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TL;DR: Live stream Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns for free on TVNZ+. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

It is possible to live stream select NFL fixtures without spending anything, including the upcoming matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and Cleveland Browns. And you don't need to be a tech wiz to unlock these free streams. Anyone can live stream the NFL for free by following some simple steps.

If you're interested in watching Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Raiders vs. Browns?

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns starts at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sept. 29. This fixture takes place at the Allegiant Stadium.

How to watch Raiders vs. Browns for free

Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns is available to live stream for free on TVNZ+.

TVNZ+ is geo-restricted to New Zealand, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in New Zealand, meaning you can bypass geo-restrictions to access TVNZ+ from anywhere in the world.

Access free live streams of the NFL by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in New Zealand

4. Visit TVNZ+

5. Live stream Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but top VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By making the most of these deals, you can access free live streams of the NFL without actually spending anything. This is obviously a quick fix, but it gives you enough time to watch Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for the NFL?

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream the NFL live, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including New Zealand

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95, saving you 49% on list price. With this limited-time deal you'll also get an extra three months of coverage, a whole year of unlimited cloud backup, and a 30-day money-back guarantee for free.

Live stream Las Vegas Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Live stream Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid in La Liga for free on ITVX. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

This La Liga season is still in its early stages, but all the familiar faces are at the top of the league standings. Two of those sides are meeting in a huge matchup this weekend, and you can watch all the action without spending anything.

If you want to watch Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid in La Liga from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid?

Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid in La Liga kicks off at 8 p.m. BST on Sept. 29. This fixture takes place at the Metropolitano Stadium.

How to watch Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid for free

Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid is available to live stream for free on ITVX.

ITVX is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock ITVX to stream La Liga fixtures for free from anywhere in the world.

Live stream Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid for free by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK

4. Sign in to ITVX

5. Watch Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can access free live streams of La Liga without actually spending anything. This obviously isn't a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for ITVX?

ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on ITVX, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including the UK

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure

• Fast connection speeds free from throttling

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95 and includes an extra three months for free — 49% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid in La Liga for free with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Live stream Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers for free on TVNZ+. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

The NFL is up and running, with a number of teams making early statements of intent. The Steelers are one of those teams, with a number of strong performances in the first few rounds of the new campaign. Next for the Pittsburgh Steelers is the Indianapolis Colts, a team that has struggled early on.

If you're interested in watching Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Colts vs. Steelers?

Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers starts at 1 p.m. ET on Sept. 29. This fixture takes place at the Lucas Oil Stadium.

How to watch Colts vs. Steelers for free

Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers is available to live stream for free on TVNZ+.

TVNZ+ is geo-restricted to New Zealand, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in New Zealand, meaning you can bypass geo-restrictions to access TVNZ+ from anywhere in the world.

Access free live streams of the NFL by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in New Zealand

4. Visit TVNZ+

5. Live stream Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but top VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By making the most of these deals, you can access free live streams of the NFL without actually spending anything. This is obviously a quick fix, but it gives you enough time to watch Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for the NFL?

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream the NFL live, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including New Zealand

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95, saving you 49% on list price. With this limited-time deal you'll also get an extra three months of coverage, a whole year of unlimited cloud backup, and a 30-day money-back guarantee for free.

Live stream Indianapolis Colts vs. Pittsburgh Steelers for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

TL;DR: Live stream Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints for free on TVNZ+. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

Live streaming the NFL for free is not easy, but nothing is impossible with a VPN. There are a bunch of free streaming platforms offering coverage of this NFL season, and you can access them all with a VPN by your side, including Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints.

If you're interested in watching Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.

When is Falcons vs. Saints?

Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints starts at 1 p.m. ET on Sept. 29. This fixture takes place at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

How to watch Falcons vs. Saints for free

Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints is available to live stream for free on TVNZ+.

TVNZ+ is geo-restricted to New Zealand, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in New Zealand, meaning you can bypass geo-restrictions to access TVNZ+ from anywhere in the world.

Access free live streams of the NFL by following these simple steps:

1. Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)

2. Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)

3. Open up the app and connect to a server in New Zealand

4. Visit TVNZ+

5. Live stream Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints for free from anywhere in the world

Opens in a new window Credit: ExpressVPN ExpressVPN (1-Year Subscription + 3 Months Free) $99.95 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee) Get Deal

The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but top VPNs do tend to offer free-trial periods or money-back guarantees. By making the most of these deals, you can access free live streams of the NFL without actually spending anything. This is obviously a quick fix, but it gives you enough time to watch Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints before recovering your investment.

What is the best VPN for the NFL?

ExpressVPN is the best service for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream the NFL live, for a number of reasons:

• Servers in 105 countries including New Zealand

• Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more

• Strict no-logging policy so your data is always secure

• Fast connection speeds

• Up to eight simultaneous connections

• 30-day money-back guarantee

A one-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $99.95, saving you 49% on list price. With this limited-time deal you'll also get an extra three months at no additional cost, a whole year of unlimited cloud backup for free, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Live stream Atlanta Falcons vs. New Orleans Saints for free from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.

