Category Archives: Blog

From “Fleabag era” to “flop era,” 2022 was a year of eras. But none left a greater mark than Not Okay actor Dylan O’Brien’s. The actor upped the ante and shook us out of our sad girl stupor by tweeting two words, “slut era.” 

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His tweet ushered in a horny state of mind for anyone who came into contact with his powerful words. However, as much as we wanted to embrace our slut eras, we often fell short. This disconnect between expectations and reality led to a meme where Twitter users declared slut era, followed by something glaringly un-slutty like, rewatching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or checking to see if your crush has viewed your story.

But there was one area where we consistently rose to O’Brien’s challenge: thirst commenting. 

Being horny on main has been widely accepted since at least 2018 and the thirst tweet economy has only gotten progressively more competitive. By 2019, violence became the mainstream way to express your attraction (“step on my neck,” “run me over with a bus,” break my back like a glow stick”). While that level of aggression remains foundational to the genre, we’ve evolved to heights of horniness that involve self-inflicted pain and the stench of desperation. These days in order to express even a modicum of arousal a flair for the dramatics is a must. 

Here are some of the key vocabulary and phrases used to express thirst in 2022. You’ll notice it looks identical to the average comments section on a hot person’s TikTok. 

Babygirl

“He’s so babygirl” is the new submissive and breedable, a phrase used to describe when a man is so primally attractive that you want to provide for him that became mainstream in 2021. Babygirl a term of endearment for when a man is being cute, comfortable in his masculinity, or weak in an evocative way. Women reclaimed babygirl and used it as an adjective to infantilize grown men. 

Barking 

Once upon a time, barking or woofing on the internet was used to call out racism. Now you might bark or woof in the replies of someone you feel a strong, animalistic attraction to. 

Boyfriend

Like babygirl, boyfriend was used in stimulating and invigorating ways this year. Boyfriend was a job description and an adjective. “He’s so boyfriend here” is a tried and true response to an image or video that stirs up the “we’re dating” delusions.

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Don’t ask me the color of anything 

This saying became a popular TikTok comment late last year and is still holding strong. It’s used when horny tunnel vision kicks in and you can only focus on the person in question…or even on their specific body part. 

I’m sat

I’m sat implies deference to someone’s erotic gravitas. In May a clip from Love Island season 3 went viral where Olivia tells Chris she’s done with the conversation. Chris replies, “sit back down.” To which Olivia responds, “I’m sat.” In the over 138,000 videos on TikTok, the snippet is used to express who you’d unequivocally obey by displaying their photo when Chris says “sit back down.” Users shortened the soundbite to be used in comment form.

Just fell to my knees (in a Walmart)

It’s no longer enough to say you’re down bad. In 2022 we got descriptive and we got specific. “Just fell to my knees in a Walmart” is for when you’re so overcome by desire that textbook horny language couldn’t even begin to describe what you’re going through. The statement encapsulates the theatrics and madness a good thirst trap elicits and is part of a genre of sayings that overruns the internet. 

Synonyms include “Gnawing my own arm off,” “Collapsing as we speak,” “Just broke down,” “Have to focus on my breathing to calm down,” “Knees shaking, eyes rolling, toes curling,” “Changed the trajectory of my life,” “Bites fist,” “Gonna faint,” “I feel dizzy,” “I can’t do this right now,” “I am unwell,” “Lord, I am not your strongest soldier,” “Punching air,” “Banging my head against the wall,” “Sliding down the wall dramatically,” “Dangerously horny,” “Help,” “I’m sick,” the list can go on.  

Just moaned out loud 

You get the gist. 

We can’t mention “just moaned out loud,” without acknowledging its elder sister “Didn’t mean to moan like that, my bad,” a turn of phrase popularized by a beloved reaction meme. The meme in question of course being a car selfie of internet comedian, Casey Frey, overlaid with “Didn’t mean to moan like that, my bad” in blue text. Both expressions convey a lack of control in response to a stimulus.

Kicking my feet and giggling 

So giddy that you may even be twirling your hair too. 

Yes, chef

A defining lusty moment of the year was the release of The Bear on Hulu this summer. In it, an artfully tattooed Jeremy Allen White portrays Carmy, a stressed out fine dining chef who inherited his late brother’s sandwich shop…in a tight white tee-shirt. Carmy is visually the perfect scumbag and it awakened something in many viewers, so much so that some dubbed summer 2022 “hot line cook summer.” And perhaps the sexiest part of the show was the intensity with which he ran the sandwich shop and managed his staff to which they all responded, “yes, chef.” Horny watchers were desperate to be on the receiving end of those orders, forever altering the connotation of that phrase (and the replies to images of Allen White on Twitter). 

