete in the championship round; the rider with the highest point total from the entire event becomes the champion.

"We've been making eight-second content for 30-plus years," Ladner told Mashable. "It just took TikTok to catch up with us."

Ladner's strategy for audience-building and engagement focuses on riders themselves, not just highlights, and it works well. In one of PBR's most viral TikTok videos, the cowboys are doing seemingly regular things—leaning over a pole, standing with their arms crossed, laughing—to the tune of "Breakin’ Dishes" by Rihanna. Another popular video shows one of the cowboys stretching out for his turn on a bull with the song "Bounce When She Walk" by BeatKing and Oh Boy Prince in the background.

"We kind of flipped around our social strategy to 'let's just have fun with this' and 'let 'er rip,' honestly," Ladner says of the strategy he implemented in November. Now, the TikTok account leans into the knowledge that the cowboys are, for lack of a better word, really hot.

While Ladner says "our biggest influencers are our riders," not all cowboys are stoked about being on camera — they want to be riding bulls and playing on a ranch with their buddies. So Ladner adds that involving influencers outside the Western niche has been imperative to growth and expanding reach. And more often than not, Ladner says, those influencers are reaching out to him.

"We get a ton of inbound DMs saying, 'Hey, I'd love to come to the event, and I have a million TikTok followers,'" Ladner said. "If I can get a mommy blogger or a fashionista or a chef to come to our event, that's an audience that our paid media ads can't necessarily target with marketing messages that come off authentic."

While some might be worried about the co-opting of the country lifestyle, PBR isn’t. And they argue their fans, who they say aren’t conservative or progressive but simply American, aren't either.

"I've seen no measurable gatekeeping from our fans at all," Ladner said. "We've been doing this since 1992, and we've had a very loyal, diehard base since the jump. [The fans are] just glad these riders are getting their due."

The politics of authenticity, gender, and performance

Bull riding seems like an ultra-masculine spectacle. It appeals to this cathartic fantasy of toughness and risk as its polar opposite, tradwife content, continues to flourish online, playing out gendered performances of impossible ideals for the camera. But, at the same time, cowboy aesthetics have always played with gender. Look no further than Ryan Rash, a stock show judge who famously slaps cattle with glitter, wears fabulously flamboyant outfits and faux eyelashes, and posts a lot of pro-President Trump memes on his Facebook page.

These seemingly conflicting ideologies may be part of the point. Cowboy culture has never truly been a reality. 

"Most of us are working office jobs, are working at a restaurant or whatever, and so there's some catharsis in imagining the life of picking up eggs and milking the goats and riding a bull and being in so, so much danger," Garrett-Davis said. "It totally makes sense that now, in this fast-paced time of really rapid change, we might yearn for a slower pace, a simpler life, and because of all the ways that the West is associated with this national identity, it's something that feels authentic to grab onto, even though its authenticity is very doubtful the closer you look at it.”

The American insistence on being born a nation on the backs of brave, ragged people of the Wild Wild West is itself a fantasy. The white man was not the hero of the story, and cowboy boots look just as great on the New York City subway as they do mucking a stall. Despite its lack of authenticity, there is a certain je ne sais quoi about our imagined Wild Wild West. A simpler life is appealing if you refuse to look any deeper at it. And maybe that escapism is good enough, at least for right now.

Whether for the purposes of creating a new identity, finding escape, or leaning into either the irony or sincerity of it all, the cowboy endures — more mediated than ever online, but just as mythic. For the increasing number of Gen Zers who are scrolling TikTok for the latest PBR clip or boot recommendation, cowboycore doesn’t have to be a relic or a remix: It can be both. 

Gleason says that we're in a "renaissance" and "resurgence" of "interest in cowboy and country music and these authentic touch points with the history and heritage of America," describing it as the opposite side of the pendulum of "this ultra-woke culture sweeping the nation." 

Yet somehow, adherents to both groups find solace in the cowboycore aesthetic. So the cowboycore aesthetic endures, pushed on by another season of political uncertainty and polarization. Whether it will hang on longer than eight seconds remains to be seen. "One thing I know for certain is that the pendulum swings," Gleason said. "The pendulum of politics, the pendulum of culture, they swing." 

For now, it endures, pushed on by the seemingly perpetual push and pull of who gets to define Americana — and who belongs in the annals of its history.