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 preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Here's the answer hints for September 29 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections today: See hints and answers for September 29 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Weed 'em and reap

These words are related to autumnal food.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

The answers are all crops picked in autumn.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is vertical.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Fallharvest.

Featured Video For You Strands 101: How to win NYT’s latest word game NYT Strands word list for September 29

• Squash

• Kohlrabi

• Radish

• Fallharvest

• Onion 

• Pumpkin

• Apple

SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for September 29

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.

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 September 29'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 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 used to be available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it. Unfortunately, it has since been taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times.

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 September 29 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Someone who's tasked with controlling a moving vehicle.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

There is one letter that appears twice.

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

Today's Wordle starts with the letter R.

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...

RIDER.

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.

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.

Connections is the latest New York Times word game 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 September 29'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 SEE ALSO: Hurdle hints and answers for September 29 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.

Tweet may have been deleted

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.

Tweet may have been deleted

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 September 29 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hit about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Man of his word

• Green: Used to make a bed

• Blue: Standard card moves

• Purple: Apart of the executive branch

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: Make Good On, As A Promise

• Green: Bedding

• Blue: Actions in Card Games

• Purple: Cabinet Departments

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 #476 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Make Good On, As A Promise: FUFILL, HONOR, KEEP, UPHOLD

• Bedding: BLANKET, SHAM, SHEET, THROW

• Actions in Card Games: DISCARD, DRAW, PASS, PLAY

• Cabinet Departments: ENERGY, JUSTICE, LABOR, STATE

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.

If you thought the fight between Brazil and X (and its owner Elon Musk) was coming to a close without one last obstacle, you'd be sorely mistaken.

It started a few weeks ago, when Brazilian Supreme Court justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered X to take down what Moraes considered misinformation and fake news on the site. Musk refused the Court's demands, and Brazil responded by barring the social media platform across the country. Then, just last week, Musk quietly decided to do what was asked of him by taking down the accounts that triggered the issue, and naming a legal representative for the country, according to The New York Times.

SEE ALSO: Elon Musk's X is losing users in the U.S., UK, and EU. X's own data proves it.

X allegedly asked Brazil to lift the ban after it complied, but the site still isn't live in Brazil yet. On Friday, the nation's Supreme Court said that if X would like to resume service in the country it would need to pay an additional $5 million in fines, Reuters reported.

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mashable, but "a person close to X" told Reuters that the social media platform will likely pay the fines.

UPDATE: Sep. 28, 2024, 11:18 a.m. EDT This story has been updated with information about October's Prime Big Deal days event.

Thinking about canceling your Amazon Prime membership? We can't say we blame you: There are plenty of good reasons to stop giving the retail giant your money, whether you're trying to save on subscription fees or align your spending more closely with your values.

Of course, some shoppers use Amazon's 30-day free trial to gain access to Prime Day sales. Those folks will also need to cancel their membership before it's up for renewal to avoid the hefty price tag of a paid plan. Amazon's Prime cancellation process can be convoluted, so here's a step-by-step guide on how to bid Bezos goodbye.

How to cancel your Amazon Prime membership in the Amazon app

The process for canceling your Prime subscription via the Amazon app is the same on both iOS and Android.

Total Time

• 2 min

What You Need

• Smartphone
• Amazon app

Step 1: Open the app and tap the middle button at the bottom (it should look like a person).

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon app

Step 2: Tap "Your Account."

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon app

Step 3: Scroll down through the list of options to "Manage Prime Membership."

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon app

Step 4: Hit "Manage membership" at the top of the page.

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon app

Step 5: Hit "Manage Membership (Update, cancel and more)"

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon app

Step 6: Click "End membership"

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon app

Step 7: Scroll to "Continue to cancel."

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon app

Step 8: Confirm your cancellation by clicking the yellow button that says "End on [date]."

Your membership will officially end once your current billing cycle is over.

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon app How to cancel your Amazon Prime membership on desktop Total Time

• 2 min

What You Need

• Laptop or PC
• Internet access

Step 1: Log in to your Amazon account on your browser. Hover over "Accounts & Lists" in the upper right hand corner. In the menu of options, click "Prime Membership."

Pull up your personal Prime membership page with a collection of plan benefits and options.

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon

Step 2: Click "Manage Membership" in the top right-hand corner. Click "End Membership."

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon

Step 3: Review how many days are left in your current Prime billing cycle. Click the yellow button on the lower-right side of the page that says "Continue to cancel."

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon

Step 4: Scroll down to "Continue to cancel."

Credit: Screenshot via Amazon

UPDATE: Sep. 28, 2024, 1:00 p.m. EDT This article has been updated to include details of how to contact Amazon customer service ahead of October Prime Day 2024.

Preparing for the impending chaos of October Prime Day?

Prime Big Deal Days is happening on Oct. 8 and 9, 2024, and we know all too well that it's easy to get caught up in the sales, indulge in some impulse purchasing, and experience a bit of buyer's remorse.

As in years past, there are already plenty of live deals to shop ahead of the official event kickoff, with many more to come — and you just might run into some questions along the way. Whether you're dealing with a classic case of buyer's remorse, or have questions about deals, damage to packages, or your Prime membership, you want to know that you can actually speak to customer service.