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[Redacted]

Sometimes it’s more powerful to leave some things to the internet’s (dirty) imagination. “I want her to [redacted] and [redacted] until she [redacted],” does just that. [Redacted] is only one example of this fail-safe method of thirst tweeting. The approach makes what’s left unsaid so loud. 

Synonyms include “*****,” “If I spoke–,” “Much to think about,” “I might say something,” “Listen,” “This better not awaken anything in me,” and “The things I would let them do to me.” 

Smash

With one simple word you can declare that you’d bang, no questions asked. 

Like most things smash was reintroduced into the internet’s horny lexicon thanks to a TikTok sound. In December of last year, users @qezzg and @fizag01 posted a video using a Peppa Pig character filter. It landed on Peppa Pig and one said, “smash.” The other responded, “Suzie!” To which she replied, “Wait, what was the game? Smash or pass?” With over 39,000 videos and counting, it became a go-to sound to use in response to any photo or video where you’re just so overwhelmed by your attraction that you can’t focus on anything else. And when you’re too lazy to make a whole video about your interest, a smash comment will do the trick.

Can’t wait to see what 2023 brings, we’re constantly achieving new heights of horniness!

TL;DR: As of Dec. 25, you can snag the Actigun Percussion Massager for just $59.99 instead of $199.99 — that’s a savings of 70%.

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The holidays are notorious for taking an emotional, financial, mental, and physical toll on everybody. It’s as if all the holiday cheer automatically gets converted to sheer exhaustion once the festivities are over.

When the going gets rough, don’t deprive yourself of little pleasures like sleeping in a bit later, doing quick meditation exercises, or even getting a massage. After all, the back pain you get after wrapping way too many presents is no joke. But if you can’t find the time or budget to spare a trip to the spa, your best bet is to find relief through a tool you can use at home like the Actigun. This percussion massager is on sale for 70% off for a limited time.

Equipped with an AI smart chip, the Actigun delivers a humanized intelligent interactive experience by giving you the exact percussive strength you need based on the current condition of your muscle. It’s just like receiving treatment from an actual masseuse, except that it’s AI doing all the work. It claims not to merely relieve pain but also speed up recovery, promote healthy circulation, and increase your range of motion.

The Actigun comes with four massage heads to cater to varying massage needs. It’s designed to target specific areas as well as cater to joint injuries and big muscle groups. It can also deliver 1200 to 3300 percussions per minute, and the best part is it does it all quietly. The built-in brushless silent motor operates at low 39dB noise.

With the high-capacity lithium battery, the massager allows for over 120 minutes of continuous treatment. While that sounds too long, its durable anti-slip grip makes massaging easier and more comfortable, so you won’t feel like your arm would fall off. It also features a high-efficiency thermal ventilation design, meaning it reduces heat during use.

Normally retailing for $199.99, you can get the Actigun Percussion Massager on sale for only $59.99 for a limited time.

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Snag the Apple Watch Wireless Charger Keychain on sale for only $18.99 instead of the usual $49 as of Dec. 25 — that’s 61% in savings.

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Here’s the thing about charging the Apple Watch: it’s incredibly inconvenient. And if you want to charge it on the go? Forget it.

Even though Apple Watches have progressively gotten swankier, the way to charge them hasn’t gotten any better. For one, the default charger is a USB-A dongle. Who uses USB-A these days? Exactly. For another, inductive charging means that the device has to stay still for it to work. If you need to juice up outdoors, you have to manually carry your portable charger along with a wire.

This is where the Apple Watch Wireless Charger Keychain comes into play. A nifty solution to the problem of powering up the Apple Watch on the go, it replaces the typical charging cable with a microcomputer electronic system to make the process fuss-free. For a limited time, it’s on sale for $18.99.

This Smart Keychain, which we have covered before, only requires you to place the touch-sensitive Apple Watch on the black magnetic charger to start juicing up. If you’re worried about your device moving, the charger has a strong magnetic absorption feature on its magnetic center ring that allows you to adjust the angle freely without deviating from the charger center. It has a built-in 960mAh lithium-ion battery to accommodate all Apple Watch series, and its four LED lights alert you of the charging status in a single glance. It can also be charged while it’s doing the charging, too.

Unlike the typical Apple Watch charger that involves wires and adapters, this keychain alternative is designed to be much more portable and lightweight at only three inches. You can easily slip it anywhere for easy access.

Charging your Apple Watch on the go can be a hassle, but it doesn’t always have to be. For a limited time, you can score the Apple Watch Wireless Charger Keychain on sale for $18.99 — 61% off the usual $49.

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: As of Dec. 25, you can get the Carsule Pop-Up Car Tent for only $299.99 instead of $379 — a savings of 20%.

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The stories we hear of people quitting their full-time jobs and living a nomadic lifestyle sure sound appealing, but come to think of it, living on the road doesn’t seem very convenient. The lack of a shower with no heating alone is enough to turn most of us off to the idea of going fully nomad.

But if you still want to get a taste of that life, the CARSULE Pop-Up Cabin can help you live comfortably in your car so you can camp out anywhere you wish without doing the most hassle task of all: pitching a tent. And for a limited time, you can get it on sale for 20% off.

A Kickstarter hit with 70 backers and almost $20,000 in pledges, the CARSULE, which we’ve featured before, functions as your living room outdoors. Unlike most standard tents that are only meant for sleeping, CARSULE offers more mobility, thanks to its cubic shape that allows for a 2-meter standing height and an interior that is roomy enough for a wide range of indoor activities. It can fit cars that have a tailgate that swings up, so you’re not limited by your internal car size. It also allows for unlimited configuration to accommodate your unique needs.

If you’re worried about the elements, CARSULE features diagonal ceiling tension lines that can hang accessories and prevent deformation. It’s also waterproof and UV-resistant, and its guy rope can withstand strong breezes. It installs quickly, too, which is the most important part, if we’re being honest. 

Ready to try and live the van life? Who knows? Maybe it’s meant for you — even just for a day. The CARSULE Pop-Up Cabin normally retails for $379, but for a limited time, you can get it on sale for only $299.99 — a savings of 20%.

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: Through Dec. 30, you can get a digital voucher for four bottles of wine from Winc for only $24.95 instead of $59.96 — that’s a 58% discount.

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Who did you forget to buy a gift for this Christmas? It’s not too late to show you care, and your procrastination actually could mean you’ll score some massive savings. Right now, if you order before December 30, you can save big on these digital voucher deals that require no shipping, so your gift won’t even be one day later — your giftee can receive the voucher instantly. 

Let them know how much they mean to you with a belated voucher to Winc. Snag four bottles of delicious wine from this cool and convenient wine delivery service, shipped straight to their doorstep, for just $24.95 — 58% off the usual $59 price tag.

This voucher to Winc opens the door to this awesome wine delivery service that believes the process of getting a great bottle of wine should be just as simple as drinking it. They’ve done the legwork to create and curate over a hundred delicious wines, so your giftee can rest assured the bottles that they receive were well-vetted. 

Once the digital voucher is received, the gift recipient can log on to start their wine journey with Winc’s Palate Profile quiz. They’ll answer six simple questions about their tastes, and then be recommended bottles of wine that will match their palate. This means your gift should be a hit, as they’ll get four 750ml bottles geared right toward their preferences. 

Winc offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and customers will receive The Wine Journal, a welcome journal featuring wines and recipes. Customers are automatically opted in to get future shipments from Winc but can choose to cancel at any time.

Hurry and toast to this digital voucher deal for four bottles of wine from Winc, on sale for just $24.95 now through December 30. 

Prices subject to change.

TL;DR: As of Dec. 25, you can score a lifetime subscription to 10TB of cloud storage via Prism Drive for only $89 — that’s a 96% discount from the original retail price.

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Smartphones and tablets these days often come with more storage space than you know what to do with, but that’s what you think. You may not be aware of it, but you produce more data each day than you realize, so you’ll quickly consume all that storage before you create your next Instagram reel.

The smart thing to do is to store and back up your data elsewhere, a place far away from accidental damage — like the Cloud. But before you waste away your money on monthly subscription fees from the usual places, consider other cloud storage options like Prism Drive. It offers a generous 10TB of space, and you only have to pay once for a lifetime subscription.

We’ve already covered it before, but this time around, this deal on a subscription to Prism Drive boasts the best pricing on the web. The service lets you house all your files in one place and access and manage them from any device. You can easily share large files like videos, graphics, images, and audio, as well as upload virtually any file type. 

Free up space on your phone, tablet, laptop, or home computer, and worry not about losing access to data. You can access all your uploaded files and media anywhere, and you don’t even need to download the file just to view them. You can also create shareable links for your friends and colleagues and recover deleted files within 30 days in case you’ve accidentally removed them.

Of course, it’s also worth noting that Prism Drive is fully compliant with privacy laws with the strongest available transfer encryption so what’s kept private, stays private.

With this deal, you can enjoy lifetime access to 10TB of cloud storage, an upload limit of 10GB at a time, unlimited shared traffic, zero-knowledge encryption, password-protected sharing, and more. Usually $2490, you can grab a lifetime subscription to Prism Drive for life for only $89.

Prices subject to change.

Here’s a lesson you can take from your elders: Share less online. It might be the very thing that keeps you from getting scammed.