SEE ALSO: Prime Day: 11 things you should buy, and 3 to avoid

Since contacting Amazon can be tricky at times, here are all the ways you can get in touch with their customer service for a smoother online shopping experience during Prime Big Deal Days:

Amazon customer service help page

This is probably the most common, and easiest, way to look for answers to common queries, such as those about Amazon’s return policies or information about international shipping. The page contains a whole library of questions that users can get answers to, including how to track packages or cancel orders. Your most recent purchases will pop up at the top of the page for easy navigation.

To access Amazon’s Customer Service Help Page, go to the website landing page and click on "Customer Service" in the top left of the screen. 

Amazon customer service email

Sometimes customer queries need to be worked through on a case-by-case basis, and the answers on the official website need to be more specific to offer any help to shoppers. In these cases, users can email cs-reply@amazon.com and explain their issues. Remember that contacting Amazon’s customer service via email might not be the best solution if you have an urgent question regarding your purchases, since customers are unlikely to get a prompt response.

Amazon customer service phone number

Need a quicker reply? Call Amazon at 1-888-280-4331. When customers call this number, a bot picks up the phone and eventually connects them to Amazon staff, depending on the type of query that needs to be answered. It’s important to note that customers should have a cell phone number connected to their Amazon account. Customers must enter verification codes that will be messaged to their linked contact information before using this service. In other words, things can get a bit tricky if you're sharing an account with someone else.

Amazon online chat service

Real-time chatting with Amazon representatives is the most convenient way to get all your questions answered. To use the live chat feature, return to the Customer service help page and click on "Something else." Another page opens with a list of more help options. Select "I need more help."

Now you've officially entered the chat. Type "Talk to associate" in the chat box. Amazon's messaging assistant might prompt you to give more info on your issue, which you can, but if you'd rather get to a real person ASAP, you can select, "I need more help" from the pre-written responses.

From there, you can choose if you’d prefer to talk via chat or call. If you're looking for immediate help with a Prime Day purchase — be it due to buyer's remorse, a damaged package, an address change, etc. — this is your best bet to get your needs met.

Contact Amazon via social media

If your questions aren’t that urgent, you can contact Amazon Customer Service at @amazonhelp on X, @amazon on Instagram, and www.facebook.com/Amazon on Facebook. 

TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office 2021 for Mac with lifetime access for just £26.15 through Sept. 29 at the Mashable Shop.

We’ve all been there — you’re mid-presentation on Google Slides, working from a coffee shop, and then boom — the Wi-Fi goes down. Or maybe you’re in the middle of nowhere, trying to finalise a report from an online spreadsheet platform, but there’s no signal.

That’s where this deal on a lifetime license to Microsoft Office for Mac steps in, saving the day with offline access and a ton more features you won't get on the cloud. Plus, it's on sale for £26.15 (reg. £164.53) through Sept. 29. It’s your go-to toolkit for getting work done without relying on an internet connection.

With lifetime access to all the essentials — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook — you’re covered for all your business needs. The best part? You don’t need to scramble for the nearest hotspot to access your files. Everything is saved locally, so you can pick up right where you left off, no matter where you are.

Whether you're on a plane, in a remote cabin, or just dealing with sketchy Wi-Fi, this software lets you edit and save documents directly on your Mac, ensuring your productivity doesn’t take a hit when your connection does.

So, whether you're a frequent traveler, someone who works in areas with unreliable internet, or you just want the peace of mind that your documents are always accessible, check out this deal.

Until Sept. 29 at 11:59 p.m. PT, you can score a lifetime device license to Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021 on sale for £26.15 (reg. £164.53).

Want to keep browsing? Check out other deals on Microsoft Office at the Mashable Shop.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Opens in a new window Credit: Retail King Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime License £26.15 at the Mashable Shop
£164.53 Save £138.38 Get Deal

In a short-lived will-they-won't-they love story to rival the likes of Heathcliff and Catherine, Apple is reportedly no longer in talks with ChatGPT creator OpenAI for investing in its latest fundraising round.

The Washington Post reported on Friday that a "knowledgeable person" reported that Apple fell out of talks to join this round. It's a surprise because the news came at such a late hour — the talks are scheduled to wrap up this upcoming week — but shouldn't shock anyone too intensely. Apple rarely invests in another Silicon Valley company, and is known for being pretty conservative in the world of direct investments and acquisitions in comparison to other tech giants.

SEE ALSO: Sam Altman steps down as head of OpenAI's safety group

Microsoft and Nvidia are still holding strong in their hopes to invest in OpenAI. According to the Washington Post, Microsoft is expected to invest $1 billion in addition to the $13 billion its already invested into OpenAI, which has helped Microsoft gain access to OpenAI's Large Language Models and boost its own AI productivity tools. Thrive Capital, a venture-capital firm, is expected to put in around $1 billion and Tiger Global Management and MGX are also in talks. Of course, it isn't over until it's over, and we could still see new players over the next few days.

And, lest we forget, this doesn't mean Apple and OpenAI are no longer thick as thieves. Apple announced its partnership with OpenAI at its WWDC event in June, which will integrate ChatGPT features into the iOS 18 update.

Tweet may have been deleted

As Apple Senior VP Craig Federighi said in the announcement, it's "AI for the rest of us."

Lennon Torres was 13 when she received her first iPhone. She raced to download the apps all her friends used: Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, eager to experience social media alongside her peers. 

But Torres, now 25, wasn't the average 13-year-old. She was also a reality show contestant who later regularly guest starred on the show Dance Moms. As she built her social media profile, fans of the show began showing up. Torres, who is transgender and was out as an openly gay teen prior to her transition, received supportive and appreciative messages from queer youth, as well as death threats from strangers.

Then there were others who appeared to be adult men, who had a different agenda. Torres says they urged her to sign onto gay chat sites in order to "explore" her identity. 

Though Torres' parents embraced her queerness, she still felt disconnected from the broader LGBTQ+ community, which made the idea of joining a gay chat site compelling. All it took for Torres to join was falsely checking a box verifying her age as 18. What happened next forced Lennon to realize what it's like to be sexually exploited as a young queer person. 

SEE ALSO: Teens who talk about their mental health on this app may be taking a big risk

Occasionally she chatted with someone who felt like a friend. But more frequently she encountered adult men who, in one-on-one conversations, showered her with kindness and compliments. Curious about sex education, Torres asked questions about things she wasn't learning in school or discussing with her parents.  

Then the men would start revealing their true intentions, Torres says. Some pressured her to perform sexual acts on camera. When she resisted, they threatened to publish screenshots of her. Lennon often complied with their demands, assuming that doing so was the safest, least harmful path forward.

"I was so close to the tragedy of sextortion," Torres says, remarking on instances of teens taking their own life in the midst of being threatened by a bad actor or sexual predator who has explicit images of them. "Being that close to it sends chills down my spine."

Once she started dating, at around 15, Torres stopped frequenting the chat sites. She's now the campaign and community manager for the Heat Initiative, an organization that challenges technology companies to combat child sexual abuse on their platforms. 

Though Torres' experience may seem unique given her large social media following and high profile, she is no outlier. 

It's now normal for teens to befriend strangers online, share explicit imagery of themselves, and develop a deep bond with someone they've never met in person. This reality may bewilder their parents, who came of age when "stranger danger" cast suspicion on anyone remotely sketchy—online or off. 

But what adults often fail to understand is that in the past few decades, we inadvertently built a complex web of risk that exposes young people to grooming and exploitation at a massive scale. These days, it doesn't take much for your child to get stuck in it and become someone's victim. 

The scale of online youth exploitation

For more than a year, I've been trying to understand how this risk became so pervasive. It began while reporting an investigative series on the dangers of using emotional support platforms, including the popular platform 7 Cups. I was shocked by how frequently teens cultivate deep relationships with strangers online—and stunned by how often their trust is weaponized for abuse.  

First, the data tell a simple, if horrifying, story about online grooming and exploitation. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children began tracking reports of online enticement of children for sexual acts, a broad category of digital exploitation that includes sextortion, in 1998. 

That year, the center's CyberTipline received 707 reports. Clearly, once predators had access to youth online, they were going to take advantage of it. The problem has grown exponentially in recent years, as a result of financial sextortion. In 2023, the tipline yielded 186,819 reports, from individuals and electronic service providers, an increase of more than 300 percent since just 2021. This figure is likely a vast undercounting.

Of course, without social media platforms to facilitate these relationships, they wouldn't exist at the same scale. Take Instagram, for example, where Torres received private messages more than a decade ago urging her to join gay chat sites. It was only last week, after years of pleading from online safety advocates, that Instagram's parent company Meta finally made teen accounts private by default and limited private messaging for those accounts.  

Torres believes tech companies should still be regulated by the government, but acknowledges that Instagram's new policy is a small victory. There remains a vast online network by which predators can easily communicate with and groom children, largely undeterred by weak safety measures.

Teens appear to underestimate this danger—or accept it as part of their online lives. A good portion of teens surveyed in 2023 said they told a virtual contact something they'd never shared with anyone before, according to research conducted by Thorn, a nonprofit organization that builds technology to defend children from sexual abuse. 

Thorn has also found that sharing nudes is now viewed as normal by more than a third of teens. Some give this material to someone they believed to be an adult; many surveyed see online relationships with adults as normal. A new survey of 1,000 teens who disclosed sexual abuse revealed the extent to which social media is used to prey on youth. Of the participants who weren't related to their assailant, 12 percent said that social media facilitated the assault.

Threat of a "social shark attack"

As the internet evolved, the social conditions under which children and teens forged meaningful relationships changed dramatically, too, according to the youth advocates and experts in youth mental health, online safety, and sexual exploitation that I've interviewed. 

Loneliness and anxiety surged, perhaps related to widespread device use. Parents helicoptered and snowplowed their children into an arguably fragile state of existence, depriving them of critical opportunities to make confidence-building choices. Caregivers also appear to vastly overestimate the emotional support their teen receives, according to survey data recently published by the National Center for Health Statistics.  