We talk a lot about the differences between digital natives and older generations, who came of age way before the internet. That’s because it really can’t be overemphasized: Growing up with access to so much knowledge and so many forms of communication has created very real generational differences — and they go way beyond knowing how to install a software update.

Watch this video presented by Ortis Deley and Avast for some useful tips for staying safe online.

• Protect yourself now with Avast One – £23.99/Year

Redditors are providing an online public service by recommending extremely helpful iOS apps that are absolutely free. There are adventure apps, sleep apps, education apps, sleep apps, mental health apps, food apps, sleeeep apppppps. Yeah, you get the point.

Check out our compilation of the best free iPhone apps that Redditors love. And if you want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech, sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

1. AllTrails

AllTrails is a handy guide for adventurers looking for running, hiking, and biking trails. It offers details about the trails — more than 100,000 all over the world! — including difficulty level, elevation, and length, according to Redditor Wookiepuke. App users can also post pictures of trails and leave comments and reviews for other users. And, yes, it tells you if the trails are dog or kid-friendly, too.

2. Khan Academy

Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization that provides free online educational tools to help students learn. Being a “student” doesn’t mean you have to be in school, however. In this case, being a student just means you have something you’d like to learn more about. The app, suggested by Redditor Colgate_and_OJ, has information and learning tools on a variety of subjects, from art history to astronomy, at multiple learning levels.

3. Mealime

Mealime is a recipe app that, as Redditor theblartist states in their post, lets the user enter information about their tastes and diet goals before recommending recipes that correspond to said information. Thanks to its ability to streamline recipes to a user’s preferences, the app should save plenty of time on deciding what to eat.

4. Tunity

How many times have you been trying to watch something on TV but the sound is either muted, or background noise makes it impossible to hear? Tunity allows users to simply scan the TV screen, and the app streams the TV audio straight to your device so you can listen with headphones. Redditor mike-mag adds that it’s ideal in loud, crowded bars where maybe instead of chatting it up with the guy next to you who won’t stop talking, you’re actually trying to watch the game.

5. Libby

Libby, recommended by Redditor awkwardlyonfire, essentially functions as an e-library. As long as you have a library card, you can access and borrow your library’s collection of ebooks and audio books for free. The app allows you to link your library card and then browse your local library’s collection. Simply download a book if you want to read it. All of your “loans” are automatically returned on their due dates. No late fees! It’s the library without having to actually get up and go there. Perfect for global-pandemic-like conditions.

6. AirDroid

It’s file sharing made easy with AirDroid, which allows users to “share photos, videos, audios, or any files with your friends and across screens.”

Let’s say you want to share photos from your phone to your computer. As long as the devices are on same Wi-Fi network, your AirDroid account on your computer should be able to recognize the account on your phone. From there, your computer will recognize your phone’s photos/videos, and you can pick and choose which files to transfer. No USBs necessary, no wires, and no data cost. You can check out more specifics on the app here. Suggested by Redditor RODjij

7. Insight Timer

For meditators everywhere, Insight Timer provides guided meditations at various lengths instructed by “the world’s top meditation and mindfulness experts, neuroscientists, psychologists, and teachers from Stanford, Harvard, the University of Oxford, and more,” according to the app description. The Redditor’s post remains online with almost 400 points, although their account seems to have been deleted. We thank them, nonetheless.

8. Clue Period & Cycle Tracker

Clue allows users to track their menstrual cycles and log information about their symptoms to learn more about their menstrual health. Clue also uses that information to make predictions about the user’s period cycle — when it will hit, along with likely symptoms and their severity. Redditor annabear used Clue to plan their Valentine’s weekend vacation so they wouldn’t be on their period while they were away. According to their post, it worked like a charm.

In 2022, you’ll want to take a moment to learn about the data collected by period tracking apps and how it could be used in a post-Roe world.

9. Shazam

Shazam is pretty popular and has been for some time now, but it’s always worth a mention when we’re talking about useful free apps. Shazam users can open the app while a song is playing on the radio, in a store, or pretty much anywhere, and Shazam will provide the name of the song as well as the artist who sings it. It’s essentially the answer to the age-old question: “The hell is the name of this song playing?” Thanks to Redditor DunkyChameleon for the assist.

10. Photomath

Listen, math is really freaking hard, okay? Sometimes you’ll be stuck on a single problem for an hour with no idea what to do. Photomath is a study tool that allows the user to take a picture of that problem. The app will scan it, and the problem then gets put into the app’s algorithm, which provides step-by-step instructions on how to solve it. And, boy, would I love to have known this existed before today. Suggested by Redditor Mattiusdagrub8.