Meanwhile, with influencers constantly in their ear, marketing just about every lifestyle to them 24/7, some teens grow up feeling like a composite of what they've seen online, rather than their own person with a strong sense of self. 

Some teens know exactly who they are but aren't accepted at home or in their community because of their sexuality or gender identity, and turn to the internet for affirmation. Torres, however, has argued persuasively that this is no salve for LGBTQ+ youth, and can actually lead to more harm.  

Social media also lets teens know when they've been excluded, or how their life seemingly doesn't measure up to their peers'. Sometimes social media is used to bully them, like when they're booted from a Snapchat group or become the subject of a gossip "tea" account. Their social ties can feel delicate, if not more performative than meaningful. After all, who can they really trust? 

Making and sustaining friendships under these circumstances isn't easy. Consider that, just like their parents, teens are also distracted by devices. Eye contact and small talk isn't necessary when everyone in the classroom or cafeteria is on their phone. 

Liz Feld is CEO of the nonprofit organization RADical Hope, which runs a four-week wellness program on college campuses designed to help young adults build resilience and strengthen their connections. Arizona State University, New York University, and Mercer University are among the participants. 

"These young adults, they actually don't know how to communicate." - Liz Feld, CEO of RADical Hope

Students are brought together in small peer-led groups for skill-building activities and discussion. When they peel off for an "active listening exercise" that lasts three minutes, participants commonly remark on how long the exchange feels. 

"These young adults, they actually don't know how to communicate," she says. "They are not used to sitting face-to-face and making eye contact without any distraction." 

The buzzing anxiety may also have to do with what the Stanford psychologist Jamil Zaki describes as fear of "social shark attacks." Gruesome run-ins with sharks are statistically rare, but the imagery is hard to forget, making them more memorable and heightening our perception of risk. 

A "social shark attack" works similarly. Imagine a social interaction that goes terribly wrong. Now replay that in your mind as the natural result of saying hello to a new friend, asking someone out on a date, or seeing an acquaintance for the first time after you shared something vulnerable about yourself. If all you can see is blood in the water, you're likely to take fewer chances. 

Given how so much of their social lives look nothing like what adolescents have traditionally experienced, it's no wonder teens think they might have better luck with relationships online. 

"Young people are taking enormous risks because they feel safe with strangers," says Zaki, author of Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. "They're basically risk averse with people in their lives, and maybe overly risk seeking with people who are anonymous."

The illusion of control

Teens are also in a precarious developmental period of their lives. They're eager to separate from their parents and feel mature, both of which can lead to riskier behavior, says Amy Corbett, a therapist with a private practice in Somerville, Mass. 

Corbett has worked with numerous teen victims of online sexual exploitation. Some of them had past histories of trauma, like child abuse. Others came from supportive, loving households. Many of them felt safer connecting with a stranger online because they could present themselves at their own pace, in ways that felt freeing, even if they weren't being entirely authentic.  

One teen girl experienced significant anxiety and spent considerable time on video game platforms, which led to social connections. At first, it felt empowering for the girl. But then one relationship with an adult male escalated from texting, chatting, and exchanging information into "something really awful," Corbett says. 

"A teenager can think that they're in control of the situation for a lot longer than they actually are." - Carrie Goldberg, lawyer

Carrie Goldberg, a lawyer who has represented victims of child sexual exploitation, says predators often reinforce the idea that a teen they're talking to is very mature, a form of validation they crave. 

As the teen shares more about themselves, which can include secrets as deep as a history of abuse or suicidal ideation, the predator will also divulge their own secrets. This creates a false perception for the teen that the bond the two share is unique and unusual, Goldberg says.   

Taking small leaps of faith 

The sad reality for teens and young adults is that they actually yearn for meaningful in-person relationships with their peers. 

Zaki, director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab, noticed that after students returned to campus following the initial phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, they complained how difficult it was to meet people. He had a hunch about why. 

In 2022, his lab surveyed thousands of students and asked about how much they cared about their peers, enjoyed helping others, and wanted to connect with people. A second set of questions asked about how the students viewed the average Stanford student. 

The self-assessments were overwhelmingly positive. The vast majority of respondents wanted to make new friends and demonstrated empathy toward others. But their perception of the average student was harsh: "unfriendly, judgemental, and callous." 

Zaki suspects that fear of social shark attacks, among other factors, holds young people back. They simply aren't testing their assumptions about what will happen if they reach out to others. As an antidote, he recommends being less risky with strangers on the internet and taking more risks in everyday social life. This doesn't mean telling someone you just met your deepest secrets, but instead taking small leaps of faith and "calculated chances" on other people. 

In many ways, this is what RADical Hope helps to facilitate in its college wellness program, RADical Health. Melissa White, a student-athlete at Middlebury College, volunteered as a student guide last year. She helped facilitate conversations about stress management, self-care, and decision-making. 

Unsurprisingly, students were reluctant to share at first. But White realized that once she made the first vulnerable move, and the group understood the discussions would be confidential, others quickly followed suit. Students were relieved to learn they weren't the only ones who felt anxious, confused, or lost at school. 

The difference between this and cursory online socializing with peers, where people might share their interests or highlights, felt clear to White. 

"It creates this community where people are relating to each other rather than just this interpersonal connection," White said of the RADical Health model. 

There's no easy way to solve the problem of teens going online for fulfilling relationships and paying an unimaginable price for doing so. But it's obvious that they need both aggressive protection from predators online and safe in-person opportunities to connect to their peers. 

"Wait for the better online future that I know is coming, but it's just not here yet." - Lennon Torres, the Heat Initiative

They also need parents who won't punish them if they do become a victim of online exploitation. Regardless of whether they lie about their age, disclose family secrets, or betray trust, every expert I spoke to had a singular message for parents of teens: Talk to them openly and often about online risks; let them know you'll protect them if something bad happens; and never blame them if it one day it does.

Torres recommends that young teens in search of a meaningful relationship or confidant lean on trusted peers and adults instead of going online. She hopes that collective efforts to regulate technology companies and social media platforms will ultimately make the internet a much safer place for youth to connect with each other. 

"Wait for the better online future that I know is coming, but it's just not here yet," Torres says. 

If you are a child being sexually exploited online, or you know a child who is being sexually exploited online, or you witnessed exploitation of a child occur online, you can report it to the CyberTipline, which is operated by the National Center for Missing Exploited & Children.

The M87 galaxy is monstrous.

It contains several trillions of stars, compared to our Milky Way's hundreds of billions. And the supermassive black hole at its center is shooting an outstretched beam of energy into space. The Hubble Space Telescope, operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, has captured a new image of this energetic cosmic event, which produces a beam of superheated gas 3,000 light-years long (a single light-year is nearly 6 trillion miles).

NASA calls this jet "blowtorch-like," and it seems to be triggering many stars near its trajectory to erupt.

"We don't know what's going on, but it's just a very exciting finding," Alec Lessing of Stanford University, who led the research into the finding, said in an agency statement. "This means there's something missing from our understanding of how black hole jets interact with their surroundings."

SEE ALSO: NASA scientist viewed first Voyager images. What he saw gave him chills.

Black holes themselves produce no light. But material can rapidly spin around black holes, forming a vibrant "accretion disk" that radiates light. And, sometimes material falling into a black hole can "become rerouted" into two jets, firing in opposite directions, NASA explained.

In the Hubble telescope image below, the colossal elliptical galaxy M87, which is shaped like a giant egg, looks like "a translucent, fuzzy white cotton ball," ESA explained. The jet, as you can see, is the wavy blue beam blasting out from the galactic core, home to the supermassive black hole (it has the mass of 5.4 billion suns).

A Hubble view of a vibrant jet shooting out from the galaxy M87. Credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Alec Lessing (Stanford University) / Mike Shara (AMNH) / Acknowledgment: Edward Baltz (Stanford University) // Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI) Tweet may have been deleted

As the jet shoots through the galaxy, astronomers suspect it's triggering a type of stellar explosion called a "nova." These eruptions happen in double-star systems with an aging star — which is bloated and shedding its layers — and a white dwarf star, which is the hot core of a sun-like star that has shed its mass. The swollen star dumps material (hydrogen) on the white dwarf. "When the dwarf has tanked up a mile-deep surface layer of hydrogen that layer explodes like a giant nuclear bomb," the agency explained. And then the gradual process renews.

Compared to the rest of the galaxy, the researchers found twice as many novae happening in the vicinity of that vivid blue jet than elsewhere in M87.

"There's something that the jet is doing to the star systems that wander into the surrounding neighborhood," Lessing said. "Maybe the jet somehow snowplows hydrogen fuel onto the white dwarfs, causing them to erupt more frequently." However, a number of other possibilities could explain it, too.

Astronomers will keep watching this energetic region of space. It's a cosmic mystery, slowly unravelling.

Our descendants will — at some time in the future — almost certainly need to deflect an asteroid.

Though there is no known threat for at least the next century, planetary defense experts are investigating how to divert such a large space rock, and one proposal involves detonating a nuclear device near the menacing object. The ensuing blast of energy would vaporize part of the asteroid's surface, shooting out a plume of material that acts like a temporary rocket engine. While testing this scenario in space is logistically and financially daunting, researchers leveraged an extremely powerful energy generator — the "Z Machine" in New Mexico — to successfully simulate the nuclear diversion.

Wait, wait, wait you might protest. Hasn't NASA already proven, on a real asteroid millions of miles away, that we can nudge such an object away from Earth by slamming a spacecraft into it? Yes, indeed.

But it's possible that in some scenarios a nuclear blast would be necessary. Especially if we have relatively little time to act.

"For the largest asteroid, you need something more powerful to push it out of the way in time," Nathan Moore, a physicist at Sandia National Laboratories, told Mashable.

SEE ALSO: How Oppenheimer built an atomic bomb before the Nazis

The new research, led by Moore, has been published in the peer-reviewed science journal Nature Physics.