11. DuoLingo

Another handy educational app, DuoLingo offers free quick lessons to help users learn new languages. Choose from more than 35 languages, from Spanish to Japanese, to learn. You’ll get an array of mini games and small lessons to further your vocabulary and understanding. Suggested by Redditor icollectcorpses, th – *pauses, suspiciously squints at username*… The app gives you the space to learn a new language without the added pressure of grades and the dreaded threat of failure!

12. SkyView Lite

Listen up, aspiring astronomers and those even vaguely interested in stars and planets and stuff. Redditor evilive is making us aware of SkyView Lite, a stargazing app that allows you to simply point your phone at the sky and have it tell you what’s up there. It’ll show you individual stars, constellations, planets, and even satellites! It’s more than the Big Dipper up there, and now you know it.

13. Waze

Redditor Cazmae’s recommendation is short and sweet, but a worthy inclusion nevertheless. If you haven’t heard of it already, Waze is a navigation app that calculates routes, gives directions, and encourages its users to report accidents and obstacles so as to enhance everyone’s experience.

14. iNaturalist

iNaturalist, recommended by Redditor mmmmwhu, lets users take pictures of plants and animals, providing suggestions as to what species they are by using “visually similar suggestions and verification by dedicated contributors,” according to the app description.

15. Radio Garden Live

Rotate the globe, tap a location, and get access to radio stations in that area? Sounds easy enough. Radio Garden gives users the chance to listen to different radio stations around the world. Thanks, Redditor karlotomic!

16. Too Good To Go

As Redditor JohnTheBaptiste1 points out, Too Good To Go is potentially a great money saver while doing a bit of social good, as well. The app allows participating restaurants and stores to sell food (that would otherwise go to waste) at a cheap price for users to purchase. The app allows you to find participating stores/restaurants in your area and place orders for pickup.

17. Google Arts & Culture

Like a virtual museum, Google Arts & Culture “puts the treasures, stories and knowledge of over 2,000 cultural institutions from 80 countries at your fingertips,” the app description says. Redditor yokayla highlights its value for art/history buffs, as it gives users access to exhibits and information they’d otherwise have to spend a lot of money (and perhaps travel great distances) to get in person. Google and its partners team up with cultural institutions to help them “digitize, manage and publish their collections online, all for free.” (You can also find out which famous artwork you most resemble.)

18. A Soft Murmur

Just what you need: A background noise app that lets you combine different sounds and control the volume of each. Thunder, rain, wind, and more are at your disposal to use for whatever reason. Some like background noise for studying. Some like it for working. We’d probably use it the same way Redditor Jay_Diddly does: sleep.

19. Sleep Cycle – Sleep Tracker

Speaking of sleep, Sleep Cycle gives its users insight into their sleeping patterns. It learns your sleep cycle, detects snoring and other sounds, and uses its “smart” alarm clock to wake you when your body is in its lightest sleep stage. Using your body’s natural circadian rhythm to, as Redditor Happypepik says, make mornings easier? We’re down for sure.

20. Alarmy

If Sleep Cycle is the friend who tells you what you want to hear, Alarmy is the friend who tells you what you need to hear, even if it royally pisses you off. As nice as waking up naturally from a period of light sleep is, that style just doesn’t cut it for some of us. Alarmy gets you out of bed with loud noises and “missions” that make you get up and do something to turn the alarm off. Thank you for the lovely suggestion, Redditor Dahhhkness… we guess.

21. Apollo for Reddit

If you’re looking for an alternative to the official Reddit app, try Apollo for Reddit. With nearly 150,000 reviews and a score of 4.8 out of 5 in the App Store, this free app creates a more customized Reddit experience for casual and power users alike. Redditor Akashiarys described it as a “game changer.”

22. Finch

Do you like the idea of taking care of a pet bird but don’t have the emotional energy to commit to cleaning out a bird cage? Finch might be just the free iPhone app you need. Part self care, part virtual companionship (and plenty of cute bird illustrations), the app has been commended by Reddit users for helping to deal with anxiety. The app uses personalized self-care exercises to help you take care of your bird and yourself.

23. Apple Maps

Stay with us. You might think of Apple Maps as the far worse version of Google Maps or Waze, but according to several Redditors it has gotten way better over the years. “There’s a stigma from like 8 years ago that Apple Maps is still terrible. But it’s honestly the most pin-point accurate map app (for me, at least). They’ve added every main feature you could possibly want by now,” said Redditor Awsaim. “Apple maps has reached the point where it’s just as good, if not better, than google maps. It also looks a lot cleaner than google maps imo,” echoed Redditor TP_blitz. In fact, Apple Maps popped up several times in a post about the best designed iOS apps in r/iPhone. That’s pretty convincing stuff from a community that know its iOS apps.