Arizona's 4,000-foot-wide (1,200-meter) Meteor Crater, created by an asteroid only some 150 feet (46 meters) across 50,000 years ago. Credit: USGS Nuking an asteroid

To simulate a potent nuclear explosion in space, Moore and his team harnessed the most powerful X-ray generator on Earth.

Nuclear bombs generate a massive amount of X-rays, which would slam into an asteroid (on our planet, these nuclear X-rays heat the air and produce a fireball). Using the federal government's Z machine, scientists produced this effect on a smaller, and achievable, scale. "In outer space we wouldn't have a Z machine, we would have a nuclear device," Moore said. Located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Z machine is humanity's most energetic pulsed power machine, meaning it releases vast amounts of stored electricity in just a fraction of a second.

"You wouldn't want to take chances on an asteroid the size of a city."

The researchers created a small mock asteroid and suspended it in the Z machine's chamber using a thin foil, around eight times thinner than a strand of human hair. In a potent burst, the Z machine produced a bubble of X-rays that washed over the nickel-sized rock. Crucially, the pulse of energy also vaporized the foil, so the mock asteroid was briefly free-floating while getting blasted with X-rays — a vital part of the simulation because a real asteroid is untethered in space. The result?

It worked. The science team observed the energy pulse create a small rocket plume on one side of the mock asteroid, pushing the rock away from the direction of the X-rays.

"This is a neat experiment," Cathy Plesko, a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who researches asteroid impacts, told Mashable. Plesko was not involved in this experiment but does work with the study's researchers on a larger collaboration that models asteroid impacts. She can now feed the Z machine's results into computer simulations to see how such a detonation would impact a larger-scale asteroid. "It's something I'm excited about," Plesko said.

The Z machine in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which simulated the detonation of a nuclear device near an asteroid. Credit: Randy Montoya / Sandia Labs A graphic showing the simulated nuclear detonation inside the Z machine's chamber. The nuclear explosion, on right, is sending X-rays toward the mock asteroid, which is the vertical yellow object. The horizontal red lines, on left, demonstrate where the researchers measured the mock asteroid's recoil. Credit: Sandia Labs

A spacecraft ferrying a nuclear device isn't under development. The aim here is to understand how to deploy such a blast, should it become necessary. When it comes to the largest class of asteroids, the type that wiped out most dinosaurs and triggered a long, callous winter, we certainly wouldn't want the endeavor to fail.

"You wouldn't want to take chances on an asteroid the size of a city," Moore said.

The likelihood of a major asteroid impact in our lives today remains exceedingly small. Every year, on average, an "automobile-sized asteroid" plummets through our sky and explodes, explains NASA. Impacts by objects around 460 feet (140 meters wide) in diameter occur every 10,000 to 20,000 years — which can cause regional devastation. And a "dinosaur-killing" impact from a rock perhaps a half-mile across or larger happens on 100-million-year timescales.

"With preparation there is no fear."

But now is an excellent time to investigate how to deflect asteroids using different methods. "The pressure is off," Plesko said. "We have time to do our homework very carefully." So when the time comes, we can collectedly choose the right course of action, nuclear or not. In the sage words of her martial arts instructor: "With preparation there is no fear."

The accelerated discovery of near-Earth asteroids of different sizes since 2000. Credit: NASA / CNEOS

Although NASA and its asteroid sleuthing program have found an estimated 90 percent of the largest behemoths — over a half-mile across — that sometimes pass near Earth's orbit around the sun (called near-Earth asteroids), surprises do happen. And they'll almost certainly happen again. An unexpected football-field-sized asteroid swung just 40,000 miles from Earth in 2019. A surprise 56-foot (17-meter) rock exploded over Russia and blew out people's windows in 2013. And some "planet-killer" asteroids are known to lurk around the orbits of Mercury and Venus, largely hidden by the glare of the sun.

But asteroids aren't inherently menacing. They're just ancient objects, formed early in our solar system's history, that inevitably strike planets from time to time. When one veers toward Earth, it's a celestial rock on its own long-lived trajectory.

"There's nothing personal with asteroids," Plesko said.

Shot over a decade ago, guerilla-style in Estonia, the low-budget horror musical Chainsaws Were Singing is a pastiche of genre tropes that its filmmaker spent years completing nearly by himself. Sander Maran stretches the definition of multi-hyphenate in Neil Breen fashion; as the movie's writer, director, composer, cinematographer, sound designer, colorist, and VFX artist, Maran turns in a work that, while often repetitive in its humor, has a fair amount of charm.

While the movie echoes cheap grindhouse pictures and horror B-movies of the '70s, it also functions as an inadvertent throwback to when it was first filmed in 2013. That's due to its outdated, often snarky tone, which feels reminiscent of the era's burgeoning web humor. Its gestation period makes it a fascinating time capsule, but the film is also, in its own way, an homage to low-budget, DIY creativity, even if it often feels like peering in on half-formed in-jokes from afar.