This story was originally published in 2020 and updated in 2022.

Amidst its many, many plot twists, one of the biggest surprises of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is that the film tackles COVID-19.

In the movie’s very first scene, a delivery person brings a box to politician Claire Debella’s (Kathryn Hahn) house. Seeing that they’re masked, Claire haphazardly covers her own mouth before bringing the box inside. A helpful title card informs us that the film is taking place in May of 2020, a particularly stressful time during the worldwide COVID pandemic.

At first, it seems like a strange choice to set a fun whodunnit in the middle of a global health crisis. However, director Rian Johnson uses his characters’ reactions to the pandemic as a way to flesh them out, as well as provide social commentary on how the ultra-rich have weathered the pandemic. From face masks to ill-advised parties, here are all the ways Glass Onion addresses COVID-19.

Pay attention to the face masks everyone is wearing.

Costuming is a key way to learn more about a character, and Glass Onion‘s pandemic setting gives us one more costume element to keep an eye out for: face masks.

The kinds of masks Glass Onion‘s characters wear — or whether they’re even wearing any in the first place — are the perfect way to learn more about who they are. Benoit Blanc’s (Daniel Craig) stylish silk mask scores well on both fashion and function, emphasizing his smart desire to follow COVID safety protocols. Contrast this with wild card right-wing streamer Duke Cody (Dave Bautista) and his girlfriend Whiskey (Madelyn Cline), who forego masks entirely.

But the award for the wildest mask — if we can even call it that — goes to the glamorous and gonzo Birdie Jay (Kate Hudson), who swans into Greece wearing a bedazzled mesh mask that certainly isn’t protecting anyone from the spread of an airborne virus. It looks fabulous but is completely useless: proof that Birdie is more interested in her image than she is in doing the bare minimum.

“I surprised my closest inner circle with a trip to a private island.”

Remember when Kim Kardashian flaunted her private island birthday celebration mid-COVID and instantly became a meme? That’s essentially the plot of Glass Onion: rich people partying on a private island in the middle of a global health crisis.

Murder mystery party host Miles Bron (Edward Norton) even calls his guests his “closest inner circle” in their invitations, wording that can only be a direct nod to Kardashian’s infamous tweet.

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The parallels are too on point to be a coincidence, but more importantly, they add to Glass Onion‘s commentary on how some of the absurdly affluent view the pandemic as more of an inconvenience than a serious health problem.

While characters like tech billionaire Miles and fashion model Birdie lament not being able to party and gather like they used to, hundreds of thousands of people are dying, and the rest of the world is struggling to keep it together. Nowhere is this clearer than with schoolteacher Helen (Janelle Monáe), who tells Benoit about the difficulties of educating her young students in virtual classrooms.

How do Glass Onion‘s characters handle pandemic isolation?

Before our cast of possible criminals go to Greece for Miles’s murder mystery party, we get glimpses into their home lives, and how they were impacted by COVID.

Claire is running a campaign work-from-home-style, resulting in Zoom interviews in her home office where she rattles off clearly well-rehearsed quips amid familial chaos. Scientist Lionel Toussaint (Leslie Odom Jr.) takes virtual conference calls in a massive, yet totally empty office. And then there’s Birdie, who’s hosting a lavish party full of people she claims are in her pod — including famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma!

At least she’s playing a press conference with Dr. Anthony Fauci in the background. That’s got to count for something, right? Eh, probably not.

Glass Onion pokes fun at pandemic hobbies.

When we first see Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion, he’s not solving some incredible case but rather lying in his bathtub, absolutely failing at the popular betrayal game Among Us. He’s playing with a star-studded crew of legends, including Stephen Sondheim and Natasha Lyonne, none of whom can believe that a world-class detective could be this bad at a game where you are solving murder mysteries.

In a movie about uber-rich people blithely gathering on a private island, this nod to pandemic gaming is an incredibly relatable moment. I certainly used games like Among Us and Quiplash to connect with friends from afar. Genius detectives, they’re just like us!

Later in the film, we get another subtle shout-out to a hobby many took up during the first months of the COVID pandemic: baking. When Benoit’s partner Philip (Hugh Grant) answers the door to their apartment, he’s wearing an apron and covered in flour. Sure, Philip could have already loved baking, but maybe he picked up a sourdough habit while isolated with newly minted gamer Benoit. Given the film’s intentional references to COVID throughout, I’m tempted to go for the latter.

The pandemic boosted Birdie Jay’s image.

When she’s not wearing mesh masks or throwing mega-spreader parties, Birdie is a fashion entrepreneur. The former model started her own line of sweatpants, and it quickly rose to popularity once scads of people began working from home. Business on the top, Birdie’s sweatpants on the bottom. Even Benoit admits he practically lives in his pair!

Just don’t ask how they’re made — the human rights violations are off the charts.

So did Miles have a COVID cure this whole time?

What kinds of health precautions do Miles’s guests have to take before arriving on his island? Do they have to self-quarantine and get tested? No! They just have to get mysterious liquid sprayed in their mouths courtesy of Ethan Hawke (one of Glass Onion‘s many cameos), who tells them that after that they’re all taken care of, COVID-wise.

Now hold on just a minute here — is this spray some kind of magical cure for COVID?

And if so, why is Miles hoarding it? Miles claims to want to make the world a better place. That seems to be why he’s pushing for the launch of Klear, his form of clean energy that also happens to be incredibly volatile. But in practice, Miles is a self-obsessed idiot, who only wants to “break the system” in order to be remembered forever. Still, you’d think that having a miracle COVID cure would achieve that. But clearly, a murder mystery party takes precedence over everything.

Knives Out is now streaming on Netflix.

Space explosions aren’t the end. They’re often the beginning.

The explosions of massive stars, for example, spread essential elements around the universe. That includes iron, which helps our cells carry blood, and the oxygen we breathe. The violent blasts themselves manufacture heavier elements. You are made of stars, too. And when stars explode, they can form colossal regions of gas and dust, called nebulae, where bounties of new stars can form in the roiling clouds.

In 2022, astronomers detected a number of violent explosions and crashes in space — including one intentionally created by humans. Below are the particularly momentous events, in our solar system and beyond.

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A massive, exploding star

On Oct. 9, astronomers observed an extraordinarily colossal boom. NASA’s Swift Observatory, which is specifically designed to spot the most powerful known explosions in the universe today — called gamma-ray bursts — detected an extremely strong such burst. Something wildly potent must produce these jets of energy that travel through space, and scientists say they’re caused by the collapse and explosion of enormous stars, events called supernovae.

For a star to go supernova, it must be quite massive — at least eight times the size of the sun. But for a supernova to produce the strongest type of gamma-ray burst, the star must be some 30 to 40 times the size of the sun. This new powerful detection, so rare that we’ll likely only observe something of this magnitude around once a decade, came from such a mighty star.

“It’s a very unique event,” Yvette Cendes, an astronomer and postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told Mashable.

Importantly, you need not worry. This terrific explosion happened in a galaxy 2 billion light-years away. At such a distance, its energy, which has been traveling and spreading through space for eons, poses no danger to us. But we can easily, with satellites, detect it.

“It’s the equivalent of getting front row seats at a fireworks show,” Cendes explained.

You can read the full story on Mashable.

Huge, mysterious blast detected in deep space

Scientists recently observed a giant blast some 130 million light-years from Earth. Previously, they detected a colossal collision here from a well-known merger between two neutron stars — collapsed stars that are perhaps the densest objects in the universe. But that dramatic event, which produced a potent stream of energy, began to fade. Around three and a half years later, something else, something new, has created another curious blast or release of energy.

“There’s something else happening now,” Edo Berger, a professor of astronomy at Harvard University, and one of the scientists who detected this new cosmic event, told Mashable.

The burst of energy, picked up by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (which detects emissions from extremely hot places in the universe), was intense. Astronomers liken it to the sonic boom made when a speeding plane breaks the sound barrier.

In new research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, astronomers propose two possible scenarios that might explain the event, neither of which has ever been observed before, explained Aprajita Hajela, an astronomer who led the research. Hajela is a PhD student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University.

1. A “kilonova glow”: A what? In the explanation currently considered likeliest, when two neutron stars (bodies so incredibly dense that a teaspoon of neutron star weighs around a whopping 1 billion tons) collided, they created an extremely bright blast, called a kilonova. Kilonovas may be of great importance to the universe, and our lives: Astronomers suspect important elements and metals are forged in these blasts, like gold and platinum. “It is one of the proposed predominant sites for the heavier elements in the universe,” explained Hajela.

   But after this immense kilonova explosion, astronomers propose that debris expanded out into space, generating a shock wave, or blast. The blast heated up anything around like gases or stardust. This is the kilonova glow or afterglow we can detect from millions of light-years away.

2. Black hole: Another possibility is the dramatic neutron star merger created a black hole — an “object with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape it,” explains NASA — and now matter from the collision is falling into the black hole. When debris falls in, it releases bounties of energy as it spirals around the powerful, dark object. This could be the source of this newly detected energy from distant space.

You can read the full story on Mashable.