What is Chainsaws Were Singing about?   Credit: © Marani Bros 2024

With its cheap, bright-red blood galore, Chainsaws Were Singing tells you exactly what kind of film it is — and what it's aping — right out the gate. A young woman named Maria (Laura Niils) is having a particularly terrible day, involving the loss of her job, and the death of her family and even her dog in quick succession. She meets a man named Tom (Karl-Joosep Ilves), whose own misfortunes have led him to a suicide attempt. Their eyes lock just as Tom contemplates jumping off a bridge, which sends them into a sweet duet that's quickly interrupted by a chainsaw-wielding maniac (Martin Ruus).

This killer — named "Killer" by his cruel, overbearing mother (Rita Rätsepp), à la Psycho — is perpetually soaked in blood and spends much of the movie cartoonishly spilling the guts, eyeballs, and gonads of anyone he can get his hands on. Maria ends up his prisoner, which sends Tom on a lengthy hunt to find her. Along the way, he enlists the help of an idiosyncratic driver with whom he hitchhikes, Jaan (Janno Puusepp), who seems grating at first but whose loyalty makes him a lovable character. 

Along the way, the unlikely heroes come across all sorts of oddities of the "LOL, random!" variety that truly hammers home the movie's vibe of friends hanging out with a video camera and shooting on weekends. They're kidnapped, at one point, by a jungle tribe who call themselves the Bukkake — a Japanese word for a specific pornographic act — and in rescuing Maria, they have to contend with a pair of incestuous male cousins, whose incest and queerness aren't so much the platform for any other jokes as they are the punchline themselves.

How much music does this horror musical have? Credit: © Marani Bros 2024

Chainsaws Were Singing can't help but feel a tad retrograde and written on the fly, though perhaps the more pressing disappointment is that the movie's "horror musical" promise goes largely unfulfilled. Running nearly two hours — much longer than something with the feel of an extended CollegeHumor sketch ought to — it features few actual musical numbers. However, they're major highlights when they finally do appear.

The hefty, largely silent Killer goes on violent rampages, but the movie also affords him surprisingly tender moments that craft a lengthy, tongue-in-cheek backstory. His tale is reminiscent of villains from well-known horror landmarks, from Psycho's Norman Bates to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre's Leatherface (the latter being a key stylistic reference throughout). Ruus makes for the movie's most, and perhaps only, dearly sincere element — not to mention its most lively, when Killer performs a "chainsaw solo," fiddling with his mechanical murder device as though it were an electric guitar.

The problem inherent to Chainsaws Were Singing — a title that screams "Horror Musical!" at full volume — is that apart from Killer's solo number, the songs are mostly ironic, with a wink and a nudge towards the screen. This insincerity may be typical of genre farce, which the movie most certainly is, but its constant irreverence becomes especially demanding at feature length. There's a reason such parodies were relegated to online shorts in the 2010s, after all. The film emerges from a period of irony proliferation; when it began filming, Deadpool was still a few years away, and the likes of YouTube and Vine had recently granted low-budget creators the opportunity to flex their artistry, but Maran feels too talented to keep insisting that it's all a lark.

Perhaps he would do things differently today. The footage is, after all, a decade old, and its sardonic bent has made it a genre festival favorite; it recently won the Fantastic Fest award for Best Horror Feature. But Maran's work also features sparks of genuine inspiration and deft stylistic imitation, which almost make one wish for a more condensed feature — if not an extended short — which had streamlined his parodic approach.

Chainsaws Were Singing is a mix of too many styles and eras. Credit: © Marani Bros 2024

The movie's affinity for styles and textures of the past is its central comedic bit, and this is wielded awkwardly at times. Its grindhouse throwback element is ever present, thanks to the movie's battered film print look and blown-out highlights, which perfectly imitate withered celluloid. However, what's being presented on screen is distinctly modern despite its many references, as though the film's central nostalgia weren't for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and exploitation horror but for the act of watching and revisiting such works many years later.

It's effectively tailor-made for the midnight genre audience, but it's often rendered an exercise in nostalgia for nostalgia itself. Its jokes have little to say about the kind of films it's spoofing, especially when it briefly strays into what feels like found-footage territory; there's no self-reflexivity involved, despite the movie constantly breaking its own fiction for the occasional gag.

However, on the rare occasions when the movie is sincere, it also becomes stylistically dialed-in, in a way its other '70s homages are not. When Maria sings a lament from her prison cell, her song may be laced with jokes, but enough of the environment falls into shadow that modern designs are no longer visible. She ends up lit with an ethereal glow reminiscent of films from the era, as though this brief sequence were ripped from a movie made not 10 but 50 years ago. It's wonderful, if fleeting.

Maran's goofy spark is delightful in its own right, even though the humor of repetition eventually becomes repetitive itself. It would all be easier to digest if it didn't feel so endless. Still, as a DIY project shot with practically no budget, the long-gestating parody justifies is own existence as a curio of a simpler time, when new filmmaking tools had imbued micro-independent cinema with a sense of optimism, as though the democracy of digital tech would even the playing field for all. More so than the movie's ironic bent, this is perhaps its most wistful throwback.

Chainsaws Were Singing was reviewed out of its U.S. premiere at Fantastic Fest.

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