Amazed scientists watched a giant star explode for the first time

Until recently, astronomers had never directly witnessed the explosion of a massive, aging star. But in 2020, astronomers atop a mountain in Maui used a powerful telescope to detect an unusually active red supergiant, much more distant than Betelgeuse (at some 120 million light-years away). They watched it closely for 130 days, giving themselves an invaluable view of the grand finale. The resulting stellar explosion is called “supernova 2020tlf.”

“We actually saw the star violently erupt,” Wynn Jacobson-Galán, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley who led the research, told Mashable. “It’s been something we wanted to find.”

The research was published this year in The Astrophysical Journal.

The explosion of this star happened well beyond our Milky Way in the galaxy NGC 5731, so there’s no “close-up” footage. (Any stars well beyond our galaxy usually appear as dots seen through our telescopes.) But the astronomers, sensing the explosion was imminent, employed specialized imaging equipment at the W.M. Keck Observatory, atop the lofty Mauna Kea in Hawai’i, to observe the climatic “powerful flash” and intense release of energy.

The blast was conspicuous, even in a distant galaxy filled with luminous stars. “It takes just one supernova to outshine all the other stars in the galaxy,” explained Jacobson-Galán.

You can read the full story on Mashable.

Boom! NASA slammed into an asteroid and filmed the crash

NASA’s mission to move an asteroid was a great success.

Called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, the endeavor was humanity’s first-ever attempt to purposefully nudge a cosmic object. The rocky target, Dimorphos, is not a threat to Earth, but the mission was an experiment to see how civilization could alter the path of a menacing asteroid, should one ever be on a collision course with our planet. 

The aim wasn’t to destroy Dimorphos, which at time of impact was some 6.8 million miles from Earth. Rather, the intention was to just smack the stadium-sized asteroid with a spacecraft the size of a vending machine. Scientists slightly nudged the asteroid, ultimately demonstrating proof of the ability to alter an asteroid’s trajectory.

The impact, which blasted some 2 million tons of rock into space, created a tail tens of thousands of miles long. Critically, the impact significantly slowed Dimorphos’ orbit around its parent asteroid, Didymos, proving that the experiment worked.

“What we can learn from the DART mission is all part of […] NASA’s overarching work to understand asteroids and other small bodies in our Solar System,” Tom Statler, the program scientist for DART at NASA, said in a statement. “Impacting the asteroid was just the start. Now we use the observations to study what these bodies are made of and how they were formed – as well as how to defend our planet should there ever be an asteroid headed our way.”

You can read the full story on Mashable.

A rocket slammed into the moon. NASA got a picture.

The moon has a strange, new crater. But this one’s not natural.

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began mapping the moon in 2009, spotted the impact site of a recent rocket crash on the far side of the moon, which occurred in early March. The space agency published imagery of the explosive impact in June which actually resulted in a double crater: a 19.5-yard crater overlapping with a 17.5-yard crater.

Astronomers expected a wayward rocket booster to slam into the moon, making it the first known time that space debris unintentionally impacted our natural satellite. What NASA didn’t expect, however, was a double crater.

“The double crater was unexpected and may indicate that the rocket body had large masses at each end,” NASA wrote in a description of the image. “Typically a spent rocket has mass concentrated at the motor end; the rest of the rocket stage mainly consists of an empty fuel tank. Since the origin of the rocket body remains uncertain, the double nature of the crater may indicate its identity.”

You can read the full story on Mashable.

A colossal meteorite struck Mars. Then NASA made an even bigger discovery.

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has zipped around the red desert planet for a decade and a half, snapped a stunning Martian image this year: It’s of a new crater nearly 500 feet across and some 70 feet deep.

“It’s unprecedented to find a fresh impact of this size,” Ingrid Daubar of Brown University, who leads NASA InSight’s Impact Science Working Group, said in a statement. “It’s an exciting moment in geologic history, and we got to witness it.”

NASA’s geologic sleuth InSight lander, which detects Marsquakes, picked up the event in late 2021. Then, the 2022 image revealed valuable resources hidden in the Martian subsurface. As Mashable’s Elisha Sauers reported:

But what’s thrilled scientists perhaps as much as or more than the recorded seismic activity is what the meteor uncovered when it slammed into Mars — huge, boulder-size chunks of ice blasted out of the crater. Up until now, underground ice hadn’t been found in this region, the warmest part of the planet.

“This is really an exciting result,” said Lori Glaze, NASA’s director of planetary science, during a news conference. “We know, of course, that there’s water ice near the poles on Mars. But in planning for future human exploration of Mars, we’d want to land the astronauts as near to the equator as possible, and having access to ice at these lower latitudes, that ice can be converted into water, oxygen, or hydrogen. That could be really useful.”

You can read the full story on Mashable.

Stayed tuned for more momentous space explosions next year. And the year after. And, well, you get the idea.